First three cams

I'm wanting to start adding active pro into my rack of mainly passive pro. I was wondering, being on a budget, what size of camming devices are most commonly placed at most crags in CO (where I do most my climbing). I can't afford to go out and buy a whole set, so which three should I buy first, or which three will I end up using most? Thanks

Have you climbed with other people and used their racks? What sizes did you mostly use?

#1,2 and 3 Mastercams would be my suggestion. YMMV, as they say on the Internet.

Tough question...

I definitely say the .75 green camalot as one of the most versitile overall cams.

Also probably a #1 red camalot.

For a smaller finger size I'd probably pick an orange or red Metolius TCU.

You will never get a general agreement to this question. It's quite variable and depends on that you are going to climb most. I personally love OW and hand cracks. Most of my gear is in that range. If I were to buy three pieces it would be the BD #.75 #2 and #3. That's what I grab the most.
I recommend climbing and buying gear for the climb. That means you have a route you want to do but you need a #2 cam to protect the crux. The rest you can pro with nuts. So you buy a #2. Send. Find next climb. Repeat.

J Hazard wrote:You will never get a general agreement to this question. It's quite variable and depends on that you are going to climb most. I personally love OW and hand cracks. Most of my gear is in that range. If I were to buy three pieces it would be the BD #.75 #2 and #3. That's what I grab the most. I recommend climbing and buying gear for the climb. That means you have a route you want to do but you need a #2 cam to protect the crux. The rest you can pro with nuts. So you buy a #2. Send. Find next climb. Repeat.

Absolutely!!

Buy the .75-3 BD's for sure. Every other size we can argue till the cows come home.

Black diamond 0.75, and 1. Then it's a toss up between the 0.5 and the 2.

I often climb with just those 4 cams (purple, green, red, yellow).

One more piece of advice: stick to one brand for your first set.

And your question reminds me of my first cam: a pink, rigid stem Friend circa 1990. I would save it on every pitch for when things got desperate. Can't tell you how many times I got to to within a few feet of the anchor before I dared to use that magic bullet.

Thanks for the comments so far guys. It seems the common consensus is .75 to the #3 range. Also I noticed everyone is agreeing with using BD cams as opposed to other brands. What about Wild Country Friends? They offer a three piece combo pack with #s 1,2,and 3 friends. They don't have as much range as BD cams but the 1 is closest to a BD .5 cam in range.

LawHous wrote:Thanks for the comments so far guys. It seems the common consensus is .75 to the #3 range. Also I noticed everyone is agreeing with using BD cams as opposed to other brands. What about Wild Country Friends? They offer a three piece combo pack with #s 1,2,and 3 friends. They don't have as much range as BD cams but the 1 is closest to a BD .5 cam in range.

I'd agree with the BD .75 to 3 range.

My first cam was a #3 Rigid Stem Friend sometime in the late 70s or early 80s. I added 1.5, 2 & 2.5 Friends. Then some Metolius TCUs. Used that rack for many years.

I finally bought BD .5 to 3 just two years ago. Still use those Rigid Stem Friends for a second set when needed.

LawHous wrote:Thanks for the comments so far guys. It seems the common consensus is .75 to the #3 range. Also I noticed everyone is agreeing with using BD cams as opposed to other brands. What about Wild Country Friends? They offer a three piece combo pack with #s 1,2,and 3 friends. They don't have as much range as BD cams but the 1 is closest to a BD .5 cam in range.

So that's kind of another conversation that has a ton of threads on it. Without drifting too much I do use the WC tech friends in the upper ranges (red and yellow) to coffset my BD's since their range is a little smaller but comparable with a smaller head size.

Same thing on the lower aspects, I use BD's AND metolius TCU's.

For your first rack though? You can't go wrong with BD in the big sizes and to help save money I'd recommend metolius power cams in the finger to tip sizes.

.75, 1, and 2 bd sizes are probably going to be good

Presumably, you will be combining racks with your partner(s) at this early stage.

So the proper questions should be: My partner already has XYZ on his rack, I can add 3 cams, what should we add?.

The most-placed piece on my rack, without question, is the 0.5 camalot. Second is the .75 or 1, third is 3/4" perfect fingers (yellow tcu/alien/C3). Since you can often pro finger cracks with stoppers, that would have me buying the .5,.75.,1...but what if your partner already has doubles in that size and nothing bigger than a #2?..then you'd get a #3, etc.

The budget thing is a false economy. You will later buy more, and probably end up replace the old cheap ones (if you bought based on low price vs. performance...I've seen the cycle many times where someone bought like Czech or other eastern bloc cheap ass cams and then ended up replacing them a year or two later)

i actually use my el cheapo rock empire micros MORE than my WC zeros lately ... and that means whippahs ;)

what you should do is go out with people who climb in your area ... and climb on their gear ... do that with as many people as you can to try all sorts of gear ...

THEN youll know what you need to buy

if you have to ask what cams you need to buy on the intrawebs ... you need to go out and get more mileage in ;)

I started buying my first set of Metolius cams sometime in 1998, starting with odd sizes of TCU's #1 and #3, and Power Cams #5, 7 and 9. Six to eight months later I picked up the rest of the sets (TCU's #2 and #4, PC #6, 8, and 10).

Just last month I bought some new cams, Wild Country Helium Friends #1, 2 and 3. Twelve-plus years between buying cams... not bad.

-Consider purchasing sizes that are not readily protected by the passive gear that you already own (i.e. larger stuff) ((i.e. .75, 1, 2))

-Great advice from guy about complimenting your regular partner's rack. Consider nudging the people you get out with most often to also buy a few pieces

-BD has been the "gold standard" in camming units for-ev-ver

-Look for 20% off/ dividends/ site-wide coupons/ etc. to make it easier to drop dollas

-Always ask questions and don't hurt yourself

-Look at any criticism you'll ever receive as constructive
(You are officially a trad gumbie! Enjoy!)

.75,& 1. Then it's either .5 or 2 as others have said

another vote for purple, green and red c4's.

Third vote in a row, .5, .75, 1 camalots (purple, green, red).

I'll buck the trend a bit and say get 1,2,&3 C4's. Only because at those larger sizes that's all that works well. You can cover the range of .5 & .75 C4's with a pink, red, & brown tricam (get all three for about the same as one C4 & they will round out your rack later). I also think you should keep watch for a set of 5 (.5,.75,1,2,3) C4's on sale, you'll get five cams for the price of four & they will be your most used cams.

Definitely buy C4's for your first set, you can't go wrong with them. If you decide you want to get rid of them, they can be sold instantly here or on e-bay for almost what you paid for them.

My most placed goes to the 1,2,3 metolius TCUs; Blue, yellow, and orange. But I like finger cracks.

I'll admit it was a hundred years ago (there were no 1/2 sizes) when I got Friends 1, 2, and 3. I'd probably swap the 3 for a 2.5 if I was getting them today and could only afford three.