BlueWater Lightning Pro Review

9.7 All-Around Rope

Weight
The Lightning Pro is lightweight at 61 g/m. For a thin, lightweight rope, it is noticeably strong, being rated to hold more UIAA falls than the thicker 9.9 mm BlueWater Pulse. This is an excellent all-around rope if you only own one rope.

Catch
We tested this rope while working on a trad project in Rock Creek, CA, and took whipper after whipper on it. Tied with the BlueWater Pulse for having the lowest impact force of 7.8 kN, this rope gave a soft and safe catch, and having a rope this strong provided even more confidence to go for it at the crux.

Handling
The Lightning Pro has smooth handling and is easy to feed through a Gri-Gri, Reverso, or an ATC.

Options
The Lightning Pro comes in 60 or 70 meter lengths, and comes with dry treatment or bi-pattern options. BlueWater does not put middle marks on their ropes, so if having a marked center is important to you, go with the bi-pattern option.

Best Application
As a medium diameter rope that is also lightweight, the Lightning Pro is versatile enough for just about any kind of climbing you would like to do. BlueWater classifies it as a rope for "Multi-pitch, redpoint, and onsight." Because of the low impact force, it is particularly great at projecting and taking falls, but it is skinny enough to not drag you down on the send.

==Value=-
As a regular 60 meter, this rope is $214, which is a middle range price. It is less expensive than both Petzl ropes but costs more than the Beal Edlinger or the Maxim Equinox. To buy this rope as a 70-meter adds about $30, but is still an average, reasonable price, especially for such a strong rope. Overall, the medium diameter ropes can be used in the most situations, so you can get more bang for your buck when buying a versatile rope like this one.