To be honest Dave, I bought my rope years back from some department store. It is not very good rope but I guess it still does the job.
But what I have heard on other forums (which you probably are aware of) is that
Elite Magician's Rope from Camirand Academy is considered to be some of the best rope you can use for rope magic. Apparently it is also the same rope that Richard Sanders uses to perform on Fibre Optics -and it is even packaged with his Three Ropes and a Baby routine.
It is sold with a diameter of 7mm (parlor size) or 10mm (stage size) and in a length of 10 metres
In the U.K at
http://www.magictricks.co.uk you can find the 7mm for:
£7.99 (it's not that cheap!)
In the U.S at
http://www.mjmmagic.com you can find the:
7mm:
$9.45 USD (
£5.45)
$8.50 USD (
£4.90) *
10mm:
$23.70 USD
(£13.65)
$21.33 USD
(£12.29) *
* with returning customer discount
the aforementioned sites seem to only supply this rope in White UV Luminescent. But you can find the 7mm rope available in Red, Yellow, Green & Blue (in Canada & U.S.) at:
http://www.camirandmagic.com $12.75 USD
(£7.35)
I have also read a comment from a guy in a U.S forum that he prefers the Deluxe Soft White Rope made by Fun, Inc. which apparently is exclusively sold at:
http://www.dennymagic.com He claims it has the same brightness and is the same size as the Elite Magician's Rope but softer. 50 Feet (15.25m) of rope at 3/8" (9.5mm) thick is sold for $15.00 USD (
£8.65).
My guess is that most people in the UK would be familiar with the Deluxe Magicians Rope sold at Penguin Magic - 18 feet of rope for
£7.55. I have read some good comments and a couple of not-so-good ones about this rope but I have obviously never tried it.
As I am from Australia, I would normally buy from the U.S. - because I tend to get more value for my currency and generally cheaper shipping costs. And as you can see mjmmagic.com sell the Elite Magician's Rope for the best price and I have yet to find a site that sells it cheaper - so that is why I have recently placed an order with them. But as for those of you in the U.K, once again you have to take shipping costs into account. So Dave, at the price you seem to be purchasing your rope for; it seems to me your getting good value for your money.
By the way, in relation to a previous post of yours, I too have never come across black rope for magicians.