SmartStraps Ratchet-X Tie-Down Straps w/ Double J-Hooks - 1-1/2" x 14' - 1,667 lbs - Qty 2

Video Transcript for SmartStraps Ratchet-X Tie-Down Straps Review

Hey guys, it's Randy here at etrailer.com. Today we're taking a look at a set of ratchet straps from CargoSmart. These are an inch-and-a-half-wide strap. They're 14 feet long, and they give us 1,667 pounds of a safe working load limit. So I would put these in that medium light duty, even up to some of the lighter, heavy duty applications. I think these are going to work out really well for you.

I like the width and the inch-and-a-half.And I like the length. The length at 14 feet for our trailers about this size, our enclosed trailers, our pickup trucks, our smaller utility trailers. I think that length fits right in there where you want them. Of course, we're going to have these, if you go a two or three or a four-inch-wide strap. Some of the four-inch-wide straps can be 30 foot long.

They can be 25 foot long. And that generally leaves you with a lot of excess in this kind of application. I think those are a lot more suited for the larger commercial type applications. So medium trailers, even larger trailers if your side strapping. I think these are going to be a really good solution for you.This strap material really kind of sets this strap apart from a lot of the other straps that we see out there.

They use a polyester webbing. This is going to be a lot more durable and abrasion resistant than what we get out of some of the more standard type straps. So it's almost like a seatbelt material. And if we do, even if we do kind of take it over an edge or something like that, and put a little pressure, still gives us really good longevity and really good durability.I also really like the way they've constructed the ratchet. You can see it comes up and then it tapers out to give us a wider handle.

It's a rubber coated handle. So if your hands are wet, we're not going to have to worry about slipping. But also it helps when you got gloves and things like that, or to give you a larger area to get your hand in there and operate it. You'll also notice the release here to get it in the different positions. That's going to have a rubber coating on it. So we're not going to have just a flat piece of steel there that we have to try to pull on. Sometimes it can hurt your fingers. But outside of that, the construction's really nice. See heavy duty here on each side. That clear zinc finish on everything really helps to keep corrosion to a minimum.And very easy to operate. So when we are tightening it down, we can actually lose some of that now, open it all the way and loosen it. But you can see when tightening it down, just really effortless. You don't have to put a whole lot of force into it to get it to work. The handle is a little bit longer. You can see this is our pivot point. See your handle is just a little bit longer. A lot of times that handle is going to be about as long as the end of the ratchet there. That just gives us that little extra leverage we need to get our load secured properly.No headache. I always run into with ratchet straps, comes when we're trying to secure the excess here. Basically you have to be a boy scout to get a knot tied properly on it to keep it secure and keep it from flapping around in the wind. In this case, we just bundle it up. We can use the hook and loop. You see there, we just bring that around, get it nice and tight and secure. Bring that around and cinch it in. And you're not going to have any problems with that coming and flailing behind us. Worst case scenario, this gets under one of your tires and it breaks your strap off. The best case scenario, if this is flapping in the end, the end gets frayed on it and then we have issues there trying to feed it through the ratchet.Also to help out giving us a really good high capacity at that 1,667 pounds, that'd be the double J hook design. You can see instead of just having one piece of steel that comes around the side, going to have the two that come in, they're welded at the end to give it great integrity. And it has a nice wide opening here. You're looking at about an inch and a half, an inch and three quarter there. So even going around larger items like our D-rings here, no issues at all.Now, one thing I wish the strap did have is a keeper, a spring keeper or some kind of keeper. Because with ratchet straps, a lot of times when you go from one side over to the other, generally that hook's going to fall off before we get this side attached and we have to go back over there and do it. So if it had a keeper, I think it'd make it a little bit better. But overall, I really like the strap. I like the way it functions. And I think it does a great job.Now to get our strap connected, of course, we want to take the strap through the ratchet mechanism. I like to do it when it's wide open, just like that. Then we're just going to pass the strap through that little center section there. You see it's right there. So we push that through. And then we do get a little interference out of that strap keeper. You can see as we pull it through, it makes it just a little bit more difficult than you will with one that doesn't have it, but I'd much rather have this keeper than not have it. I think that little bit of additional aggravation you get is well worth it when it comes to being able to properly tidy up your straps and not have them flapping around. So we just pull that through. The more we take out, the shorter our strap gets. That's what gives us basically that range anywhere from, I'd say 13 feet out or down to basically maybe two foot at a minimum.Once that slack's pulled out, we just operate our ratchet. Now we always recommend using two of these. You never want to just use one strap to tie down anything. So keep that in mind. We'll get it down where we want it. Now we'll just loop our strap back and forth here. And then we can get it secured with that hook and loop keeper. It doesn't have to be all that tidy, but it's a good idea to keep it nice looking, make it look like you're a professional. Let's wrap that around there. We'll get it nice and tight. And at that point you can see we've already got ours in the back there, but you'll get your next strap on, or use as many as you need to get up to the capacity that you require for the load you're handling. But overall, I like the straps. They work really well. Nice and heavy duty. I've got a good handle on it. I think you'll be happy with them.