With rock climbing all the rage these days, these colourful braided ropes look very much like proper climbing ropes to many people.
However, if one reader's experience is anything to go by, they're anything but.
Leo Riters' nephew bought such a rope to hang from his oak tree for his young sons to climb on.
One day it simply snapped, dropping a surprised child a couple of metres.
It turns out the braided exterior hides the tissue-like filaments of the interior, which couldn't really be expected to carry much weight.
There are several brands of this sort of rope, but we've given the Shonky to Medalist because it specifically recommends "outdoor recreational use" on its packaging – and what could be more recreational than monkeying around in an old oak tree?
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