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OmegaPacific biners - a word of warning 17-Sep-2005 At 11:02:05 AM shaggy

Message

I have just read through this thread, and I think that you are all over reacting to a minor issue. Yeah, there is a small problem, but, as mentioned by various people, a lot of biners have this same problem. I have plenty of biners that are happy to sit cross loaded, with the rope sitting on the edge or the gate, and yes, most of them have an edge there. Thats one of the reasons why, when you first learn how to belay, that you should alway make sure and constantly check that your biner is NOT in this position. So, instead of hinding these biners in your cupboards, just make sure you belay correctly. If your still concerned, get a belay keeper (the rubber or metal thing that kept the biner oriented).
These biners have been around for years now, and been tested in millions of situations, by thousands of climbers and only now, someone has desided that this is a huge issue? If you are that concerned, take a fine file, and take the edge of the gate, Don't worry, It isn't structual at that point (if you only take the edge off). I have done this with plenty of (non OP) biners, it also smooths out the closing action too.
There are plenty of "flaws" with many climbing products out there, in fact, nearly all of the most commonly used quick draws have major issues with how easy it is to "flick" the rope out of a closed biner, in certain positions, but do you see people asking for recalls?
In reagards to Brat (?), the situation with the chest harness's, the gate of the biner should always be out, and thus impossible for the gate to come in contact with the harness, If the gate is towards the body, 9 time out of 10 they will end up cross loaded against the gate, as with most other biners.