FIELD TEST - VOID ASSAULT

News — Field test · Void Assault · November 2026

We hung a Void Assault from its top handle under an oak tree and jerked it 16 times with 30 and 50 kg inside. The handle held every time: no tears, no slipping, no measurable failure.

The setup: 30 kg inside the pack, plus a 20 kg plate strapped underneath with the pack's own straps.

Why the top handle?

The top handle is what you grab when you lift, throw or haul a pack, and what takes the shock when a hanging pack drops into its strap. We wanted to see how it handles repeated, heavy jerks rather than just a steady pull.

The setup

• Load cell: Rock Exotica Enforcer, between the rope and the handle
• Load: 30 kg inside the pack, then 50 kg with a 20 kg plate strapped underneath
• Rigging: dynamic climbing rope over an oak branch, anchored to a tree and a tow hitch

The test

Run 1: three separate jerks, two at 30 kg and one at 50 kg.
Run 2: 50 kg hanging for 3 min 20 s with 13 jerks, including a rapid series of 6–7 jerks in about half a minute.

The results

All 16 peaks landed between 0.36 and 0.86 kN, or 1.3–1.8× the static load. The highest peak was 0.86 kN (≈88 kg), in the rapid series. After every jerk the force went straight back to the same static level. There were no sudden drops or steps in the curve, which would suggest stitching or webbing starting to give way.

After the test

Webbing and stitching at the attachment points are intact, with no pulled or torn stitches. The coated grip has a crease where it was squeezed against the narrow carabiner. That is cosmetic, but it shows the grip takes a point load in a carabiner. We are looking at it.

The fine print

We logged at 2 Hz, which misses the very short spikes of a jerk (10–50 ms), so the real peaks were most likely higher than measured. The dynamic rope also absorbed some of the energy. Next round: high-frequency logging, a static strap, measured drop heights and stepwise loading to failure, to find the actual safety margin.