T.I.E.S. vs Loops

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Since Penguin recently released their pre-tied T.I.E.S. (The Invisible Elastic System), I thought I would compare them with Yigal (No, autocorrect, not “Yoga”) Mesika’s loops based on four factors.

  • Price

  • Visibility

  • Strength

  • Stretch

Price

TIES - You can get 32 TIES for 20 dollars. For a cost of 63 cents each.

Loops - Come in a pack of 8 for $10. There may be some discounts available somewhere online, but this seems to be the standard price. That means each loop is $1.25, approximately twice the cost of TIES.

Winner: TIES

Visibility

On the left is a Loop, on the the right is a TIE (I realize the singular form of that acronym doesn’t really make a ton of sense, but for the sake of having something to refer to it as, that will have to do.)

The TIE is significantly more visible than the Loop. I don’t really know how to quantify things on such a small scale, but if you told me it was three times thicker, I could believe that.

Winner: Loops

Strength

To test the strength, I stretched both gimmicks between my fingers and started hanging paperclips off of them. Spending 40 minutes threading paperclips on invisible thread really put my life in perspective.

TIES held 92 paperclips, a total of 37 grams.

Loops held 61 paperclips, a total of 25 grams.

I don’t think you can see those numbers as the weight limit for the thread however. That’s going to depend on what you’re lifting and how it stretches the thread. The paperclips were putting all their weight towards one point on the thread.

But I do think this tells us that TIES are about 50% stronger than Loops.

Winner: TIES

Stretch

I simply stretched each gimmick until it broke. Both gimmicks were in new condition before I conducted this test.

Surprisingly, to me, they both broke at the same point. I would have assumed the TIES would stretch further (given that they proved to be stronger) but they both broke when stretched to around 17 inches. I’m guessing the reason they break at the same point has something to do with the strength of the elasticity vs. the strength of the thread itself. I really don’t understand the physics of it, but it’s probably something along those lines.

Winner: Neither (or Both)

Conclusion

Depending on what you’re prioritizing, you can make an arguments for TIES or Loops.

For me, I just don’t want the thing to be seen first and foremost. So I will go with Loops.

If I ever have something slightly heavier that I want to float, I will use TIES.

To save a few bucks, I could see myself practicing with TIES and using Loops when I actually perform. Given that they break when stretched a similar distance, I think they should be comparable enough that I can practice with one and perform with the other. (Although, who knows, I may find that it feels significantly different. But I doubt it.)