Smarter bungees equal fewer headaches
Written: Nov 29 '08 (Updated Nov 29 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Flexibility via connectors and attachments, inexpensive, solid design & construction
Cons: Attachments can be difficult to get on and off at times.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking to buy a new set of bungee cords, be sure to check out the flexibility of this system.
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| martytdx's Full Review: Smart Bungee System -- 22-piece Kit |
Every year, my family gets together at the beachhouse in North Carolina for a family vacation. And every year, my wife and I would jury-rig a collection of bungees, tie-downs and a tarp to cover our rooftop carrier and protect it from the elements. Each time is an exercise in trying to secure everything just so, in an effort to keep or stuff dry and minimize the amount of flapping noise during the trip.
The biggest problem was trying to find bungees that fit and trying to secure them to the roof rack. Too loose and they left the tarp to flap around noisily; too tight and the wind would fight them, pulling them apart or tearing them from where we tried to tie them down. And using rope ended up being a real pain, particularly if you were trying to unload in the rain.
› Enter a smarter system
This year, we thought we would do it smarter by buying a variety of different sized bungees to handle all of the various lengths and sizes. Home Depot had plenty of variety in terms of lengths and strengths, but the were almost all packaged in sets that would have meant buying more than I needed of each - and adding up in cost.
Then I saw the Smart Bungee system on the shelf. It came with several lengths odd bungees, and custom adapters that allowed me to combine them or even change the types odd hooks on the ends of each. It sounded like a perfect solution.
› What's in the box?
The 22- piece package I bought came worth a good combination odd pieces:
-- 4 pairs of bungee cords (2 each of 12", 24", 36" & 48")
-- 4 normal hooks
-- 2 carabiners
-- 2 y-connectors
-- 2 straight connectors (to combine bungees)
-- 2 adjustable connectors
-- 2 wall mounts
-- 1 bag for storing the set
› How it Works
Getting home, I immediately started planning out my attack. I tarped up our luggage, and began setting up the bungees. It was easy to do once I had my plan down. Each bungee comes 'unended' - that is, sans any hooks or attachments. But you can add any odd the supplied attachments using their patented 'twist-and-lock' mechanism. Essentially, you put the end on, then twist it until it seats securely. If you want to remove our switch attachments, push down to unblock and then twist to remove. Simple!
There are several attachment types but I'd guess most people will user the normal steel-core hooks. However, I found the carabiner attachments to be really nice because I could course them fire more security. The connector attachments are also great because you can connect two shorter bungees to make a longer one with the straight connectors or create a y-shaped bungee set with the y-connectors. I didn't really use the adjustable connectors or the wall-mount connectors for what I was doing. The adjustable connectors allow you to clamp on to a cord along the length and create a "T-junction" between the bungees. The wall mounts are just what it sounds like. They also have a locking hook attachment, but that didn't come with my set.
› Using the Smartness
Using these was simple. I simply put the ends I needed onto a bungee and strapped into place. When I needed a split set of bungees going from the front to the back corners, the y-connector did a great job of giving me that flexibility. The bungee cords has sufficient stretchibility to do what I needed them to (they seemed to be about the average in terms of how long you could stretch them), and the hooks and other attachments did a great job at staying in place for the whole trip down. Likewise, all of the connections were nice and solid for the whole trip.
If anything, that might be the one downside of this system. Sometimes, getting the attachments on and off can be tough - I had a couple of times that it was a struggle to push the attachment 'in' far enough to be able to unlock and twist it. But then again, I'd rather have that problem than them coming apart too easily.
› Final Notes
Like I said, we used these bungees on the way down and back up with NO problems. Because of the customizable nature of them, we were able to make exactly the set up we needed without having to jury-rig the bungees into positions and lengths they didn't want to go, or buy 3x as many as we needed to get the right combinations of lengths. The other advantage over other sets come from the ability to change which attachments you use - instead of just a hook (or some other specific end), you could mix and match as you needed - AND combine bungees for longer lengths of combinations for t- or y-junctions.
One other issue I had was that when I went looking online for this product (both to add to here and to buy a set for my father), information was very hard to find. It seems that this product is European in nature, so the 'main' site is all priced in Euros (see the site here: http://www.smart-bungee.com/index.php?langue=en -- there is still some good information there). However, as I said, I found these at Home Depot and they had two different sets while I was there - the one described here and a 10-piece set (4 bungees, 2 hooks, 2 carabiners, 2 straight connectors).
I have to say that I was glad that I bought this set -- it provided the perfect amount of customizability and flexibility and the price (I believe it was $22.99) was very reasonable. If you need to get some bungees for your next trip - or pretty much anything else - be sure to check out this set. It's the 'smart' thing to do.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
martytdx
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Member: Marty
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 481
Trusted by: 179 members
About Me:
Doing what I can to try new places, restaurants, books and beers.
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