BD X4s - First Pics

No rock time on these yet so impressions of them are purely "held them in my kitchen" nature.

Nice, build quality. Really like the sculpted trigger. VERY MUCH like a Basic/Alien cam in size, feel etc. The "symmetric swage" seems "meh" - not all that noticeable. The cable "armor" is pretty slick - could be best in class. Not ground breaking but if you don't have small 4CU I'd look at these and the new Alien/Totem Basic. Note that the X4 is NOT as narrow as the Totem cam which, still, is the most "revolutionary" new cam out there.

Pics of the Green Basic, .3 X4, Blue Totem

Yeah the cable protector is pretty cool. It will add durability, but when cams last 10-20 years anyway it doesn't really make much difference. Other than that though, I just don't see any reason to buy one, seems like a "Mastercam 2.0". I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts once you got them out on rock though.

whos willing to whip on em?

if they are more durable, shouldnt be an issue

we want WHIPPAHS ;)

bearbreeder wrote:whos willing to whip on em? if they are more durable, shouldnt be an issue we want WHIPPAHS ;)

Send me a full set and I'll post whip pics

Durability in Free Climbing use might be a wash but aid climbing tends to trash the stem/trigger areas of cams much faster. There I could certainly see the armored cable setup being more durable. Of course the X4 might not be as "clutch" as the softer cam Basic/Alien is and Totem Cams are certainly wiggling into the "clutch piece" space as well.

Not sure why but BD didn't give the X4 cams a tumble finish which left the cam faces with "Sharp" edges. I can see them mushrooming and having the same issues as the Aliens due with their rough cut cam lobes. Totem addressed this in their "Basic Cam" version.

mattm wrote:Not sure why but BD didn't give the X4 cams a tumble finish which left the cam faces with "Sharp" edges. I can see them mushrooming and having the same issues as the Aliens due with their rough cut cam lobes. Totem addressed this in their "Basic Cam" version.

If I had to venture a guess here, I would say that this is likely due to the very small tolerance of where the trigger wire attaches to the lobes. Softening the edges would possibly take off enough material at the edges that the lobes would be less durable, and at worst be more susceptible to deformation.

Given the harder metal on the lobes vs. the aliens, I would not be as concerned here. Assuming that this is the same lobe material as the C4s, it tends to round itself off over time anyway, and (at least in my experience) is not prone to the sort of mushrooming you are referring to.

Granted, in the smaller sizes (.3 and down) the lobes are VERY close together, so even a little bit of mushrooming and the cams will be next to useless.

Clearly, the only way to tell for sure is going to be to take some massive repeated falls on the smaller sizes. Hopefully there is some nice weather this weekend. . .

Bet you're right. My old Met TCUs never had mushrooming issues and their lobes are right next to each other.