Knot Guide (Android)

RATING:
5 out of 5

PRICE:
$1.99

TASTY:
Learn the ropes for tieing more than 80 knots in 14 categories.

BUMMER:
Must have a data connection to view instructions for multiple knots. Workaround for a single entry: Open a knot before heading outdoors to cache it in your phone’s memory.

COOL:
Whether you’re an avid boater, camper, fisher, climber, sailor, or Scout (Boy or Cub), Knot Guide patiently walks you through step-by-step instructions to tie all common knots, and then some.

REVIEW:
Knot Guide ($1.99) is one of the most useful apps on my DROID. Tieing knots has long been one of my weakest skills; ask my father as he did his best to help me at Scout camp back in the day. That was one merit badge that brought me to tears. Literally!

Thankfully, today we have a Knot Guide app. Colorful images and step-by-step instructions gently guide you through the entire process of successfully tieing more than 80 knots. With full-color images, complete with a red and blue stripes rope and notations, you’ll be making solid Zeppelin Bends and, well, perfect Perfection Loops in no time.

Forget those old black and white images and ditch the dog-eared books; your DROID does a superlative job of explaining the uses for each knot, then offers a set of simple images to step through each knot to get the job done.

One minor flaw: You must have a data connection to download each series of photos as you switch between knots. If you have a single, specific knot you’ll need help tieing in the great outdoors, open it and step through the images before heading out. The knot sequence will be saved in memory (cached) and available until you try to switch to another.

With new knots added often, here’s the latest listing of knot categories and the number of unique entries in each (as of August 2010):

Bends (16)
Binding Knots (2)
Climbing Knots (26)
Decorative Knots (5)
Fishing Knots (18)
Hitches (End) (21)
Hitches (Middle) (10)
Lashings (4)
Loops (Fixed) (10)
Loops (Slip) 7
Rope Care (2)
Sailing Knots (26)
Scout Knots (10)
Shortenings (1)
Stopper Knots (6)