One of the greatest appeals of skipping is its cost-effectiveness. Other benefits of skipping rope or jump rope has over other cardio exercises include time, space, actual calorie burned and muscle gain. Check out our blog on ''Why you should pick up a skipping rope today''.

The price of a good skipping rope can range from £5 to upward of £200. The cost depends on many factors, including the construction of the rope, the aesthetic, the rope material etc, but the most driving factor that determines the cost is the branding.

In this article we will compare the pros and cons of the Crossrope, one of the most expensive and popular ropes in the market, and comparing this to other similar, less popular and much newer brands of ropes, namely the SwitchRope and the ShredRope.

The Crossrope 2-in-1 Rope 1 = 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) Rope 2 = 0.5 lb (0.22 kg)	The ShredRope 3-in-1  Rope 1 = 0.17 lb (0.08 kg) Rope 2 = 0.34 lb (0.16 kg) Rope 3 = 0.64 lb (0.29 kg)	The SwitchRope 3-in-1 Rope 1 = 0.17 lb (0.08 kg) Rope 2 = 0.34 lb (0.16 kg) Rope 3 = 0.64 lb (0.29 kg)

The Crossrope

The Crossrope does not need an introduction for regular rope jumpers: despite being one of the high-end ropes in terms of price, the crossrope command a chunk of the market. The crossrope is a ball bearing steel handle encased for good grip, with a cord made of braided steel covered or encased with a thick layered PVC. The crossrope comes in different weights, ranging from 1/4 lb to 2 lb (0.11 kg to just under 1 kg) and is sold in two sets: the "Get Lean" set, comprising of the 1/4 lb and 1/2 lb, and the "Get Strong" set, comprising of the 1 lb and 2 lb model. Each set comes with one handle with fast click system for easy interchange between the ropes. 

The major drawback of the crossrope is the price. The Get Lean set (i.e 2 ropes and 1 handle) will set you back by a whopping £90 in the UK and about $120 in the US, while the Get Strong set costs a staggering £130 and $160 in the UK and the US respectively.

The ShredRope

The ShredRope is a 3-in-1 pack of ropes with one handle. Like the Crossrope, the ShredRope comes with variety of weights ranging from 80 g to 290 g. The interlocking system allows for fast change over from one rope to the other. The ShredRope is also a ball bearing with the handle built with an industrial-grade aluminium to withstand pressure from the heaviest of the 3 ropes.

In comparison, the ShredRope is on the same level as the Get Lean set from Crossrope, but the ShredRope comes with several added benefits.

First, the ShredRope comes with 3 ropes, while the Get Lean set from Crossrope comes with only 2 ropes. They both have one handle with similar but subtly different locking systems.

The peed rope grade of hredRope (The lightest) weights 80 g (0.08 kg or 0.17 lb), making it truly a speedrope, the 2^nd weights 160 g (0.16 kg or 0.34 lb), while the heaviest ShredRope weights 290 g (0.29 kg or 0.64 lb). This makes the heaviest of the ShredRope heavier than the heaviest of the Get Lean set of the Crossropes, which is 1/2 lb or 0.22 kg.

The main advantage of ShredRope is in the price (£59.99) for 3 ropes, compared to the £90 it will cost to buy a Get Lean set of Crossropes (for 2 ropes).

The SwitchRope

The SwitchRope has similar features as ShredRope but with a slightly shorter handle, with a thickness of 4 mm and 0.08 kg for the speed rope, and 6 mm and 0.16 kg for the standard mid-range rope, while the heavy rope is 8 mm thick and 0.27 kg heavy. The key difference between the ShredRope and the SwitchRope is in the aesthetics, while the ShredRope comes in multicolour of black, red and white, the SwitchRope is all white.