Best aerial equipment is the one you feel comfortable working with and your personal comfort depends on numerous factors. Similar to each person is unique, consequently each person finds specific things and materials they work with the best and appropriate.
Here I will tell more about the equipment I am used to and equipment I feel comfortable with in travel.
Aerial hoop (Lyra, aerial ring)
There are a lot of varieties of aerial hoops not speaking about the different shapes of the equipment. I prefer and I chose for myself a hoop with no points or zero point, cause in this case I feel like I am more flexible on how I can attach it, as well as for our purposes, it seems like a better choice.
We can attach little sling, one or two long slings (the same way the hoop with two points works) and play around with these depending on the the height we have available.
You can find complete guides on choosing the hoop by Googling 'best aerial hoops' for example, and get up-to-date lists. I found this one.
Sling
You will most likely need a few options in your invenotory in order to be able to adjust in accordance with the conditions on the training spot.
When I ordered my first slings, I based my choice on the maximum load I could find (same worked for the aerial chains), which is in general not a bad approach at all especially when you are lazy to count exactly on the working load each time and take into account diverse factors.
I think whether for the lightweight people or not the certified slings used for transport and lifting applications, rigging and securing loads in manufacture should be more than fine.
Thus, I found Riggatec double-woven round slings. In my inventory I have 1m (about 1000kg maximum load) and 2m (about 2000kg maximum load) long.
I also have a set of 4 30cm long valonic Falcon straps. These babies also have 1000kg maximum load each. I use them to attach directly to the hoop (it works like one point in this case) when the tree is not too high and I need to save height somehow.
Carabiners
It is very important to pay attention not only to the working load of the carabiners you choose but to the way of closing/locking mechanisms. As we are not doing mountain cliumbing and do not need quick open-close actions, and we aim primarily at security, I'd not recommend non-locking carabiners but rather those options with the most reliable lock system.
In case of a simple screw lock, always make sure to turn your carabiner so that the lock at any case cannot srew down under the gravity force.
Double or triple action carabiners would be more appropriate in our case (those which need you to twist orturn or pull them and then lock or screw to lock).
Make sure to choose certified and tested products: Petzl, Favofit, Black Diamond, Edelrid, Xinda.
I have FresKaro carabiners with 25kN ( about 2550kg load).
For more information on the best carabiners I'd also recommend checking the lists on Google. You will get a lot of useful information in clear and well structured form, tests and video reviews.
Swivel
In case you're looking for more dynamic and spinning options specifically, I'd highly recommend adding swivel to your inventory. You can use the reliable Petzl swivel options (Petzl is a French manufacturer of climbing gear ).
I have S size. Its working load is 5 kN with breaking strength of 23 kN. I'd remind, as mentioned here, it would be equivalent to about 500 and 2345 kg of load under Earth gravity correspondingly.
Note, one swivel means you need at least two carabiners to attach it from both sides to the props.
Sometimes we use grip tape or aerial tape (better around 3.5 or 3.8cm width, you will get tired quickly of attaching the thinner and can easily ruin the work by attaching the 5cm one) over the hoop to make it less slippery.
While having hoop without the tape on it can lead to bruises. On the contrary, having the tape on it can damage sensitive skin (like mine) because of the friction and leave unwanted scars (I have a lot and honestly they are awful). For now I cannot recommend any specific tape which could diminish the harm at any sense. If you have experience, do not hesitate to leave comments below, it could be useful for the others.
For more information about the weights and security of the equipment, and how to set the equipment up properly, do not hesitate to proceed to the article on Security.
Fact: the lighter your hoop is, the easier it is to travel with it. Heavier hoops are considered to be more stable, solid with the movements which we need to take into account while working with it.
I got most of my equipment from vendors on Amazon. However, in France thanks to one of my friends, an ardent aerial artist like me, I also found this trusted online shop specializing on rigging and aerial props, where I purchased my lightweight zero point aerial ring.
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