X4 specs

squiddo wrote:Impressions, pretty but $$. I love BD gear don't get me wrong but at a premium are they better than the competition- Metolius Master, Fixe Alien, Totem Basic. One question- with respect to the .50 purple and .75 Green does anyone find them floppy? I had this issue with the Aliens and its exactly why I got rid of my Aliens larger than red.

Got to play with some X4 while in yosemite, and now own a .1. The .5 and .75 are def not floppy.

They are worth it over master cams (smaller head width and better range) and fixe aliens (better price and smaller head). Against the Totems...that's a harder call. In the tiny aliens (blue black) it's def worth it.

I still love my c3's and can't wait to have a full set so that I'll have triples in thin/finger/ thin hand sizes.

John Wilder wrote: on another note- Metolius will not rate any of their cams higher than 10kn, even though the big ones will pull in excess of 18-20kn in the jig. Doug has this policy because you cannot account for rock strength in the lab.

As well as they wont rate their 00 and 0 above 5 kN for the same reason. The 8kN rating on the black Alien is misleading as it would be very hard to get a cam that small to hold 8kN in rock. Strength ratings are the last thing one should consider when buying gear, unless we are talking about small RPs. I have never even heard of a cam's maincable failing in the real world from excess load. Has there ever been a recorded instance?

20 kN wrote: As well as they wont rate their 00 and 0 above 5 kN for the same reason. The 8kN rating on the black Alien is misleading as it would be very hard to get a cam that small to hold 8kN in rock. Strength ratings are the last thing one should consider when buying gear, unless we are talking about small RPs. I have never even heard of a cam's maincable failing in the real world from excess load. Has there ever been a recorded instance?

Did you forget about the old Aliens fiasco already?

That was the brazing failing not the cable. And I thought I saw on either BD, DMM, Metolious's info that most cams fail, when testing, are from the axels bending.

I thought that the BD C4's tended to fail with the thumb loop failing before the axle bent.

NorCalNomad wrote:That was the brazing failing not the cable.

In the end does it matter? The result is the same.

20 kN wrote: . I have never even heard of a cam's maincable failing in the real world from excess load. Has there ever been a recorded instance?

How about below rated strength?

Aliens?

Greg D wrote: How about below rated strength? Aliens?

I was referring to properly-manufactured cams.

Allen Corneau wrote: Did you forget about the old Aliens fiasco already?

That is an example of a manufacturer and/ or engineering defects, and not an example of a properly-engineered cam's maincable failing from excess load, which is what I was referencing.

20 kN wrote:The 8kN rating on the black Alien is misleading as it would be very hard to get a cam that small to hold 8kN in rock.

How do you figure that? Rock comes in many forms. Some harder than others. I struggle to see hard quartzite failing before the cam.

There was a reason why RPs where invented and micro cams were invented. And it wasn't to go in places of weak rock!

Is the .5 Purple and .75 Green X4 better than the .5 purple and.75 green C4??

I am debating about replacing my C4s with the X4s...

I love the blue and grey X4s.

Yup. Except on price they are definitely better. No reason to replace them, just get doubles.

J Red wrote:Is the .5 Purple and .75 Green X4 better than the .5 purple and.75 green C4?? I am debating about replacing my C4s with the X4s... I love the blue and grey X4s.

Definitely WAY narrower, but almost certainly not worth spending money to replace anything. Plus no one knows how durable they are, or if they have any unusual quirks that haven't been discovered.