Temu offers sailors hundreds of items, but the product information is inadequate to misleading. Material specifications? Not a thing. Sizes? Unclear. Product descriptions? Confused translations. Critical details such as breaking and working loads for shackles, blocks and ropes are nowhere to be found.
Take the rope shackle, for example: it was only after delivery that it turned out to be a 35-centimetre colossus made of twelve millimetre thick material - more suitable for forestry work than for the yacht. The product photos, some of which are copied from established shops, are of little help.
Where is the best place to save? Eight products in the test
Shackle M10
The stainless steel shackle is quite large at 59 millimetres in length. There is no indication of the breaking load in the Temu shop. However, the workmanship looks quite good. In some places, unevenness is only half-heartedly ground away. In the load test, the shackle broke at 5,700 decanewtons. However, the bolt bent visibly at 2,000 daN. Price: 2.84 euros.
High breaking load
Super price-performance ratio
Difficult to determine the size in the shop
Processing with imperfections
Snap shackle
The snap shackle makes a clean impression. Only the shackle has a little play and rattles slightly. However, the mechanism locks reliably and can be easily closed without having to pull the locking pin. In the load test, the small shackle proved to be very robust. The locking pin only gave way at 1,200 decanewtons (approx. 1.2 tonnes), causing the shackle to open. The quality is right here. The price per piece: 2.29 euros.
High breaking load
Good locking
Very good price-performance ratio
Bracket has some play
Block with swivel
45-millimetre disc, the design is strongly reminiscent of Lewmar. According to the product description in the Temu shop, the blocks should be fitted with plain bearings. After the load test, the broken model showed that an industrial ball bearing was installed. It was also apparent that there were no reinforcements in the cheeks, only the plastic was holding them in place. The breaking load is 900 decanewtons, at 500 daN the shackle bends. Even before the test, burrs from the injection mould were noticeable in the running surface of the disc. In addition, the discs did not run cleanly on all four models. Poor workmanship and poor test results are clear, and it is not advisable to buy the discs for use on board. However, it should be sufficient for pulling the roof box under the garage roof.
Shoddy workmanship
Other bearing than in the description
No reinforcement in the cheeks
Low breaking load
Nylon mooring lines
Four ready-made mooring lines for 26.39 euros. The test stand at Liros showed that the breaking load of 2,170 decanewtons is acceptable. The elongation corresponds to a poor polyamide line. The eye splice could be a little nicer, but is fine. All in all, a positive surprise considering the price of 6.60 euros per line (just under 5 metres long). Nevertheless, caution is advised: the mooring lines are the most important lines on board and are in use for almost the entire season. It makes sense to invest in high-quality material here.
Processing and breaking load good
Spliced eye
Not the desired elongation
Wrong place for thriftiness
Aluminium thimble
The thimble, which is labelled as a sliding ring for sailing boats in the Temu shop, makes a very good impression. The workmanship is clean and the surface is beautifully smooth. The lettering "QIQU" and the size "10 x 7" can be found on the edge. 10 millimetres refers to the inner diameter. Price: 3.90 euros.
Good workmanship
Smooth surface
Very good price-performance ratio
Constantly changing dealers
Rope shackle
The rope shackle looks promising when you order it, but turns out to be a blatant bad buy. The model measures around 35 centimetres and can possibly be used for forestry work, but not on board. This shows that the confusing shop and missing or poorly translated product descriptions can quickly lead you astray. It only costs 3.66 euros per item, but is also not usable.
Beautifully executed diamond knot
Sheath braiding as protective coating
No information on working or breaking load
Much too large
Chineema
The brand name Dyneema does not appear in the product description, in the Temu shop it says "2.8 mm UHMWPE rope". The test shows that it has similar properties to Dyneema, but the very tight braiding makes it difficult to splice. In addition, the spool is not super cheap at 11.28 euros. Liros D-Pro (Dyneema SK78) in 3 millimetres costs 16.95 euros per spool in black at SVB. In the test, the Temu line broke at 384 decanewtons (D-Pro: 950 daN), the Chinese line is difficult to splice, stretches badly and is really only suitable as a stable flag line. The price difference is not big enough for that.
High-strength fibre (UHMW-PE)
Difficult to splice
No information on working or breaking load
Stretches strongly
Ball bearing camcleat
The curry clamp makes a good impression. The workmanship is neat. There is a stainless steel bracket as a line guide. The clamp also closes at the top with a plastic guide. Small stainless steel rods are embedded in the base to protect the plastic from abrasion by the cordage. The hole spacing is 40 millimetres, making the clamp compatible with many models from other manufacturers. The price: 5 euros.
Good workmanship
Stainless steel bracket as sheet guide
Plastic bracket
Compatible hole spacing
The big price comparison of the shopping basket
Only the price counts here. Quality plays no role in this comparison.
In the end, you want to know exactly: How much money can you really save by ordering from Temu? To find out, we compared Temu products with similar items from the SVB range. We excluded the soft shackle from the evaluation because it proved to be a complete bad buy. The result is hardly surprising, but it is clear: The price is almost four times as high with the German outfitter. One clear advantage of SVB is the very short delivery times - you usually have to wait much longer for a Temu consignment.
Polypropylene ropes are particularly problematic - commonly used in fishing for fish traps, but out of place on board. Finding suitable alternatives is like looking for a needle in a haystack. A special feature of Temu: the dealers behind the products are constantly changing. What comes from supplier A today may be sold by supplier B tomorrow - the quality may be completely different even though the product photo is identical.
The order is followed by a marathon of emails: "Your order is being loaded onto the plane", "Your order has landed in Frankfurt". Air freight from China is a burden on our environmental conscience. The delivery time varies between a few days and several weeks.
Surprises from Temu
The ready-made mooring line for 6 euros showed decent elongation properties, a breaking load of 2.1 tonnes and a well-made splice despite slight twists. The stainless steel shackles were also convincing in the load test and held surprisingly well - however, there are no breaking load specifications. The thimbles milled from aluminium were neatly finished and cost a fraction of branded products.
According to Temu-Shop, the blocks were fitted with plain bearings. After a tensile test until breakage on the test stand of cordage manufacturer Liros, it turned out that industrial ball bearings were installed. The stringers are not reinforced, the entire load hangs on the plastic. The blocks broke at 900 kilograms. This makes them unsuitable for use as downhaulers or deflection pulleys on the mast - they can suddenly fail under the high loads.
The Dyneema braid broke on the test stand at 384 kilograms. It is also almost impossible to splice. The area of application remains unclear. It may be suitable as a flag line, but not for rope shackles or splicing work.
That is also interesting:
Temu becomes a game of chance
Temu is unbeatable in terms of price. But the low prices come at a price: cumbersome ordering, non-transparent supply chains, weeks of waiting times and, above all, a lack of consistent quality. Due to constantly changing retailers, the same article description can mean a completely different product tomorrow - Temu becomes a game of chance.
Not everything is bad: mooring lines, stainless steel shackles and thimbles exceeded our expectations. But when it comes to safety-relevant items, things get critical. Blocks that fail under load or a reading lamp that poses a fire hazard have no place on a yacht.
The central question remains: Are the savings worth it when safety and reliability are at stake?
Michael Rinck
Redakteur Test & Technik
