Fusion

Technical Details

I acquired this eight from Yi-tien Tuan in 2008.

The Fusion is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 171 mm. tall, 171 mm. wide, and 16 mm. thick. The rope hole is 63 mm. high and 72 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 48 mm. and 41 mm., respectively. The auxiliary hole is 31.9 mm. high and 16.3 mm. wide. The eye measures 35 mm. by 40 mm. The ears are 35.9 mm. long. My Fusion weighs 260 g.

One side has the Fusion icon and "45KN" in forged characters.

Comments

The Fusion is a typical example of a forged aluminum rescue eight. The eye and ears are larger than they need to be. The belay slot is a reasonable size for a Sticht slot, and by insetting part of the slot into the useless portion of the upper rope hole, the length of the eight was reduced. Still, like all rescue eights, this one is too large and heavy for an eight - there are much better devices that are smaller than this.

The Fusion is essentially identical to the Kong Big "8" (805.06). I assumed that it was merely another rebranded eight, but it came with a tag from "Ace Metal Products," apparently from California.