Steel strapping has been around forever, but how do you know if you should consider other options?  There are still some places steel strapping has lots of advanatages:

1. If you have a round object that has a diameter smaller then 25″, steel may be your best bet!  You can use a push seal (closed strapping seal) and the nose of the tool can push the loop tight.  Most tool require the base of the tensioner to be under the strapping, and if you have a round object, you end up banding the tool right down to the product!  A pusher type tensioner is required for small rounds like pipe!
2. If you need it not to stretch.  Regular duty steel strapping stretches only about .5%, and high tensile stretches a minimum of 6.5% (per AAR specs), but it doesn’t start stretching till you have pulled about 70% of the strapping strenght.  That means you may not see any stretching at all.  The advanatage of elongation is it lets the strapping give when it takes an impact.  The more the banding elongates, the larger impact the strapping can take.  The math is: force = mass x acceleration, and increasing the elongation increased the distance it has to accelerate.
3. If you use 2 inch steel strapping.  Some really heavy loads, like oil pipe your options are limited.  If you need super strong banding, 2″ steel strapping may be your best bet.  There are some alternatives like webbing coming out, but the tooling is limited.  The Signode WP-2 pulls lots of tension (8,000 pounds!!!), that you need for HD banding!