Forget the Russians - I've been colluding with aliens ...

[GoneShootn]

...and I like it!

Actually, they are Loop Aliens, but even more accurately, Loop Alien knock-offs. I don't know who actually came up with them, but I'm guessing it wasn't the Chinese. Anyway, I'm using two aluminum aliens on my tarp ridge line, one aluminum alien on the adjustable hammock structural ridge line, and two stainless steel ones on the hammock ends to which are attached the Amsteel suspension lines. So far, of all the setups I have tried, I like this one the best. At least once I learned the right way to use the darn things. Lightweight, compact, easy to adjust, and no knots to bind. So far, holds my 200+ pound carcass securely.

Hammock structural ridge line:

loop-alien-hammock-ridge-line.jpg


Hammock ends for suspension:

loop-alien-hammock-suspension.jpg


Tarp ridge line:

loop-alien-tarp-ridge-line.jpg

[Skytow]

I like them too and use them on some of my tarp ridge lines. Honestly I’m not using them enough and have to look up the “correct “ way to use them both to get mechanical advantage and to tie off. But for a while they were my go to.

The stainless ones are HEAVY but aluminum are fine. Titanium woUld be the bombdiggity but expensive I suppose.

Anyway, they are neat and I rarely see them discussed here.

[TominMN]

Oh, they indeed have been discussed here!

I would encourage anyone to stick with buying the real deal rather than the knock-offs. Let's give our money to the folks with the proper ownership of the design.

[LuvmyBonnet]

Oh, they indeed have been discussed here!

I would encourage anyone to stick with buying the real deal rather than the knock-offs. Let's give our money to the folks with the proper ownership of the design.

[GoneShootn]

I like them too and use them on some of my tarp ridge lines. Honestly I’m not using them enough and have to look up the “correct “ way to use them both to get mechanical advantage and to tie off. But for a while they were my go to.

The stainless ones are HEAVY but aluminum are fine. Titanium woUld be the bombdiggity but expensive I suppose.

Anyway, they are neat and I rarely see them discussed here.

Actually, they are not heavy, relatively speaking, considering the job that they do. The lightweight 12kN wire gate carabiners that some are using to connect the hammock to the suspension and/or the suspension to the tree straps, and that I have been wanting to replace, come in at 22g. The SS aliens are only 14g. Both provide connectivity and good hanging strength, but the alien adds easy adjustability and knotless tie-off, which the carabiner can't match. I have eliminated all hardware where it makes sense to do it, but this is an application where, to me anyway, it doesn't make sense.

As always, YMMV.

[MikekiM]

I used them for about a season and found major compression damage on both Amsteel and Dynaglide. Nothing broke, but it was enough to abandon them. I think I still have a pair of Ti on my AHE Bushman Hammock Chair. I hung off the small Ti LA's with no issue.

If you put a notch in the one you are using on the tarp RL it's much easier to use. You can just hook the line coming off the tree, leverage it tight and lock it off.

The larger stainless KOLA's work well for webbing only hammock suspension too.

[cmoulder]

I used them for about a season and found major compression damage on both Amsteel and Dynaglide. Nothing broke, but it was enough to abandon them. I think I still have a pair of Ti on my AHE Bushman Hammock Chair. I hung off the small Ti LA's with no issue.

If you put a notch in the one you are using on the tarp RL it's much easier to use. You can just hook the line coming off the tree, leverage it tight and lock it off.

The larger stainless KOLA's work well for webbing only hammock suspension too.

+1

When looking at the minimal (sharp!) machined radii of most tarp/hammock hardware, I am amazed that there aren't more failures of cords and webbing.

[jeff-oh]

I used them for about a season and found major compression damage on both Amsteel and Dynaglide. Nothing broke, but it was enough to abandon them.

+1

When looking at the minimal (sharp!) machined radii of most tarp/hammock hardware, I am amazed that there aren't more failures of cords and webbing.

This would be my concern with using a loop alien and even most Dutch Bling with suspensions. The stress concentration caused by going around a sharp bend is not good for rope.... But field experience tops theory. Certainly the little whoopie hooks have plenty of experience.

[wbJohn]

I tried them for a while but ended up going with Dutch Wasps and Dutch Hooks for my tarp ridgelines. When I'm not using Dyneema straps and beetle buckles I use soft shackles connecting whoopie slings to tree straps and the CLs on the hammocks. The Loop Aliens were too difficult to get tension on for the ridgeline. They also tended to slip unless I wrapped them several times. They were just too much work as I'm usually setting up in the dark after a long drive the first night. The wasps and dutch hooks go up in a flash and hold firm without any fuss.

[GoneShootn]

I used them for about a season and found major compression damage on both Amsteel and Dynaglide. Nothing broke, but it was enough to abandon them. I think I still have a pair of Ti on my AHE Bushman Hammock Chair. I hung off the small Ti LA's with no issue.

And that's my concern with these, as well. I got the idea to use them from Paul Tomlin's YouTube videos of about 3 years ago. From his most recent videos, he is apparently still using them, so I commented asking for his experience, and I will post his reply, if and when I get one. I am using 10' lengths of 7/64 Amsteel on each side, and, if I had to replace them once a year, that wouldn't be much of a problem, so long as there are no failures in between. Still, I wouldn't like the line to begin looking all gnarly after a while.

If you put a notch in the one you are using on the tarp RL it's much easier to use. You can just hook the line coming off the tree, leverage it tight and lock it off.

Notch where?

The larger stainless KOLA's work well for webbing only hammock suspension too.

KOLA?

No stress damage to the webbing with this?