Brand new sling from REI is already 1 1/2 years old???

Just had a Mammut Contact Sling 8.0 (dyneema) from REI arrive today. It was manufactured in 9/2020, so it's already a year and a half old. If we use slings for 10 years, I've already lost 15% of the sling's life.

How "old" is reasonable for "new" gear?

Send it to Ryan Jenks @ HowNot2 for testing.

Seems reasonable to me. it's been sitting in a box in a warehouse. Not being used. 

10 years is a suggestion. Soft goods when kept out of the sun and extreme heat can well outlive the suggested 10 year timeline just fine.
YGD.

Brian N -- thanks for the suggestion. I think the new one would likely be pretty strong, I'm not questioning its use now -- just how soon I'll have to retire it. I just found this: "Careful what you trust – the aging of sling material" https://www.alpenverein.de/chameleon/public/1710c3f7-77d8-c1dd-d63b-f619124ee2c1/Aging-of-Slings_26368.pdf

Direct quote: "Aging plays a bigger role with Dyneema slings than with polyamide or mixed fibres. It is recommended to retire Dyneema slings after no more than 3 years once they look used (category 2). Dyneema slings should be retired five years after purchase even if they were rarely used."

So, 30% of my "brand new" sling's life is already gone :(

Has anyone tried to return slings that have sat in a warehouse "too" long?

You'd be shocked it you knew how old it really is. The date is when it was sewn into a sling. How long did the webbing lie around prior to that? Not to mention the yarn to make the webbing.

I own a climbing store and I can tell this is very normal. Even 3 years old seems ok to me. Almost every new product received this year, even yesterday, are from 2021.

I think climbers should stop thinking the gear suddenly goes from 22kN at 9 years 364 days to 0kN 24h later.

Marc-Olivier Chabot wrote:

I think climbers should stop thinking the gear suddenly goes from 22kN at 9 years 364 days to 0kN 24h later.

Daisy and I approve of this message.

rocknice2 wrote:

You'd be shocked it you knew how old it really is. The date is when it was sewn into a sling. How long did the webbing lie around prior to that? Not to mention the yarn to make the webbing.

And the dead dinosaurs used to make the yarn...

In general, the life begins when you start using it. If you are that worried climbing is probably not the activity for you.

It's still brand new.  It's not like it's tritium, or something.

Slings aren't like milk. They aren't going to curdle and instantly go rancid on their expiration date.

I agree with everyone else that it is totally fine to use that sling for 10+ years. That said, REI’s return policy is 100% satisfaction, so if you are not satisfied with your product, then go ahead and return it. 

Thanks for all the -- some more than others -- useful comments. I've been climbing for 30+ years, so I'm not new to climbing. Most of the gear I've purchased, e.g. rigid Friends, never came with any dates attached. I've always retired gear based upon some combination of wear and age -- like most of you suggest. But, I have gotten more conservative (I take a lot of non-climber friends climbing) and generally retire any woven materials after 10 years regardless of wear. 

My question is more directed at the retail space -- should we, as climbing gear consumers -- not buy something (or return it) if it's been too long from the date of manufacture. Now that we have dates, what's "too" old for woven materials? At some point, you'd say to yourself -- I'm not buying this. If not 1 1/2 years, what about 3 years? 5 years? 

Read this to give some perspective. As I stated, in general, the life begins when you start using it.

We are all going to perish

David Katz wrote:

We are all going to perish

Thanks, bro. I now see the true fragility of life. As the sling off the shelf of REI goes, so too must we. Replaced like tat upon the bail point of life’s infinite precipice, we weather in the sun and eventually crumble lifeless and drained of color on an American death triangle. It’s the webbing of life. 

Colonel Mustard wrote:

Thanks, bro. I now see the true fragility of life. As the sling off the shelf of REI goes, so too must we. Replaced like tat upon the bail point of life’s infinite precipice, we weather in the sun and eventually crumble lifeless and drained of color on an American death triangle. It’s the webbing of life. 

Some people get hit by a drunk driver.

Eric Compas wrote:

Thanks for all the -- some more than others -- useful comments. I've been climbing for 30+ years, so I'm not new to climbing. Most of the gear I've purchased, e.g. rigid Friends, never came with any dates attached. I've always retired gear based upon some combination of wear and age -- like most of you suggest. But, I have gotten more conservative (I take a lot of non-climber friends climbing) and generally retire any woven materials after 10 years regardless of wear. 

My question is more directed at the retail space -- should we, as climbing gear consumers -- not buy something (or return it) if it's been too long from the date of manufacture. Now that we have dates, what's "too" old for woven materials? At some point, you'd say to yourself -- I'm not buying this. If not 1 1/2 years, what about 3 years? 5 years? 

None of this discussion changes the physics of what's going on.  Only the language.  And the language is an inconsequential matter.

I was wrong in my previous post.  Not because of physics, but language.  And language is important.  The language used by the manufacturer.  Especially with safety critical gear.

Some manufacturers don't seem to give a number, but use wording like major fall; visible damage; chemical contamination; etc. Some manufacturers give a specific number of 10 years.  Some manufacturers don't give a number but go to great lengths to document their own test results, leaving it to the end user's discretion.  And so forth.

If this is a Petzl product, return it.  Petzl says 10 years.  Period.  REI says 10 years, perhaps because that's the most conservative number being listed by any of the manufacturers they carry, so that's the limiting, bounding guidance that is the easiest to pass on.  Petzl makes no distinction about whether it's 10 years from purchase, first use, or manufacture.  So, return it, and suggest future purchases be ... prorated based on manufacture date.

I'm not going to go through manufacturer by manufacturer, and have only singled out Petzl because their guidance was easy to find, and appeared unambiguous.

When CE certification was first making its way into the climbing world, some manufacturers came out and said tot the effect, "This certification procedure requires us to assign a lifespan to this product, and we chose 10 years; but, look, it's a crampon, it will, in all likelihood last much longer than that, but we had to put something in the box on the CE form."  I don't know how the CE stuff has changed over the years, but that one bit stays with me.

If this is a Black Diamond product, I say hold onto it, but maybe write to REI nonetheless, because I'm not seeing any hard and fast expiration guidance from BD.  Quite the opposite.

From Mammut:

"Sling: If the product is stored under optimum conditions and not used, its service life is 10 years. If the product is stored under optimum conditions and rarely used, the product (carabiners and sling) should be replaced after 7 years at the latest. The product’s service life depends on many factors, such as how often it is used, where it is used, climatic influences, etc. In principle, the product must be replaced immediately: Slings in Express Sets: – after a hard fall (extreme mechanical stress) – if the seam pattern or webbing is damaged – if it is heavily and irreversibly soiled (e.g. with grease, bitumen, oil, etc.) – after exposure to high temperatures, contact or frictional heat resulting in obvious traces of melting. – after contact with aggressive chemicals – if the indicator is visible (red core of the Express sling – applies only if the indicator technology is used in the sling, see note on product technology) Fig. 8. – in the event of incorrect storage – after the stipulated service life has been exceeded"

Mammut explicitly says "service life".  So, that would be, ostensibly, after first use.