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Kong Cams

paul

8-Sep-2006
10:15:29 AM

Has anyone had experience using the new kong cams? I was thinking of buying some to double up on the more popular sizes for climbing at Buffalo over sumer.

LGJ

8-Sep-2006
6:32:58 PM

I used a mates last weekend. They're great. I've got camalots myself and I love them, but the kongs feel nearly as good. Easy to place, solid feel etc etc. I reckon they're the go for the prices you can get them at...

phil

8-Sep-2006
9:54:14 PM

I have a set and find them perfectly fine. I have noticed that they can start to get sticky/squeaky in the action a little earlier, but an occasional puff of graphite power always returns them back to smoothy easy operation.

nmonteith

10-Sep-2006
1:22:04 PM

I wrote this review on Chockstone a few months ago...

Kong Cams – Italy’s answer to affordable spring loaded protection (By Neil Monteith)

First impressions are of a simple, yet rugged design – with a beefy single stem of similar design to the
specialist Aliens brand camming devices. These seem better made – with a more ‘commercial’ finish
to the overall package. The design is very basic – little in the way of moving parts and the most basic
level of nuts and bolts holding the device together. This simplistic approach means that day to day
wear and tear and subsequent repairs should be easy to manage. The build quality is good - metal is
polished and without any manufacturing imperfections. The only glaring new feature to these Italian
made camming devices is their cheap price - $79.95 (all sizes are the same price) – this is around
two thirds of the cost of similar big name brand cam.

The smallest sizes all have solid cams with reverse-strength lobes milled in. The larger ones also
have the milled cam stops but also have weight-saving sections cut out of the cams. They come in 10
sizes covering expansion ranges from 10mm to 100mm. Each cam is coloured for easy identification.

In practice these cams work well. I found the placements were stable and reliable - certainly an
improvement over some of other cheaper cams on the market. The tightness of the springs in a cam
themselves make for a more reliable placement. These Kong cams were tight and had a good smooth
trigger action. The devices overall length is about 20% longer than the equivalent Camalot size -
which allows you to place them deeper into cracks. I found their length to be a little cumbersome when
racked with other cams due to them hanging lower on my harness. The narrow two finger trigger bar is
small and awkward for big hands. I found my fingers slipping off the edges when they were sweating
up. Distance between thump loop and trigger bar is longer than usual – and felt stretched in my hands.
I think this would be a real problem for climbers with smaller hands – most girls would have serious
issues with co-ordinating this cam into place without additional strain. Guys with big hands won’t
notice any dramas.

Flexibility of the stem is restricted because of the larger diameter central cable. This was not a major
drawback as in my opinion the stronger the cable the safer the unit as I have personally snapped two
Wild Country cams in the past! The cam has a large clipping loop which can accept many carabineers
simultaneously (very handy for clusterf**ck aid shenanigans). Also included is a very useful double
stitched sling that can be extended to eliminate the use of a quickdraw. This saves the pain of having
to drag up a cam and a bulky quickdraw for every placement.

These appear to be a well built and solid camming device suitable for a first timers basic rack – or as
an excellent second set of cams for the climber who is expanding into longer trad routes and
endurance cracks. I was surprised that Kong, a well respected and long time climbing gear
manufacturer, had not brought out their own cams earlier.

mpage

11-Sep-2006
6:48:52 PM

I just picked one up as a cheap replacement for a lost tech friend, despite being quite long in the stem, doesn't seem to have any major draw backs from ground level. A not to be named outdoors shop on Little Bourke St is selling them for 25% off ($60) at the moment, only a half dozen left but hard to pass up at that price if you are looking to start a rack or double up on some sizes.

dave h.

11-Sep-2006
8:39:28 PM

How long have people had their Kong cams for?

from other sites (mainly US ones I think) I've gotten the impression that the less expensive cams (Kong, Rock Empire, etc) wouldn't last as long as the pricier cams (Black Diamond, Wild Country) due to grit getting into the moving parts etc.

Is this down to all the yanks getting fine dust in their cams at Indian Creek, and do we aussies not need to be concerned about it? Or is it a legitimate point? Or can you avoid the gummed mechanism by using some powdered graphite/cam lube/WD 40?

drdeviousii

11-Sep-2006
9:15:38 PM

On 11/09/2006 dave h. wrote:
>Is this down to all the yanks getting fine dust in their cams at Indian
>Creek, and do we aussies not need to be concerned about it? Or is it a
>legitimate point? Or can you avoid the gummed mechanism by using some powdered
>graphite/cam lube/WD 40?

This would only be a problem in areas where the rock is softer & sandier - eg the Blue Mountains. Hmmm, except no-one in the Blue Mountains uses cams so I guess it wouldn't be a problem after all.

jonorock

12-Sep-2006
10:51:52 AM

On 10/09/2006 nmonteith wrote:
> I was surprised that Kong, a well respected and long
>time climbing gear
>manufacturer, had not brought out their own cams earlier.

I was just reading a cam review from the US "Climbing" mag from 1994. Kong was making cams way back then.
Of interest was the price of Black Diamond Cams. $55 USD back then. From memory that is the rough price you pay today in the US.

mockmockmock

16-Sep-2006
10:41:32 PM

Nice review Neil, Have you or has anyone done a comparo between these and the Trango cams? Both these brands seem to be at the 'entry level' of camming devices.

Thanks

Ralph

blondontherocks

2-Oct-2006
1:57:14 AM

I live in Washington state in the US right now & none of the local climbig shops have the Kong Cams around here. Were are pretty much limited to buying BD or Metolius (the most expensive ones) and sometimes you can find the Trangos. Your posts of 20% off cams has me drooling because the things NEVER go on sale here!

james

2-Oct-2006
9:17:03 AM

20% off Australian prices are still more expensive than US prices.

eg: C3 Camelots are USD 70 (approx AUD 92) from Mountain Gear (US), but cost AUD 120 from Rock Hardware (Aus).

There are 11 messages in this topic.