Alien evo lite

Does anyone actually use these things?
Got anything to say about them?
I am thinking about getting a couple but i'm not sure and would like to hear some comments about them..

headead wrote:Does anyone actually use these things? Got anything to say about them? I am thinking about getting a couple but i'm not sure and would like to hear some comments about them..

They seemingly had some teething problems (trigger sheath hoping loose). I waited a bit and the set of Blue,Green,Yellow double slings I got recently did quite well in Idyllwild recently. No issues and everything I recall liking about the originals but better (narrow head is noticeable). Not sure how they'll hold up yet but I do like the improvements (narrow head, trigger, thumb loops, sling etc). Now the big question is EVO Lite vs Totem Basic. That's a bit harder...

Headead,

I picked up three of them a few months ago and they got the nickname "toycams" after the first day. They're light and really bendy but that's about the only good thing I have to say about them.

They're the double sling version and while the sling is actually long enough to be useful while extended it make them hang pretty low from a gear loop.

The spring tension is wildly inconsistent between the three, on one its good, on one its really weak and on the smallest its so weak that the lobes don't fully open half the time.

The range is almost exactly the same as comparably sized mastercams, I checked with calipers. when you pull the trigger back all the way the trigger wires butt up against the backs of the adjacent lobes well before they're maxed out.

Finally the slings they put on them are going to wear out way faster than any other cams I've ever used.

If I set out to make a dedicated alpine rack for horrible approaches a double set of these things would be awesome, otherwise I wouldn't want anything to do with them.

Hope that helps

Yeah the narrower head and new thumb loop really attracted me to them
I do really like the double sling idea but I could see how they could wear fast...

I remember seeing a post about the trigger sheath coming loose and a broken trigger wire and thats what lead me to post this.
Im just stuck between Totem Basics or the new alien
anyways thank you for the replies!

mattm wrote: Now the big question is EVO Lite vs Totem Basic. That's a bit harder...

Care to elaborate?

I have the evo lites in a grey and yellow, and I really like them! I'm partial to them over the regular aliens because theyre much lighter and the loop and trigger are more comfortable and easier to use. The extendable sling version might be a bit unnecessary because they don't really get you that much, but they've come in handy from time to time. Thats just my 2 cents...

I have 4 of the evo lites. I like them. The trigger is a nice, ergonomic update, the cams are narrower than old aliens, yet they somehow retain that "perfect fit" feeling you get so often just like placing the genuine article.

True, they do hang a little lower than other cams, but some of us are more used to a little extra dangle.

Just a little update.

I put the yellow alien lite back on my rack a few weeks ago thinking I would give it a second try. Now after about three days of climbing on it (total) I've noticed a trigger wire is almost frayed completely through. This cam has probably only been placed a dozen times. oh well, break out the drill and paper clips, no more fixe for me

i've seen too many QC issue with the fixe aliens to ever buy any of them. I can think of three different cases where the endcap for the axel just came off without even taking a fall, and in one case without ever being placed. scary shit.

as always, yer gonna die

Some of the new fixe alien lite have had issues wirth the trigger wires prematurely breaking, its a known issue ... If that happens take it back

The original fixe aliens basically fall apart ... Its all fun and MP games till ot happens to u in the middle of a long multi

One thing CCH did het right with the original aliens is using whats basicaly bobby pins for the trigger wires

It wasnt super sexy like kevlar or a braided wire ... But it does allow for easy user replacement

There was no pressing reason to switch ... Its not like the old aliens had a massive problem with their trigger wires or pull ... In the quest for a marginal gain theyve made it much harder for users to maintain the cam

The premature breaking of trigger wires shows that fcuk up on the new aliens

;)

I've had mine a couple of months, placed fairly regularly, and no durability problems yet. Some cite a problem on an earlier batch that has since been remedied? Who knows, maybe with more usage I will run into that issue. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm light, my gear is all shiny, I don't climb hard enough to really test the equipment, blah, blah, blah....

Per my slag on BD X4s, however, I do have a caveat that my limited experience (read: one time) with the entire range of offsets was very positive, a night and day difference between the regular versus offset version.