pricey ski ropes

i was flipping through the overton's catalog today and noticed a wide variety of prices on the various ski ropes. can anyone explain to my why i should buy an 80 dollar rope instead of a 30 dollar rope.
to be honest, i already bought the 30 dollar rope from airhead (i think). so did i mess up? should i have saved my nickels?
please advise.

superwooter

Re: pricey ski ropes

We have had a "cheap and cheerful" ski rope for years. No problems with it and still going strong. We all ski for fun only and not competition so there may be something to it but I have no idea what.

Re: pricey ski ropes

I'm not a expert on these things, but I do have a couple of observations:

I tagged along with a friend of mine when he was rope shopping. There is a very wide range of prices and styles available. And I saw some pretty expensive ropes. But, I also saw they were all outsourced to the same country of manufacture (you can guess who that is nowadays) which pretty much for me invalidates any premium someone wants for a product.
I did see a few mid-priced models that seemed to have nice design features.
I think most were for bling statements.

I'd say get a rope setup that seems comfortable and easily configured for your needs, and keep the price reasonable. Like I said, they are all made in the same place.

Re: pricey ski ropes

The expensive ones for wake boarding are non-strech static lines like a parachute cord. They give a much truer pull and don't pull you off axis in the air. The high dollar handles keep you from ripping up your hands. Like any gear there is a price point and system that will work for what you do.

Also they don't snap back in to the boat if they are released under a high load. This can really hurt it they connect with your skull.

Mac

Re: pricey ski ropes

i bought a cheap rope looked nice had color coded rope and nice gip on the handle but it would dive down when underway and made it hard to pick up skiers in the water so i spent a bit more and it was well worth it

Re: pricey ski ropes

more expensive ropes will also generally have adjustable length, and a fancier handle. i'd go with a cheaper handle + gloves though.

Re: pricey ski ropes

As made in china has alluded in post #3, they all seem to be made in china. I need a new rope myself but I just hate china made stuff. They shouldn't cost near as much as they do.

Sorry for the china rant.

Re: pricey ski ropes

Looks like most of the spendy ropes are made from Dyneema or Spectra rope.

That's essentially the same as winch rope! The stuff you replace the wire rope with on a 4x4 winch. Almost no stretch and stronger than steel cable of the same diameter.

It's not cheap, but I found you could not save enough to make it worth building your own from bulk Dyneema or Spectra. Maybe a few bucks. Most places I could find on-line were $0.75 to $1.00 per foot. Plus shipping. I called my local rigging supply store, and they wanted nearly $2 per foot for 3/8 inch. Lots of wake ropes are 4mm. That's about 5/32 inch diameter. Stuff is way strong!