Both tethers being in space will be subject to damage by orbital debris. The single strand tether climber with its stationary tether will however be much harder to inspect maintain and repair, also since it is stationary this will have the effect of concentrating the damage in a particular area of the tether that passes through the common orbital planes.

 Since the Better Space Elevator's tether is a continuous loop once in operation it will move the entire length of the tether about the circuit thus spreading the exposure to orbital debris about the entire circumference instead of concentrating it in a particular area. This in itself will make the tether more robust, the additional benefit is that this also brings all of the tether past the ground station at regular intervals where it can be monitored and inspected (likely by high speed video and computer) and if repair is needed the damaged section can be repaired at ground level which will eliminate the complexity of space based repair.

 If the single strand tether climber were to experience a mechanical failure while in space this could require a space based repair to get the system operational again. With the Better Space Elevator the only moving parts in space would be the pulley system on the counter weight and the tether itself, as discussed previously the tether would be regularly inspected and maintained at ground level so the only possible point of failure in space would be at the counter weight. This minimizes the need for space based maintenance and reduces cost and complexity.