Lawson Equipment Reflective Glowire Cord vs Zpacks Z-Line Reflective Cord, 1.3mm

The Glowire wins because 2mm is the diameter that suits most shelters, it is sold by the hank so you cut what you need, and the reflective tracers are braided into the jacket instead of printed on. The Z-Line is the one to take if every gram counts and your guylines are short.

Lawson Equipment Reflective Glowire Cord

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Two millimetre kernmantle cord with retroreflective tracers braided into the jacket, sold by the hank so you rig it to your own shelter.

• 2mm diameter, which is the usual size for tent and tarp guy-outs on anything larger than an ultralight shelter.
• Reflective tracers work like a road sign, throwing light straight back at a headlamp, so the brighter the beam the more the line shows up.
• Lawson states it now uses the UltraFuzion jacket, the same jacket it has used on its Ironwire cord for years.
• Sold in 50 foot and 100 foot hanks and a 500 foot spool, at a stated 57 grams per 50 feet, in six colours.

• You supply the adjusters and tie the knots, so the finished cost is higher than the cord price suggests.
• At 2mm it is heavier than the ultralight cords, which matters if you are guying out a tarp for a thru-hike.
• No published breaking strength on the product page.

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Zpacks Z-Line Reflective Cord, 1.3mm

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Fifty feet for a stated 23 grams, with 3M Scotchlite tracers, and a maker honest enough to tell you what the diameter is not good for.

• Zpacks states 50 feet at 23 grams in the 1.3mm size, which is the lightest figure published here by a wide margin.
• Reflective tracers are 3M Scotchlite, named rather than described generically.
• Abrasion and UV resistant polyester jacket over a high-tenacity polyester core, so it resists both sun and stretch.
• Zpacks says it is tangle resistant, which is a real property of a stiff thin cord and a genuine annoyance in the ones that are not.

• Zpacks states outright that 1.3mm suits shorter fixed-length guylines, so it is the wrong choice for long tarp guy-outs.
• Thin cord is harder on the hands when you are tensioning in the cold.
• One diameter and one length per listing, with no hank or spool option.

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Side by side

The bottom line

Our overall pick is the Lawson Equipment Reflective Glowire Cord - Two millimetre kernmantle cord with retroreflective tracers braided into the jacket, sold by the hank so you rig it to your own shelter. Choose the Zpacks Z-Line Reflective Cord, 1.3mm instead if ultralight shelters with short fixed guylines where 23 grams against 57 is worth the handling penalty.

Want the full picture, including the other options we compared and the popular one we'd skip? Read the complete The Best Guy Lines: 4 Compared (and One to Skip).