Hello,
This is my first post here, and I want to say that all the information packed into this website has been very helpful lately.

I am pretty new to this whole climbing thing. A friend of mine recently picked up 120' of Arbor-Plex, and a $50 harness. I have been in love with the whole tree climbing thing ever since.

I have been climbing on a very poor excuse for a climb line that I picked up at a hardware store, generic 5/8" braided poly rope with an SWL of 325lbs.

My current harness is a piece of 1" strap, cut from a ratcheting tie down strap. It's long enough to tie myself a serviceable harness. (Not too bad after the legs go numb.)

I have since bought some heavy hardware store screw _link_s, and clips, which have made things a little easier. I even cut off a chunk of rope to use as a split tail. Making it easy to change TIPs, along with my homemade adjustable lanyard.

However, it's now time for me to buck up some money for a real climb line. I'm tired of wondering how much this line can take while hanging from it at 75'

After much reading, and shopping, I Think I have decided on 150' of Samson's Arbormaster Red/White/Black Rope with one end eye spliced.

Also a Blue Streak split tail that I understand should be almost identical rope to my climb line, and ideal for a Blake's hitch.

If my envisioning is correct, I can clip one 'biner onto my "harness" with both eye splices on it. Then the only knot in the whole system would be my Blake's hitch.

I can't afford the harness right now, but I think I've decided on the NT Tengu.
My only question is that the non-adjustable leg and belt straps seem like they could be a little loose sometimes, like when hiking or doing a little free climbing in a nice part of the tree. Hopefully I can pick one up soon.