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Version A
Version B
Version C
Version D
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[ Top | Version B | Version C | Version D | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired this figure eight from On Rope 1 at the 2000 NSS Convention.
The Stubai, Version A is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 139 mm. tall, 74 mm. wide, and 12 mm. thick. The rope hole is 49 mm. high and 49 mm wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 26 mm., respectively. The eye measures 24 mm. by 24 mm. My eight weighs 110 g.
One side is etched "STUBAI" and "99005310." The other side has a raised forged strength test icon (not a rigging illustration!) with "kN▲35" above and "▼" below.
CommentsThe Stubai, Version A is a typical example of a full sized, forged, aluminum figure eight. Other than this, the curves are smooth and the eight works nicely.
I
used to laugh at rigging icons on eights, but a day after buying
this eight, someone showed me an advertisement for an investment
firm that had a climber rappelling on an eight rigged as shown
on the right. I won't invest with that firm!
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I acquired this eight used from Marcus Warme in 2005.
The Stubai, Version B is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 129 mm. tall, 81 mm. wide, and 14 mm. thick. The rope hole is 41 mm. high and 50 mm wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 49 mm. and 24 mm., respectively. The eye measures 19 mm. by 28 mm. My eight weighs 97 g.
There is a small projection on one side of the upper loop with a 5 mm. diameter hole for attaching a keeper sling.
Version B has "STUBAI" stamped on one side and "KG.2000" forged in raised letters on the other.
The Stubai, Version B is a typical example of a forged aluminum eight with a keeper cord hole. The keeper hole is not in a good place, since the keeper can easily get entangled with the main line, but where else could it be? If it were on the shank or eye, then the keeper would prevent rigging the eight while the keeper was attached to the user. The is essentially identical to the Kong "8" Light Plus, Version B. The C.A.M.P./Lowe Fungo and Salewa have similar keepers attached on the rope loop as well.
The Stubai, Version B is lighter than most figure eights. The compact design causes the rope to make sharper bends, providing more friction on stiff ropes than a full-size eight. The eye could probably be used for belaying.
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I acquired this eight on eBay in 2009.
The Stubai, Version C is forged from aluminum alloy and then hard anodized. Mine is 147 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, and 18 mm. thick. The rope hole is 51 mm. high and 51 mm wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 28 mm., respectively. The eye measures 26 mm. by 27 mm. My eight weighs 148 g.
Version C has "STUBAI" in forged raised letters on one side of the shaft.
The Stubai, Version C is a member of a family of nearly identical full-sized, forged, aluminum eights that includes the following eights:
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Each of these eights is 145±1 mm. tall and 76±1 mm. wide. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance.
These eight have plenty of metal, but there are some sudden corners on the shank that tend to make the eights grab on dirty rope. The corners will wear initially faster than the other parts of the eights. The hard-anodized eights should wear better than the others.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not designed for that purpose.
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I acquired my Stubai, Version D from Alpinsport Basis GmbH in 2015
The Stubai, Version D is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 145 mm. tall, 75 mm. wide, and 16 mm. thick. The rope hole is 53 mm. high and 53 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 26 mm., respectively. The eye measures 27 mm. by 27 mm. My eight weighs 121 g.
Version D has "STUBAI" printed on one side of the shaft and "30kN" on the other.
The Stubai is a typical example of a full-sized, forged, aluminum figure eight. These are by far the most common figure eights. Everybody, their sisters, and their brothers seem to make one, and half the world's population and businesses have issued a custom version with their own name on it. I certainly have not acquired and tested every version madel, but I show the following eights as examples:
Some of these eights are made in Europe, and some in Asia. Some are obviously rebranded eights, a good example being the Trillium Health + Fitness eight.
The S.E.Peak is larger than the others, an outlier. Each of the remaining eights is 145±2 mm. tall and 76±2 mm. wide, and has a weight in the 126±12 g. range. These variations have no practical significance.
Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. For example, the Fusion Tiny 8, Version A and Lucky Ecos are noticeably wider for their height than the others. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
The AMP Tiny 8, C.A.M.P. 548.00/01 (Otto Large), Fusion Tiny 8, Version A, Hugh Banner, Version D and SUT appear to have harder anodizing than the others, and may wear better. My experience with the high-quality hard anodizing on the similar CMI eights is that hard anodizing provides considerable protection on clean ropes, but the protection provided against cave mud is limited. In bad conditions the anodizing soon breaks through, and the protection is lost. For this reason, I don't place a lot of value on hard over soft anodizing for caving use, but I prefer hard anodizing for climbing applications.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not really designed for that purpose. Some people will belay with an eight rigged for rappelling, but I don't like that practice since it does not provide the automatic locking assist and additional friction that a sticht plate or belay tube does.
Some caver friends refuse to use figure eights because they twist the rope. Eights are short drop devices, and rope twist concerns are absurd for short drops.
Many climbers think that eights are outdated, and prefer to rappel on belay tubes. I prefer belay tubes for belaying, but belay tubes get very hot when used for rappelling. Eights run much cooler. I would rather use an eight, but that may require carrying an extra device. On any given day, I make my choice about carrying a separate rappel device by considering several factors, and it is not unusual for me to carry an eight if I expect to be rappelling more than a very short distance.
[ Top | Version A | Version B | Version C | Version D ]
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