Lawson Equipment Ultraglide Bear Line Review

Overview

The Ultraglide Bear Line is a purpose-built throw line for hanging your food bag out of reach of bears (and mice, raccoons, and every other camp-robbing critter). It’s braided from Dyneema SK75, a fiber known for extremely low friction, so the whole point is that it slides over a tree limb without hanging up on bark — no more standing under a tree for ten minutes trying to whip your line back down. It’s aimed at backpackers who still bear-hang rather than carry a canister, and who are tired of fighting with slick-but-flimsy cords like Zing-It.

Key Specs

Spec	Value
Material	Dyneema SK75
Diameter	2.3 mm (3/32”)
Weight	57 g (2.0 oz) per 50 ft
Reflective tracer	3M reflective tracer, integrated with color fleck for abrasion protection
Coating	None (uncoated fiber, no vinyl/urethane)
Available lengths	50’, 100’, spool (availability varies)

Performance

The core selling point of this line is right there in the name, and it holds up. Dyneema’s coefficient of friction is close to Teflon’s, and the UltraGlide effortlessly glides and slides over tree limbs and will not get hung up. That’s not just marketing fluff — it lines up with what actual users report. On the Backpacking Light forums, someone who switched from Zing-It described Lawson’s line as “wonderful,” noting it’s much easier on the hands and the larger diameter and smooth exterior seems much more friendly to trees.

That diameter comparison matters more than it sounds. A lot of bear-bagging cords on the market are 1.6-1.8mm Dyneema derivatives (Zing-It and its clones), which are thin enough to saw into bark and genuinely unpleasant to retrieve by hand if you don’t have gloves or a stick to wind it on. At 2.3mm, the Ultraglide is noticeably fatter without adding much weight — you’re at 57g for 50 feet, which is still light enough to disappear in your stuff sack.

Knot-holding is the other place slick lines usually fall apart, and it’s the one caveat worth flagging. Because the fiber is so slippery, while its super slick, it holds knots well, but we recommend a little extra tail on your knots. In practice this means don’t get lazy with a two-wrap slip knot and call it done — tie your bowline or figure-8 with a generous tail, and it’ll hold. One forum user who’s used it for years said they’re confident they could use it as an emergency backup cord if something else broke on trail, which says a fair bit about trust in the material after real mileage.

Tangling is the other classic complaint with ultra-slick throw lines — Zing-It in particular has a reputation for turning into a bird’s nest in your pocket. The pre-stretched, polished finish on the Ultraglide seems to cut down on this, though it’s not magic; coiling it properly (a figure-eight wrap rather than a simple loop) still helps a lot regardless of which slick line you’re using.

The 3M reflective tracer is a nice touch for finding your line (or the tag end of it) in the dark with a headlamp, and Lawson wraps it with a colored fleck specifically so the reflective strand doesn’t get chewed up by abrasion over repeated hangs — a small detail, but one that shows some actual field-use thinking went into the design.

One thing I couldn’t verify independently: breaking strength. Lawson doesn’t prominently publish a rated tensile strength for this specific line on their product page, so if you’re using it for anything beyond suspending a food bag (say, as an emergency guyline repair), treat that capability as a bonus rather than a spec you can rely on.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Genuinely low-friction — glides over branches and doesn’t snag like it’s caught on velcro
• 2.3mm diameter is easier on hands and bark than thinner Dyneema throw lines
• Holds knots reliably (with a proper tail), unlike some ultra-slick alternatives
• 3M reflective tracer aids nighttime visibility
• Light — 57g for 50 feet won’t move the needle on your base weight

Cons:

• No published breaking-strength spec, so it’s hard to compare strength-to-weight against competitors on paper
• Slickness means sloppy knots will slip — you have to tie it correctly
• Occasional stock/availability issues reported directly from the manufacturer’s site
• Length options (50’/100’/spool) sometimes sell out

Who Should Buy This

This is the right upgrade for anyone who bear-hangs regularly and is currently using a thin, tangle-prone cord like stock Zing-It or generic paracord. If you’ve ever spent ten frustrating minutes trying to free a snagged throw line at dusk, this solves that specific problem. It’s less relevant if you’re already committed to a hard-sided canister or an Ursack, since neither needs a line built specifically to glide over branches.

Verdict

The Ultraglide Bear Line does exactly what it claims: it’s slicker and more snag-resistant than typical bear-bagging cordage, while being fat enough that it doesn’t feel like dental floss in your hands. Tie your knots with a proper tail and it’s a dependable, low-weight addition to your kit. I’d put it at 8.5/10 — it loses a little for the lack of a published strength rating, but as a dedicated bear-hang line, it’s hard to beat.