Sympathize with you on the StaSet X. Stiff is just too stiff and would climb out of the jaws on my vertical mounted self tailing winches.

Have used knots to secure the halyards on my boats for decades and many thousands of cruising miles. Don't have to worry about getting clonked on the head by errant shackles. Makes it really easy to trim off the end of the halyard occasionally to change the wear points and end for end the rope to even out UV damage.