Black Diamond product announcement tomorrow?

Boissal wrote:All the feedback I've read on other climbing websites is pretty positive... Haters gonna hate. You guys would probably be on the "SLCDs are a scam" wagon had you been climbing at the time.

C'mon, coming out with a press release for a product that won't be available for a year and
really doesn't do anything new is asking for some ridicule....

sunder wrote:????????? Wonder about durablity of the magnets and a what point can you force open the gate?

My initial thoughts exactly after watching the video.

Jeremy Monahan wrote: My initial thoughts exactly after watching the video.

The magnets drive a locking pin in, I wager... So they they provvide the motivation ot "lock" but not the lock. Seems to me like something that would work. Good enough for a hard drive latch, good enough for a biner.

Not really their best move... I don't see many people picking this up and then holding a screw gate next to it in the store and going "Yea, I'll pay $35 for this one instead of $12 for this one."

If it drives a pin, I wonder what it would do in wet yet freezing conditions. In 37yrs of climbing I've only had screw gates freeze up twice or three times, but one of those times it certainly was a b$%^# to deal with. If it won't freeze up and is simple, durable and 100% reliable then it could be nice for alpine climbing.

My attitude is keep it simple. I do like BD equipment beause of simple designs and good quality control. I climb on 99% BD C4's and C3's. Offsets.... how often do you ACTUALLY need them. I stopped using them even for pin scars since they are too gimicky. I deal with pin scars just fin with C3's....

chuck claude wrote:I do like BD equipment beause of simple designs and good quality control. I climb on 99% BD C4's and C3's.

I would not call a C3 simple. I mean it is simple but not simple in comparison to what we always thought of cams. That was a pretty new innovation from BD and look how it turned out. Granted I have my durability doubts, but that is how I am.

Gym and single pitch sport climbers are probably going to love this? Multipitch, alpine, and ice climbers think it is useless.

Like those cars now that apply the brakes for you. Seems kinda useless to me, an attentive driver would never need that... Or those cars that parallel park for you, I passed my drivers test years ago with a F150 longbed. Parallel parked just fine. A lot of people like these new technologies though.

Fucking magnets, how do they work?

Seriously, this hasn't been posted yet?

DannyUncanny wrote:I'd like to see some kind of locking wiregate biner that weighs less than 40g. I think Petzl has the best chance to do this by modifying the Ange biners.

http://www.wildernessexchangeunlimited.com/product_detail.cfm?CatID=77&PID=3362&SKU=8857&LinkID=1

Close enough for me, and you could probably find it cheaper if you looked.

I wonder how these might be affected by other magnetic metals, like the steel used for bolts and hangers. Would suck to have it stick or not lock or what have you.

I think it's a neat idea, but its not for me. Personally I just like having to lock screwgate biners. It emphasizes the importance of the biner...or something like that. Hard to explain...

I would like to congratulate the marketing department at black diamond for causing three pages of pedantic speculation about a carabiner that "might" be available in 1 year. This is assuming they don't find any usage flaws that would cause it to fail in the field and not launch the product.

Whether you liked it or poo poo'd it, you will now go and pick it up at your local REI just to check it out. BD has given people another excuse to buy another equivalent locking carabiner.

Bravo BD marketing.

PT

MAN there are a lot of haters. Where were you people when the pet rock came out? With all this hate we could have stopped that lowpoint of humanity's consumerism...

I don't think it's an awful idea. Sure it's a new idea, and for many of you that precludes its potential utility, but the reality is magnets could have a place in making biners better/faster/stronger. I like that one motion takes it from locked to open, which IS an improvement over existing designs in that aspect alone. Only time and testing will tell the actual benefits.

As for some of the questions posed, 'wear' of magnets isn't a big concern under less cycled exposure to strong magnetic fields are present (assuming they are using.. uh.. neodymium-type magnets)

And because the fields are really short bolt hangers wouldn't do much.
Two of them racked next to one another (or, gasp, hanging in opposition!), however.. could maybe produce an effect?

TILLEYdoes wrote:As for some of the questions posed, 'wear' of magnets isn't a big concern under less cycled exposure to strong magnetic fields are present (assuming they are using.. uh.. neodymium-type magnets)

Or exposure to high temperatures, like if you're one of those who use boiling water to clean out sticky biner gates. Neodynium doesn't like elevated temperatures and permanently loses its magnetic field when exposed to it.

Also of note is that you're correct that magnets in gear can make for quite the cluster on the rack depending on how strong the magnets are and how well shielded they are from one another. Been there, done that and shelved the idea of use magnets in climbing gear. That said, I wasn't working with biners and BD may have found a way around the problems I encountered.

bd has stated that it will cost anywhere from 25$-29$... keep in mind that a basic screwgate rocklock, of which they plan to make a megatron version of, costs 10$ MSRP ... the twistlock, 16$ or so ...

even a top notch DMM Boa/Zodiac biner costs anywhere from 15$-20$ with or without the twistlock ...

so there is likely a 50%+ premium ... but then ya will look cool ...

im still waiting for people to refuse to climb with me cause i dont use a "safe" bd gridlock ;)

Aric Datesman wrote: Or exposure to high temperatures, like if you're one of those who use boiling water to clean out sticky biner gates. Neodynium doesn't like elevated temperatures and permanently loses its magnetic field when exposed to it.

Neodymium magnets Curie temperature is in the 300 degree C range; boiling water isn't going to affect them.