Initial impressions of Trango Rock Prodigy Training Center (RPTC) hangboard

Gold Plated Rocket Pony wrote:I noticed the same thing when I mounted mine a month or so ago. Right was thicker than the left and not as square overall. I ended up saying f-it and just mounted them. Haven't noticed any negatives. This does seem to be a downside of having independent pieces/molds. I'd assume Trango must have noticed this in their QA process.

Where did you purchase yours from? I ordered mine from Moosejaw because there was a huge discount, but I'm thinking of just ordering straight from Trango.

Mine came direct from trango

Gold Plated Rocket Pony wrote:Mine came direct from trango

I see. By the way, what does QA stand for?

QA = Quality Assurance. Their testing process.

I ordered mine directly from Trango and got it last week. I didn't notice anything as far as asymmetry but it is purple not blue. I don't really care about the color but was certainly surprised by the deep purple pieces of plastic that I got in the mail.

On another note, I (obviously) haven't had the chance to use it much, but based on my first session with it, I really like it. It feels so much better than the Metolious board I have dabbled with before. Also, the pinches, my climbing weakness, are very comfortable to use. Overall, I am certainly impressed with the board. I was conflicted between a Beastmaker 2000 and this but I'm convinced I made the right choice.

Has anyone used this with a blank slate? Can a pulley be attached to the blank slate?

You sure can! You have to be a little careful of how you line up the screw holes, and you probably don't want to add too much weight when using the pulleys (or adding weight on), but it works pretty well. If you do want to add weight, definitely make sure the door frame is steady. I take this on family vacations when I can't climb :)

Blank Slate RPTC
This photo was taken in a hotel on a work trip.

Sweet thanks. I don't have to worry too much about weight I'd imagine. I'm only starting at 137.

Also that looks like the blank slate regular size, not the slim version. Is that correct? Do you ever have issues getting it to fit on a door frame?

And finally did you go with vertical or overhang?

This is the slim version, and the board overlaps the edge a little (not a big deal). The Blank Slate actually flexes quite a bit, so I set it up with the board a touch "slabby" so that when I weight it, the flex takes it to vertical. Most of my HB workouts are done at home on a vertical board in my garage, so I just try to replicate that as closely as possible.

Like Adam, I set up my Blank Slate so that it sat a little less than vertical so that when I hang on it, it gets pulled into a perfectly vertical configuration. It actually works pretty well!

BTW- if you're looking to buy a blank slate to put your hangboard on I'm selling mine here. It's a vertically-oriented slim version: mountainproject.com/v/fs-bl…

my HB pieces are slightly non symmetric (slight bulge in one of them), however the depths of the holds are symmetric. maybe check and see if this is the case with yours also, although yours look a lot more non symetric in terms of thickness than mine are.

FWIW Trango reached out to me and replaced my hangboard. Just mounted it last night. Good customer service in world where most companies don't seem to care anymore.

Gold Plated Rocket Pony wrote:FWIW Trango reached out to me and replaced my hangboard. Just mounted it last night. Good customer service in world where most companies don't seem to care anymore.

Wow, how did you get your replacement so quick? Trango reached out to me as well, and mine is being taken care of.

Where should I order from if I want symmetrical blue ones?

PlanchePRO wrote: Wow, how did you get your replacement so quick? Trango reached out to me as well, and mine is being taken care of.

Their offices are down the road from Boulder so I just drove over and swapped them out.

Pontoon wrote:Where should I order from if I want symmetrical blue ones?

I'd say from Trango but not sure about the color. They have corrected the issue now. Height-wise my new ones are still a fraction of an inch off (maybe a 10th of an inch?) but within the tolerance and the depth of each grip is the same between pieces. The grip depth was never an issue but having two pieces that are roughly the same height is nice now. Before one was a 1/4" inch taller but I still didn't notice during my HB sessions.

Ok thanks, Trango is out of stock so I'll have to wait. Moosejaw has one left and I'm tempted...

I just got my hang board from Backcountry. It's blue and super asymmetrical. Holds are different angles and the overall thickness is quite different.

I was initially going to post it as a reply on this thread since there was so much discussion going on about how to install RPTC on this thread, but then realized it was going to be too long for a reply and that it was worth to write a new thread.

Here's the separate thread with questions on how to install an RPTC: mountainproject.com/v/help-…

Thanks!

slim wrote:as a follow up to my original post, here is general update. i have gone through 3 cycles on the HB now. definitely stronger, particularly on pockets. despite battling weather, family trips, work, and more work i have managed to bump up my grades a bit. here is one of the most impressive things about this hangboard (at least to me anyway). i haven't had to bail on a single set, or even a single REP of any of my workouts due to flappers or other discomfort. not a single rep. for me, that is mind blowing - i used to have a lot of trouble with this. there have definitely been several times when it wasn't exactly comfortable (that nasty little crimp, sweet moses malone that thing is a bastard), but i was still able to chug through it. i am also really psyched about the pinches. i have actually kept improving on these, and i can definitely tell when i am bouldering in the gym.

The pinches are the best!

In the past I have resorted to other methods for improving my pinch strength, and because it was a separate tool, never trained it consistently as I did the other grip positions. The pinches are so well designed on this board, the progress just keeps coming on those buggers!

Amazing how much an increased pinching ability increases climbing performance.