Product Review – Kurgo Quantum Leash

In the past, we would carry two leashes when cycle touring (three, actually because we had two dogs at the time). Two were regular walking leashes, while the third was a running leash for Sora. When we encounter steep hills, separated paths, or low-traffic roads, we boot Sora from the trailer and have her run alongside. She gets exercise and Dave gets a lighter load. Win win.

Kurgo’s Quantum Leash eliminates the need to bring an array of leashes. Cycle touring leaves us little space for doubles of any item, so we love the minimalist approach behind the Quantum Leash. Made to work in six different set ups, this leash enables us to use one leash for a variety of uses.

What we love:

Easily Adjustable

Unlike other hands-free leashes, the Quantum Leash transfers from Dave to me to a pole to our leg to a regular leash in a breeze. I love this. Because Sora tends to wander and chase off-leash, we keep her tied to one of us while setting up camp, eating lunch, etc and we trade off regularly. This leash allows us to do the Sora handover in seconds.

The series of two-inch loops along the entire length of the leash allow for easy adjustments. We never have to fiddle with annoying sliding belt adjustments to get the perfect setting for any situation. Just an easy clip of the carabiner and we’re ready to go.

Multi-purpose

We use the leash in a variety of ways with Sora. In addition to using as her daily walking leash, we also clip it around our waist when she runs alongside while we cycle. On the rare instance that I run, I bring Sora along clipped to my waist for hands-free running, and we can easily tie Sora to our leg when we eat out to prevent any, ahem, kitty chasing.

I can quickly secure Sora to my waist while grabbing items from our panniers to set up camp, take photos, or carry a load up stairs, leaving my hands free and my mind clear of a missing pooch. Even tied around my waist, the long length of the leash allows Sora plenty of lead to sniff and walk by my side with slack.

Reflective Stripping

Behind the blue ribbon is a strip of reflective material that runs the length of the leash and stands out in at night. We can easily spot Sora’s leash near our tent or when she’s clipped to something in the dark.

Areas for improvement:

Instructions, please

As we mentioned above, we do love the minimal approach to the leash, and we don’t use the leash in all six ways for which it was designed. One reason is that we only have one dog, and one of the six settings includes walking two dogs on the same leash. The other reason is that six different uses for one leash is a bit confusing.

The leash packaging showed images of the six ways to use the leash, but provided no instructions. No problem, we thought, the description on Kurgo’s website must include instructions or a video about the many uses. It did not. I had to Google “Kurgo Quantum Leash Video” to figure out each of its uses.

Including a small, detailed instruction book with photos and embedding the video directly to Kurgo’s website would help alleviate any confusion.

Carabiner Clip

This is a minor annoyance, but we’d love to see a strong S-clip rather than a carabiner to serve as the adjustment mechanism. The carabiner spins and often gets stuck on the ribbon, rather than remain at the tip of the leash. A two-way clipping device would prevent this from happening.

Snap Hook

It seems that nearly every dog leash uses the standard bolt snap to clip to a dog’s collar.

I really don’t like these.

The snap is tiny and therefore difficult to unclip, especially when my hands are cold or when I need to clip one-handed, which I often do while taking her out of the trailer and balancing my bike at the same time. Further, despite rinsing immediately after a visit to the beach to remove salt, the clip still rusts and then becomes stuck, requiring fingernail digging to force it open.

I would much prefer something more simple to use like a lobster claw trigger snap hook, which provide ample space for an entire thumb, rather than the tip.

Padded Handle

The Quantum leash comes with a “floating padded handle,” which moves up and down the leash, depending on the configuration. Attached via Velcro loops that secure around the leash, the handle slides easily and does not secure well to one particular spot. In a moment of panic during a thunder and lightning storm, the handle slid entirely off of the leash when we removed Sora from her trailer. We thought we had lost it, and discovered that we didn’t have a use for it when we discovered it buried in her trailer a few weeks later.

The felt material used for the handle is made of the perfect dog-hair attractant. Ours is covered in Sora’s hair. A fur-repellant material like the Rufftex™ bottom used for the Loft Wander Bed would be more preferable.

Conclusion

The Quantum Leash allows us to bring minimal items for Sora while we galavant the world. Its versatility enables us to change easily between a variety of settings – from regular walking leash, to hands-free for running, cycling, or walking around, to tying various posts, trees, etc. Initially, the number of different uses is confusing, but we got the hang of the leash and figured out how to use it for our needs after a few days of fumbling with the settings. Overall, we love this leash and for the price ($25) you get a multi-functional leash that saves you purchasing multiple items. 

Disclaimer: We received the Quantum Leash as part of our winnings from Kurgo’s Live Your Adventure Contest. We did not receive any compensation in exchange for this review and the opinions expressed are entirely our own. We wouldn’t tell you we loved something if it weren’t true.