DMM Dragon Cam Review

Ryan Williams wrote: But like I said above, my actual climbing experience with the Dragons is minimal.

Is your actual climbing time with them minimal, or non existent? There is a difference. You stated originally that you put them on your harness while in the climbing shop, now you state that you have climbing experience with them. Which is it? Your influencing people who are actually considering purchasing some of these and you have done nothing more than 'play with them in a climbing shop.'

These are great pieces of gear, so long as they fit your preferences and your budget. To anyone considering these cams I strongly suggest trying them out. I would say buy one of the larger sizes as they are comparable in price to the BD in these sizes.

This is coming from a climber who has used them on many occasions as well as taken multiple falls on them. They work great!!

I have a set of Dragons, and love them. I also have a set of c4's, I rack both sets but carry less draws now.

I've climbed for two years on a set of Dragons that I pair with C4's. I like the Dragons just as much as the C4's - Sometimes more, sometimes less. Really there's not much difference when you use them. The extendable sling can be nice as a leader and bit of a pain as a follower. Dragons do feel better built with a bit more quality. I don't know if that's the forging, the stiffer springs or what, but the manufacturing does seem better.

One great thing about the Dragons is hardly anyone has them so you never have to bother getting your gear back from your partner when you mixed up your racks.

Not sure how this thread got resurrected from 2011, but I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in.

I have been accumulating Dragons over the last 6 months or so as doubles to my existing rack of C4s. I now own the #2-#6.

Jfriday1 wrote:I have a set of Dragons, and love them. I also have a set of c4's, I rack both sets but carry less draws now.

Ditto. I often find I'm able to clip the extended sling on a Dragon in situations where I'd have to extend a C4 with a sling. This lets me leave the ground with fewer slings. For me, it's more than a little extra length for rope drag management (which is certainly important). I also feel like the dyneema sling on the Dragons transmit *far* less rope movement to the cam than the stiffer nylon sling on the C4s. Thus if walking is a concern, I feel like they add a margin of safety.

After about 6mos of climbing on both, I tend to rack the Dragons first and the C4s only when I need doubles. I don't think you can go wrong with either, though.

I'd also state that using both Dragons and the current iteration of the Camalots that the Dragons are actually much more durable. I've not broken a single wire on them whereas I have broken a couple of the Camalot wires and the cams are in much better shape than the Camalots (which seem to be made of a much less durable metal). On the wires, I'm always having to re-bend my wires on the current camalot so the action is smooth. I have not had to do that once on the dragon. That said, the new camalots are nowhere near as durable as my older single stem camalots either.

The Flying Dutchman wrote: The weight difference is apparent but it wont make any real difference when climbing.

Gotta call that one out. For one thing you are forgetting the added QD. For another that added QD means TWICE the slot taken on your gear loops/gear sling.

Put another way, you have twice as much crap in terms of counting biner slots when racking.

Have found the lack of clutter and weight was great climbing and also approaching.

As someone w a double rack of C4/Dragons I feel like my experience is valuable.

First off I climb in desert sandstone. Generally its a choss party.

I always rack my Dragons on my right and my C4s on my left. I am definetly biased towards placing the Dragons.

I love their aggresive lobe angle. Not sure if this is science, but they seem to place easier in pods and constrictions. I have noticed that like OP said they tend to crunch the rock a bit when fallen on (only small falls here!)

I also really like the thumb stub for placing. I find it fits real nice on my finger. I also dig the extendable sling, as more often then not its one less awkward move to my harness to grab an extra sling (I tend to rack my slings separate from my cams)

As for their appearance, before I bought my dragons a friend showed me the slate Dragon (#4 C4) and I thought it looked like a toy. But now that Ive owned them for a while I think they are fairly durable.

As for their price, I found a killer deal on them, that made them cheaper than C4s. I think the lesson here is dont buy full price gear, thats stupid ;)

All in all I really like pairing my dragons up with my C4s. The small variation in size has come in handy more times than I can count. Why have everything the exact same size? Why not introduce that tiny amount of variation?

Attached is a cool video touring the DMM factory and showing how hot forging works :)

vimeo.com/50981189

My only issue is going to be the longevity of the sling on the dragons , I pulled the trigger on a 1-3 dragon so I can make my own decision wether I like them or not .

As far as anything other then the sling I can see no need to bother worrying about width of the cams or thumb loop or springs ect ect ect . I'm quite sure they will hold up to whatever I subject them to , just as my 3 generations of c4s have. it will probably end up being a situation where I will get dumped when the sling breaks rather then the cam walking or pulling out or some such nonsense .

I can honestly say if it ends up where I have to ship them overseas to have them re slung then they will become very expensive wall hangers , set in a spot where I have to look at them every day to remind me why I should never spend good money on another set.

iceman777 wrote:My only issue is going to be the longevity of the sling on the dragons , I pulled the trigger on a 1-3 dragon so I can make my own decision wether I like them or not . As far as anything other then the sling I can see no need to bother worrying about width of the cams or thumb loop or springs ect ect ect . I'm quite sure they will hold up to whatever I subject them to , just as my 3 generations of c4s have. it will probably end up being a situation where I will get dumped when the sling breaks rather then the cam walking or pulling out or some such nonsense . I can honestly say if it ends up where I have to ship them overseas to have them re slung then they will become very expensive wall hangers , set in a spot where I have to look at them every day to remind me why I should never spend good money on another set.

You dont need to ship em

5-6 mm tech cord will work fine through the holes ... The same thing they resling friends with

As long as yr willing to use cord rather than a shiny sling ... The dragons will be one of the cams with the lowest downtime

Just like any other old style metal eye cam

;)

Yep had that one in mind as well as an option , thanks ... I just have a thing about triple fisherman s knots , seems way too tacky for such a handsome camming unit . Now old c-4s well that's ok in my book . Lol.....

Dragon cams are super solid. Been using them for 2 years now. I pair them with borrowed bd's C4's and both cams slam into place. I still prefer the dragons and keep buying them over the Camelot. Partly because it's easier to separate them from my buddies rack. I haven't seen a single person out in the wild with the dragons. Good climbing gents!

I've been climbing on Dragons for a while now and have C4/X4s as the other half of my double rack.

(all sizes below are C4, no need to speak weird Dragon numbers)

I am really happy with the usability and wear on sizes 0.75-2 (I don't own Dragons below 0.75). BUT, I've pretty much decided that I prefer C4s in the large sizes blue and grey (C4 #3-4). Things are getting pretty wide when you're using #3-4, I find that I can maneuver and push around the larger cams better with the longer rigid stem. Also the big lobes seem to settle better/faster when placing the C4, I think because of shape of the lobe edges (not so rounded).

Haven't been to The Creek for a while, but I think I prefer C4s entirely there. Harder to bury and clip a Dragon in those sustained vertical cracks.

Anyways, there's my opinion. Dragons are great in all but the big sizes.