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Kong vs Black Diamond 7-Dec-2006 At 4:11:47 PM cheesehead

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Still, TMarsh has the right on the meaning of 3-Sigma - it's the expected (or tested, whatever) sample size that pass the test, nothing to do per se with the actual failure strength.

[A side note - as an engineer, it's very rare to see failure strengths marked on a product. I'm happy to be shown up, but climbing gear is the only example I can think of. Most other things have a rated strength. eg, expected failure loading is 12kN. 'safe' operating load is decided to be say 10kN. Divide that by 'factor of saftey' (really factor of ignorance - to plan for stuff you just don't know) - usually about 2, to achieve a rated operating load of 5kN.
One good reason for adopting failure strengths is that climbers don't 'operate' gear to a particular load level. They give a failure test once in a while.]

KONG vs BD - if the shapes are the same, then it becomes a bling question, in my opinion. I don't know the Kong shape. I'm personally a fan of BD wires. When you get enough money together, get a second set of wires - like offsets. Whatever shape you get, they will fit in places your KONG/BD ones don't (and vice versa).

Another note - a friend recently noted that his old (8 years or so, I think??) wires are still fine. His new ones from the same manufacturer all started splitting strands of the cable (through wear and tear, nothing sinister). Assuming this is 100% correct - both old and new wires still pass the same test, are rated to the same failure loading - but one is more durable. That isn't mentioned on any rating test.