BD C4 sz 0.3: Useful?

Sure it is useful - I use it frequently along with the Alien of comparable size. They both have their place.

The difference: The BD C4 #0.3 is better in deep placements such as found at Indian Creek since it is more stable given the wider head and slightly larger expansion range. The green Alien is better in shallow placements such as found in Eldo and sometimes in granite due to the narrower head and more flexible stem.

I like it, but I find that a TCU seems to fit more places for me. In granite, both are bomber. For anything below an 0.5, TCUs are always the first cam I reach for.

If head width isn't an issue, yea. I got rid of my .3, .4, and .5 because I had cams in the same range with narrower heads that I placed more often. First I took the .3 and .4 off my rack. When I didn't miss them being there after a few months, I sold them. Then I stopped carrying the .5s because I had two red aliens and an orange TCU. I just sold the two .5s I had a week ago on here.

FWIW - I never got a .3 BD even though I always wanted one. It's the same size as the Green Alien and THAT was my MONEY piece for years and years.

Now, the Totem Blue Cam (smallest) is the same size AND has a narrower head than even the Green Alien.

That .3 is on sale right now though.... Hmmm....

Keep it! I carry aliens in a similar size and still place the .3 almost every climb.

John Wilder wrote: Ive carried all- the green alien, blue totem, yellow mastercam, tcu, the C3 and the .3BD, and given a choice of one, I'd take the .3 BD over them all. Its a damn good piece, but fwiw, i dont subscribe much to the narrow head thing- in 9 years of climbing 1000s of pitches across the US, i've never actually had an issue with this. If you subscribe to that, i'd probably go with the Totem or the C3, depending on your preferences.

I've found that the granite in the PacNW likes narrow headed units a lot. Something about the nature of the rock. A lot of the free routes utilize pin scars (Index in particular). Squamish cracks also tent to be pods or shallow placements. Here the wider bd cams were second to TCUs, Aliens and Offset cams. The granite is also fine grained which seemed to like metolius and aliens. I've since moved to an area with very large crystal granite. Here, the BD cams shine and are noticeably more stable than a TCU or C3. Very much crystal size related. Also, there are almost no pin scars so placemen depth is not an issue. I'll have to borrow a .3 C4 and see if I "need it". I bet I do!

I climb mostly in Joshua Tree, and the blue #.3 C4 rarely fits there, the Yellow #2 C3 is much more versatile - so much so that I simply stopped carrying my #.3 on any JT climbs.

I have had success with it on sandstone, though.

It seems like I am the lone dissenting opinion, but I am not a big fan of the .3 C4. Once I bought a set of mastercams, I stopped bringing along the .3 and .4 C4s. I also have the blue (5) and red (6) zeroes and like those better as well. In comparison, the smaller C4s feel really clunky.

Placed it two times today in Eldo.