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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

 Page 1 of 3. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 49
Author
SLCDs: Which ones and why?

mtnbear
5-Dec-2005
11:37:02 PM
Well I'm on the market for another set of SLCDs and have been doing some research into a whole range of and brand names etc etc. All the dry data has been making my head spin. So I've figured out the best thing to rely on would be others opinions.

What SLCD's do you use? Why do you like them? Is there anything you don't like about them? What do you usually climb? (cracks, faces, rock types and all that jazz.)

your opinions would be well appreciated.

Regards,
Pierre

adski
6-Dec-2005
12:52:38 AM
For very small cams I think single stem is the way to go, otherwise the stems can really get in the way of a placement.

Perhaps it's easier to say what cams I DON'T recommend: Metolius cams suck for australian conditions as they have too much overlap in sizes. At a crag where the crack width doesn't vary much they might be better, but I have more range in my 7 cams (HB and BD combo) than 10 metolius cams. Usually I climb on mixed routes where I only place a couple (bluies, gramps, araps), so lugging less rack is always nice.

Also, the metolius cams have stiff springs making them awkward to use, and short stems which also makes them awkward to place and retrieve.

On more popular routes in soft sandstone I often see the cam placements getting eroded in the back, and maintaining a narrow face. In this case a cam with a wide range like Camalots can actually perform as designed rather than tipping out. In some cases the cam needs to overcammed to the max to get it past the face, and then rattles when placed. It's an interesting case and I'm sure Tricams would work well here.

Robb
6-Dec-2005
9:12:14 AM
Bd cams from 0.5 - 4
aliens for small sizes

JBM
6-Dec-2005
9:26:17 AM
On 6/12/2005 beefy wrote:
>Bd cams from 0.5 - 4
>aliens for small sizes

Ditto. I actually purchased an entire set of Aliens and intersperse the sizes with my BD cams.

JBM

Sabu
6-Dec-2005
9:41:06 AM
On 6/12/2005 beefy wrote:
>Bd cams from 0.5 - 4
u forgot size 5 and 6 for the offwidths.....

Juffs
6-Dec-2005
9:57:52 AM
I love the wonderful colours offered by Wild Country Tech Friends ... I feel like a christmas tree! ho ho merry friggin ho!

I have from .5 thru to 4 but I think instead of buying .5, 1 and 1.25 it would be wiser to invest in the small guage specialist SLCDs Wild Country Zeros .... they are a bit more flexible. I dont think the friends overlap too much and have a good colour identification scheme. The action is not as smooth as the Camalots but they are lighter!

QUESTION: what is the best way to correct any bending of the rigid part of the wire connecting the cam to the trigger? Anybody?
gfdonc
6-Dec-2005
10:06:08 AM
I'm a Wild Country man myself, have 00, 0.5, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4.
Some of these (notably the size 1 and 2) are the very old (original series) rigids but they still work fine. Any recent purchases have been the flexi/tech ones.
Supplemented with a green Alien which I also like. Could have bought the next smaller Alien but the higher kN rating on the 00 Friend swayed me.

oweng
6-Dec-2005
10:19:20 AM
BD cams (if you can get them on sale) are definatly the way to go in my opinion.

I think the Wild Country Zero's are brilliant and would recommend them for micro cams, but ive only climbed with Aliens when ive borrowed other peoples racks, so cant really compare the two.

sticky
6-Dec-2005
10:37:05 AM
I use Metolius, BD, Aliens. All are nice.

--Metolius are super light, smooth action, and like the fact that they have some size overlap. You don't run out halfway up a long pitch. Not super flexible though.
--BDs are sweet as everyone says but heavy.
--Aliens are sweet as hell but no cam stops. They make me feel less scared though, whch I like.

I think you tend to like whatever you buy. People who buy Friends love them, I find them stiff to place. I don't like HB FlexiFix cams cos i) they walk a lot; and ii) the sling is placed so that with your fingers on the trigger, the sling covers the thumb hook. That shits me to tears, especially on a desperate placement.
(If you read this Vossy, sorry mate- your cams suck). Find a picture of what I'm talking about here: http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Mail_Order_Friends___Cams_24.html

This review might help:
http://climbing.com/equipment/cams212/index1.html
though the BD cams reviewed there are the old models which were heavier.

Kyle


Super Saiyan
6-Dec-2005
11:28:51 AM
BD C4's n Aliens all the way!

Climboholic
6-Dec-2005
1:46:38 PM
Camalots in the larger sizes and zeros or Aliens in the smaller sizes seems to be the way to go at the moment.

I have Camalot C4's in sizes 0.5 - 4. I was going to buy some zeros but then I saw the new Camalot C3's. So I decided to wait until around Feb next year when they come out in Oz. From what I can gather the C3's have a higher strength rating at a particular size than the Wild country zeros (it’s hard to tell because WC doesn’t publish strength ratings on their website). All C3’s are all rated for free climbing. The smallest size 7.8-12.2mm is rated at 4kN.

I prefer BD since the C4’s came out because you can cover a larger range with less weight. A C4 weighs about the same as a technical friend at a certain size but the larger range from the double axle gives an overall weight saving. But they do cost more.

I avoid the problem of running out of a particular size by carrying 5 camp tricams. Together they only weigh about as much as a #3 Camalot and they allow more varied placements than just SLCD’s. I have 2 pinks, a red, brown and purple. They double up my C4’s from #.5 to 1 at the same time they double up my big nuts.

I used the .5 and two pinks and a purple on Texas Radio and the Big Beat the other day.

Eduardo Slabofvic
6-Dec-2005
3:09:07 PM
I recon find which ones feel better in your hand whilst working the trigger. I don't use some good brands, as I don't like the balance of the thing in my hand as I work the trigger.

The exception to this are Aliens, as I don’t really like the way you have to use the base of the loop with your thumb, but I like the shorter axle length, which makes them a bit better in horizontals.

mtnbear
6-Dec-2005
3:41:51 PM
Clearly the Aliens are winners for the micro cams...

Now that I've heard a lot of positive reviews about BD ( I was leaning to Metolius because they are lighter ) I might have to reconsider...

Many thanks everyone for the opinions! Keep em comming!




nmonteith
6-Dec-2005
3:52:56 PM
Favourites

Camalots - sturdy construction, no over-camming, solid placments with no walking
Wild Country - well made, light, minimum over-cammming
Aliens - fits places other cams don't, a bit rough in the construction.

Worst

HB Walk-a-lots - always overcams or falls out, wobbles in cracks, flimsey feeling in thebig sizes
Rock Empire - lightweight performance - scary to lead with. Rattles out of cracks. I felt like i had to drop
2 grades in ability when i was forced to use a rack of these at Moonarie.

Romfrantic
6-Dec-2005
3:59:09 PM
We have a combination of Wild Country and Rock Empire cams (a full set of Rock Empire, bought in Germany) . The Rock Empires are lightweight, although with the new BDs that's probably comparable now. We've had no issues with Rock Empire cams "rattling out of cracks", in fact no issues at all - quite happy with them, and if you get them in Europe, SOOOO cheap!

nmonteith
6-Dec-2005
4:01:44 PM
On 6/12/2005 Romfrantic wrote:
>We've had no
>issues with Rock Empire cams "rattling out of cracks", in fact no issues
>at all - quite happy with them,

Compared directly to Camalots i found them very un-reliable.

Romfrantic
6-Dec-2005
4:02:57 PM
well, that's your experience with them ;-) ...only spelling out mine.

nmonteith
6-Dec-2005
4:06:27 PM
It might be a case of not being familiar with the Rock Empire cams as well. A bit like trying to use
someone elses rack - when you don't know excatly how they have it set-up. Guaranteed confusion when
you start getting pumped! I am sure they are strong enough - i just foudn them to be quite a loose fit in
the crack - unless you overcammed them to stay in place! The camalots seem to fit snugly without
overcaming. Maybe they have tougher spring loading or something...

Romfrantic
6-Dec-2005
4:11:38 PM
yeah, really depends how familiar you are with the gear - if not your rack, then I can imagine that could lead to some hesitation. I've never had to over-cam the Rock Empires to feel happy with the placement, a big 'no no' regardless of the SLCD brand anyway.

Paulie
6-Dec-2005
5:56:12 PM
Camalots from .25 up, then Aliens for anything smaller.

 Page 1 of 3. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 49
There are 49 messages in this topic.

 

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