Glow ropes

I’d like to buy some tent guy lines that would glow in the dark.
Does anyone have experience with Chinese glow ropes? Are they really visible in the night?

Do you mean like GITD paracord?
I had some in lanyards and keyrings and that thing glows a bit after taking some light (for a long period of time), but it won’t last long. GITD tape is better in that aspect.

You can always get “reflector” paracord, that will “reflect” if you wave a source of light to it!

Yes, I mean precisely GITD paracord. Or, if anyone has experience with that, some thinner lines.
I travel every year to the Woodstock Poland. So far I used a tent that didn’t need guy lines but this year I may take a new, larger one that needs them. OK, it probably won’t arrive in time for this year. But I’d like to find something good for the next one.

People walking without flashlights are common there and seeing tents with kicked-off guy lines is common as well.
Reflective will work for those with lights but I don’t think it’s good enough in general.

And flashlights of people passing by may recharge the GITD ropes a bit. :wink:

I have had several types none lasted for more than a few minuets and couldn’t be seen more than a few feet away the reflector line is very good could be seen 25 –30 yds away.
Chris

I bought 10 meters of GITD paracord from Ebay. After a full hour in direct sunlight, bring it in darkness and it will last 3 minutes. After that, you will see a faint glow for about 1 hour. Not very good.

There is this one however that seems a lot better: https://www.boredparacord.com/products/glow-in-the-dark

Thanks a lot for the input!

Visibility from a few feet away is all that I need - I just want to prevent people from tripping over my guy lines, not be seen from distance.
But is really doesn’t sound like a well working idea. :frowning:

I see that I have a few options:

  • go with an expensive imported glow line
    • expensive
    • everybody claims to have the brightest
    • uncertain result
  • go with a moderately expensive glow line claimed to be made in Poland
    • this one is 2.5 mm - I like it being lightweight but this reduces the glow prospects…
  • go with a moderately expensive glow-reflective line from China
    • the only one that I see seems to be a variant of the cheapest glow one - won’t be much better than just reflective
  • skip glow and go with a cheap reflective line
    • could be even 2 mm

I really like reflective guy lines. I am usually wearing a headlight and the reflective tracer works very well even if the headlight is on super low moonlight mode.

Thinking that many people can use their smartphones to light the way, maybe the reflective ropes can be the best!
I checked with the GITD Paracord I have but it doesn’t last long :frowning:
Unless you glue some GITD tape in stripes along the rope to make it more visible! Otherwise I’m afraid it may not work properly…

+1 I Have the Nite-Eze brand guy lines they work incredibly well. I also hang the cheap coin cell key chain lights on the guy lines near my tent. That helps for me to relocate after a trip to the outhouse.

There was a VAN BERLO TentLED guy line light but it looks like they may not be in production any more.

Then there are these which aren’t cheap but solar powered and have LEDs in them!

Lumarope

How about cheap “throwies” (with resistor) ringed around each cord to slide down to the base?

It won’t light the rope, but will at least show the “footprint” of the tent-area.

GITD Paracord vs GITD Tape
This “test” was conducted by putting some UV light shinning above both materials and then a Wuben T70 (± 4200 Lumens) .

After shining the lights (left) and after 20 minutes (right)

The rope cannot be seen almost! Even at naked eye. I located the place through the GITD tape.

How about tying white ribbon onto the lines?

the cheap GITD tape is very good - i’d just get some of that and put a few rings of it around my ropes
it will seriously glow all night

wle

Never played with it, but sounds like EL wire might due the trick. Here is some info:

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-electroluminescent-el-wire/all

or, can thick fishing line carry light from a 5mm led?

Lots of nice input, thanks. :slight_smile:
Man Without Shadow, do you have experience with these ropes? So far everyone who actually tried the stuff shows disappointment…

I’d rather have something inexpensive and cheap-looking. For 2 reasons.
A large part of what I like in the festival is not having to care. The less stuff I take, the less it’s worth the more free I am to enjoy myself.
The other reason is crime.
On average there are roughly 500 000 attendees to the festival (though it swings a lot). With so many people sleeping in tents, often drunk or having fun at concerts away from their places - there are thieves as well. Being (and looking) cheap is a good strategy…and a very common one, people just don’t take much stuff there. It’s easy too stand out as a good target. LED ropes, wires and pegs - may be good in general but are not a good idea for my use case.

Throwies are cool, I may try them. 90 cents for 10 LEDs (reusable). $1.5 for 10 cells. Some tape. Before starting the thread I considered spending $20 on a 3mm rope that would likely not work. :slight_smile:
Cheap, cheap-looking, likely to work well. I’m slightly worried that it’s cheap looking from up close but maybe not so much from a distance…but I like it nevertheless.
Too late for this year but may try it later.

I really like the idea of using reflective tape stripes. I have such tape so I may try it this year. Even before the festival. :slight_smile:

Glowing pegs, fasteners, guy line bands…could be interesting as well, but I’ll leave them for later. :slight_smile:

I wonder why do throwies need a diffused LED. I can buy 10 clear red LEDs for $.65. And 5 mm ones are another 10 times cheaper. :wink:

These uv keychain are kind of cheap and look cool.

Advice a steel rope :smiley: if you don’t mind a dozen of tripped over, drunk fellas sight in the morning around your tent. Long titanium pegs could be useful as well.

Interesting take. :slight_smile:
But I do mind. I don’t want any drunk fella tripping over my tent just because they didn’t think about taking some light before they went on a binge…
And for some weird reason - most tend to think about drinking rather than about lights.