I'm curious about the experiences of people that have bought and worn out lines. Can you tell a difference in any respect between the two products? I'm interested in flying, and longevity. I got a set of speed line spectra for my profoil and it seems to be more slippery than my other dyneema lines. Also, I'm not noticing any fraying or fuzzing from flying with lines twisted. What do you think?

I have both spectra and dyneema lines. I have premade linesets that are stretched and coated and homemade linesets made from Laser Pro rolls bought in bulk. My preference is the LP sets that I've made. Not as sexy looking as color coded lines and more work for sure but they work for me.

LP is harder to get these days than in the past and if you can find it its even harder to get in the strength we want so I recently upgraded my brake lines on 2 sets to dyneema which the local store is selling in bulk in strengths at least up to 440.

wax makes em slippery... rub a candle on them

I rubbed a candle on my homemade set for my NPW and when I landed it there was a mass of wax in the very center, the friction melted it and globbed it up....I guess

The biggest difference between spectra and dyneema is the diameter of the fibers used in the lines as they are made up. Dyneema is made by a company overseas and spectra is made by Honneywell Corp here in the U.S. Both companies hold patents on the fibers so they are the only companies that produce the product. Dyneema fibers are smaller than spectra fibers so to make up a dyneema line the same strength they need to add in more fibers. The smaller fibers are not as strong as the larger diameter ones and are more prone to breakage. Because of the difference in fibers, spectra has a stretch of about 3-4%, Dyneema has a stretch of about 6-8%. Both brands are very respectable for kite use and are super strong for their size as compared to other line. Spectra and dyneema both have a natural slickness that is a property of the chemicals used to create the line so there is no need at all to wax the lines and it is actually detrimental to the lines to add any extra wax or spray to them. The wax or any artificial lube will actually increase the heat in the lines while it is twisted around each other and cause the line to break down faster.

Spectra and Dyneema are both naturally white in color, dye is added to change the color of the lines. Shanti is the original inventor of spectra kite line. They didn't invent the fibers, just the way the fibers were interwoven to create a line that is stronger than steel with almost no stretch and very small amount of creep. Since then there have been other companies that produce spectra kite line, the most known are Innovative textiles (Laser Pro Products), Shanti, and a few others. Innovative Textiles has changed their focus on line to work more with the Government (military applications) and the fishing industry so getting kite line from them is a lot more difficult and they only sell in bulk rolls, no longer making pre-made linesets. Shanti still produces pre-stretched matched linesets in any length/weight that you desire. They also produce their new Warp Speed line in bulk in just about any weight desired from 20# to 500# or more.

That's the basics anyways, hope this helps.

So at some level, the spectra is a smaller diameter than similar dyneema. There isn't really any difference in how slick they feel. The Spectra should last longer since its individual fibers are stronger.

Have any of you been able to tell such differences when the lines are pointing at the sky. I am most interested in your seat of the pants opinion on it, but windofchange put the technical stuff in a different spin than I had heard before. A way that made it easy to understand. Thanks.

I am getting into kite lines these days and this might be a stupid question but....

Is Dyneema a company name or brand name or just type of line.

Let's say that I am looking for 100# Dyneema line. IF it can be manufactured by different company and Dyneema line is a type of line, does that mean company A's 100# Dyneema line is "exactly" same as company B's 100# Dyneema line?

Also, when I checked on ebay, there are a lot of Dyneema "fishing" line. Can there be a different type of Dyneema lines for different type of activities even if it's same strength, say same 100 pound?

Dyneema is not a company much like spectra is not a company - it is a material type (trademarked name too, I believe).

Line from each company will be different - same or similar material but the braid will likely be different from company to company as the machines used to braid them will be different.

Spider Wire and other spectra / dyneema fishing lines have been used by sport kite fliers for years and can be cheaper to buy but they are different. Though they are made by the same companies (Laser Pro for example) I can't remember exactly but I believe the fishing version is uncoated so it sinks better. I also believe the construction is different because fishing line needs to be shock loaded since the most pressure is on the line when the fish strikes whereas kite lines are under more of a constant pressure with spikes during jumps, etc (I believe that is addressed in manufacturing by the tightness of the braid).

I have heard from sport kite flies who have had their kites cut by the fishing lines because the lines were more abbrassive and not coated. I've also heard sport kite fliers say they can get more twists in kite lines and retain control but not as well with the fishing line.

Might be good for a bargain price and bulk line but keep the above comments in mind and decide accordingly.

in climbing we use dyneema so if i can trust my life to it then same with my kite.