Best notchless biners?
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I looked through the archives but couldn't find anything. I want to switch out my draws to notchless. Recommendations? Anyone done it and didn't like it? |
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Wild Country Heliums (wires) and DMM Shadows (solid gates) are both excellent. |
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for what it is worth I bought a Petzle Ange to play with and its cool, but wicked tiny in size and gate opening. At the moment i only use it for racking my point and shoot camera. |
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I really like the new BD Hoodwires. |
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I picked up a handful of the new large size Petzl Ange. So far they are my favourite biner. I also own a DMM Shield quickdraw and I don't care at all for the "twisted" wiregate on it. I've played with Heliums and they seem really nice, but I would pick the Petzl Ange L over Heliums. Unfortunately they are both equally expensive. |
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'll probably buy a couple of each one and then decide from there. And thanks to johnL, I'll pee my pants anytime I get above a Helium. |
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Heliums are sweet but stupid expensive ($12.95 retail), wiregate, full size, and almost the lightest out there. The Camp Photon would be my second choice at $9.95. |
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+1 on the Heliums. Have used them exclusively for my ice/alpine rack since they came out and love 'em. Stoopid expensive, but in bulk, they're "only" $10ish. Ha! I've used my buddy's Ange biners on some ice leads, and the size isn't quite the issue I expected it to be - that's with skinny ropes though. They can ice up something fierce in very wet conditions too. There's only like a 4 or 5 gram difference between the Helium and the Ange, and for me, the weight is worth the easier handling/clipping. |
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I assume you're talking about sport draws...
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I have the WC heliums and think they're great. They're very easy to clip, fit well in my hand, are easy to remove from the wall and my harness, super light and, quite frankly, they just look cool. |
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For sport I have Petzl Spirits, and love them. For trad I have Helium's with Mammut 60cm slings made into alpine draws. They were all expensive, but well worth it in my opinion. |
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Austin Baird wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. I'll probably buy a couple of each one and then decide from there. And thanks to johnL, I'll pee my pants anytime I get above a Helium. PS - do the small Anges clip about the same as a Nano or are they harder to clip?The small ange biners are way easier to clip than the nano. As a matter of fact they arent that bad at all. I got 2 of them and use em exclusivly for racking cams. The few times i clipped directly into those biners they are very smooth. I wouldnt reccomend them for ice climbing tho. |
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Ryan Williams wrote:Wild Country Heliums (wires) and DMM Shadows (solid gates) are both excellent.+1 (expensive though) BD hoodwires good alternative at a good price. Love the heliums though. |
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Only 1 person so far voted for Spirits? That's surprising. |
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I haven't had the chance to use them yet (they are never in stock) but I am pretty excited about these hitting the market. DMM Alpha Trad & DMM Alpha Light |
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Spirits are the BOMB. A bit heavier, but they take some serious use before wearing them out! |
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I just use solid-gate biners on the bolt-end. Positrons are what I have, but if I was buying again I'd sure look at the Spirit. |
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Another vote for the Petzl Spirits... I like them for wriggling onto crowded bolt hangers (was psyched to find locking ones for my daisy chains), and the "grip" thingys on the gates- makes me slightly less fumble-fingered. |
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+2 for Petzl Spirits, though a bit on the heavy side. |
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johnL wrote:Have you noticed that every report of a biner stabbing a falling climbers arm is with a helium? They aren't sharp but there might be something about their shape that lines them up to skewer.I have noticed that actually. I know one of the guys. He lost his pinky finger and all use of his ring finger, but actually climbs harder now, after the incident. Go figure. I haven't asked him if he still uses that biner. |
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Perin Blanchard wrote:I assume you're talking about sport draws... Notchless only matters on the bolt end, so I have settled on: * Bolt end: DMM Aero straight-gates. A bit cheaper than the DMM Shadow (but slightly weaker in open and minor-axis strength). One of my partners has some newer DMM draws with the DMM Alpha carabinersvery nice. * Rope end: Metolius Inferno. Wire gates are nice for the rope end, and these are big (easy-to-clip), relatively inexpensive, and very strong. * Dogbones: Petzl. Easier to clip than shoestring draws, and much easier to grab and hang onto :-)That's a pretty solid sport draw, seeing as you can get both the Shadow and the Inferno pretty cheaplthese days. |