A good set of tethers is a requirement for BDSM play. That said a majority of players use standard things like pet leashes or some good old fashioned rope as their tethers. Normally, I fall into this crowd. However, I was recently making a larger order from EF and decided that for nineteen dollars (about the cost of a decent pet leash) I would take a risk on these Sportsheet made tethers.

The moment I looked at them I was skeptical they use a plastic thread through mechanism to make them adjustable. Previously I have experienced some difficulty with this type of mechanism not standing up to struggling and tension. Previous experiences involved the restraint loosening as the person struggled and tugged. That piece aside I looked over the clips at each end and took in the hardware they are attached with and was convinced that the attachment points would hold up well to stress. The spring loaded clasps are attached to the straps themselves with spiraled metal exactly like most key rings. The black nylon strap is sturdy and looks to be able to hold up to a lot of struggling and tension that said I couldn’t find any sort of weight rating for it on the packaging so best keep these out of the suspension category.

After the run down of the package and the skeptical attitude I decided to give them a small test run. To test my initial fears about the thread through buckle style mechanism for adjustability I shorted the straps and grabbed each side and gave them a good tug. Surprisingly the straps didn’t budge. I tried for a good ten minutes tugging various ways and applying pressure to see if I could get the straps to slip with no luck. With my initial fears abated I decided to try these on a partner. I put my partner into a set of leather cuffs with rings on them for attachment and clipped the ends of the tether to the rings. I then had her try to pull them apart with no luck. We did noticed that the spring clips are easy to get undone if can get your fingers around them at all so as a note you will need to make sure these are tough to get to if you don’t want your subject slipping away on you. That small factor aside we noticed that when tightened all the way the tether made a fairly good makeshift leash and I lead her around by her wrists for a bit before moving on with the tests. While leading her around I noticed that the nylon has a nice feel in your hands and is pretty easy to keep a grasp on. The pair of us then moved on to some actual restraining with these straps. Here we encountered another interest “feature” to the metal claps. When under tension they don’t unclip easily, that said these tethers aren’t ideal for any scene where the person will be bound while standing. The reason for this statement is that if something was to happen and the bound person was to faint let’s say then you might have a hard time unclipping them from their restraints. This is because they then become dead weight and will be applying a fair amount of tension to the hook side of the mechanism that you will need to use to release them.

All in all, these tethers are a good buy for the money because a pet leash or other methods cost around the nineteen dollars for s single piece, with the tethers from sportsheets you get a set of tethers for that one price. They are made sturdy and will hold up easily to a consistent level of casual play. And there are really no huge safety concerns if your partner is lying prone while being restrained. The nylon construction also makes it easy for you to clean and dry your tethers should the need arise be careful getting the clips wet as the internal springs my rust and cause problems when opening and closing the clasp. But if you remove the key ring style attachment these could easily be machine washed. I wouldn’t recommend putting them in the dryer as nylon can melt if it gets too warm. Enjoy and safe playing.

These have proved surprisingly useful in the time that I have owned them. They have held up to lots of use and cleaning and still function the same way they did when they came out of the box. I have learned to work around the problems with the clasping mechanism and with a little practice there really is no danger in them getting stuck or causing a problem with play. I have noticed that they are not large enough for some anchor points. I recently installed some tie offs on a piece of furniture of mine and realized that the clasps can’t actually fit around the rings that were installed. So now I wish the clasps were a bit bigger, but other than that I think these will hold up for a long time to come.