Review: DRCC V512 Hangboard
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The Detroit Rock Climbing Company V512 Hangboard: |
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Thanks for the excellent review Will, particularly all the great photos. Will S wrote: The slopers on the top and middle row are too narrow from side to side. You can see this clearly in the 4th pic. Since they are located in the center of the board, your hands are literally touching each other and my thumbs bang together making it difficult to use these holds effectively. It can be done, but you have to arrange your thumbs deliberately before starting the hang. This could have been easily solved in design, so I'm not sure how this obvious drawback made it through the prototyping.poses a significant risk of injury to the shoulders/back. You should never hang repetitively on holds that force your thumbs to touch. Your hands should be ~ "shoulder width apart" for all exercises on a hangboard. Will S wrote: Another slight drawback is no pockets (I don't use them much on the boards I have with them, preferring to just use 2 fingers on edges to simulate, but many do train on pockets).Another thing to consider, when a hangboard has pockets, they pretty much need to be on the bottom row of the board, to allow space for the inactive fingers to curl in (towards a fist) while hanging. When scoping a new board this should be assessed. I think only using 1 or 2 fingers on a 4-finger edge is fine, as long as the board is designed to allow space for the inactive fingers. It looks to me like this board would only allow you to use the lowest set of edges for "pocket" training. If that is true, then the user needs to consider if the lowest set of edges are the right size, shape & orientation for the type of pocket training they want to do. I've never fondled one of these, so what do you think Will? |
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thanks for the review Will! Good points Will and Mark, particularly about the narrow holds/shoulder/thumbs hitting each other issue which is a problem on a lot of hangboards. |
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Monomaniac wrote: Another thing to consider, when a hangboard has pockets, they pretty much need to be on the bottom row of the board, to allow space for the inactive fingers to curl in (towards a fist) while hanging. When scoping a new board this should be assessed... It looks to me like this board would only allow you to use the lowest set of edges for "pocket" training. If that is true, then the user needs to consider if the lowest set of edges are the right size, shape & orientation for the type of pocket training they want to do. I've never fondled one of these, so what do you think Will?Good point. A prime example is the Manta, which has all of its useful pockets on the bottom row, and even the Metolius simulator probably has enough top to bottom taper that you could get the "curl" in on the holds that aren't on bottom. As for the DRCC, the bottom row are the three smallest holds of their respecive types (incut, flat, sloper) on the board. I don't think these would make good pocket training sizes for most people training 2-finger combos, and you would probably have to pay extra attention to mount the board so the bottom edge is flush with the bottom edge of the backer-board. There is enough top to bottom taper of the overall board, and the top row of holds are deep enough (i.e. stick out far enough) that you could probably use them (top row) and have enough room for the curl-in, though I haven't tried...and there's also the question of what use is "training" on a two-pad deep sized jug, even if only using pairs of fingers. I'm back "on" today, so I'll take a closer look with the above in mind tonight and report back. Now that I really think about it, there are only really 2-3 holds on this thing that I actually train on, and another couple I use during the warm ups. Starting to think that migrating my Manta to this house for the pockets, sloper, and pinches to complement the DRCC would be a good move. |
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Here's a link to another review of this board by Kris Hampton with some good input and pics: |
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Will - Is that some sort of free standing rig you have the board mounted on? I ask because I recently had to take down the board I had mounted in my apartment. I wasn't supposed drill holes in the wall, so I had it stealth mounted over the door inside a deep closet. It was working fine until the upstairs neighbor got a leak in their shower, and the landlord needed to come inspect my place. I took it down, and patched the holes, so no harm, no foul, but I'd rather not go through that exercise again. That Blankslate thing looks sort of cool, but $129 is a lot to drop, and the home made versions don't look that stable. Looking for other ideas. |
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Check out this thread for a discussion of mounting. |
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Hey Cho, |
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shuminW wrote:The pinch feels weird: it's not a true pinch since the holds are the furthest apart that you are using more compression than thumb pinching, a problem with pinches in on vertical wall in general. Holding a plank makes it more of a pinch, but I would not want to fall off the hangboard in that position. My local gym has some great pinch pairs on the system board, so I'll just supplement there. Otherwise, consider adding a pair of pinch holds (and tilt it in overhung position if possible). Lastly, since mgear.com now sells the board w/ free shipping, it's effectively $13.50 cheaper!Kind of off-topic, but the best setup I've found for pinches yet has been the lower right of this Rock Candy set, mounted on a 30 degree overhanging systems wall, with the narrow ends facing inward at about 11 o'clock/1 o'clock. There is no incut on the pinch, and when mounted at an overhanging angle, you are using barely any compression or "straight down" jug-style grips. It's just pure pinching. I've not yet found a satisfactory pinch setup on a dead vertical wall. |
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Somewhat on topic: Apparently DRCC is planning to start selling it's system holds in matched pairs (currently they only sell them in $200 sets). Got this straight from the horse's mouth by email, but that was a few weeks ago now, and the email said they'd be up that night. :) |
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I'm in the middle of the second cycle on this board and thought I'd add this little update and question: |
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I haven't noticed any difference on mine. I've had it since January and used it a fair bit along with the mini DRCC board (I forgot the name) which has some really small holds on the bottom. |
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Monomaniac wrote:...Another thing to consider, when a hangboard has pockets, they pretty much need to be on the bottom row of the board, to allow space for the inactive fingers to curl in (towards a fist) while hanging. When scoping a new board this should be assessed. I think only using 1 or 2 fingers on a 4-finger edge is fine, as long as the board is designed to allow space for the inactive fingers. It looks to me like this board would only allow you to use the lowest set of edges for "pocket" training. If that is true, then the user needs to consider if the lowest set of edges are the right size, shape & orientation for the type of pocket training they want to do. I've never fondled one of these, so what do you think Will?Great point. I just completed my third workout on my DRCC board/blank slate (rockprodigy-style, 7/3sec). I have large-ish hands (can comfortably stretch a 10th for you pianists), and here's what I found re: 3-finger grips: -Large flat edge: works fine for 3 fingers, but 2f hurts the knuckles of the curled fingers. -Medium flat edge: works fine with 3 fingers - there's more clearance under the middle row than under the top row of holds. haven't tried 2 fingers. -Medium incut: works fine with 3 fingers I'm generally pleased with the board. The dual texture is a huge skin/pain-saver. For me, personally, I wish the smallest holds were a bit larger. In my last workout I was up to 30-40lbs extra on the medium and large grips, but I still can't finish a single set on the small incut, and I can't hold the small flat edge or small sloper at all. I wonder if other people have found a huge gap between the medium row and the small row? I've never been great at smaller holds, but I was surprised that the bottom row is unusable for me given how much weight I'm using on the other holds. Maybe it's a skin-friction issue... I feel like the first rep is really easy, and the second rep feels way slipperier (no time to chalk in a 3-second rest). |
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Rajiv, try reducing your weight by about 20 lbs with a pulley and then hang the small holds (start with 4 finger half crimp on the incut and 3 finger open on the flat hold, neglect the small sloper for now). it takes a little practice to get the feel of it, and sometimes it is more of mental issue. my guess is that you have the strength to do it. after you do it with the 20 lb reduction, go down to 15,10,5, and 0. more than anything it will probably help you with the confidence to bear down on the smaller holds. |
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slim wrote:Rajiv, try reducing your weight by about 20 lbs with a pulley and then hang the small holds (start with 4 finger half crimp on the incut and 3 finger open on the flat hold, neglect the small sloper for now). it takes a little practice to get the feel of it, and sometimes it is more of mental issue. my guess is that you have the strength to do it. after you do it with the 20 lb reduction, go down to 15,10,5, and 0. more than anything it will probably help you with the confidence to bear down on the smaller holds. re: willS question, i have just started doing a mini-prequel to my cycle and it seems like the depth on the 2 smallest slopers is pretty even. one minor note on the V5.12 - if you have big hands/fingers it might be hard for you to use. i have fairly average hands and it feels a bit tight for my hands to fit into the area for the various holds.Pulley sounds like a good idea to work up (down?) to the small edges. I agree about big hands. Using 4 fingers on the medium incuts seemed ok at +40lbs, but at +50 I realized my fingers were cramped and torquing dangerously. From now on I'm only using 3 and 2 fingers on medium incuts. I also have to use 3 fingers on the medium and large slopers. |
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I have this hangboard as well... I switched from a Metolious Simulator 3d. I agree with the OP... I don't miss the pockets. |
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Are you saying that skin folding when gripping holds does not happen much on crux moves on outdoor rock? |
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kenr wrote:Are you saying that skin folding when gripping holds does not happen much on crux moves on outdoor rock? (I'm too busy just pulling thru the moves to notice one way or the other). Why or why not on outdoor rock? If skin-folding on crux holds does happen a significant percentage of time on outdoor rock, doesn't it make sense to train specifically for that? Anyway I have to say that I do notice the skin-folding on my home fingerboard, and it feels sort of strange (but maybe that's because I spend so little time on crux moves outdoors? so I'm just not accustomed to it?) And nowadays I keep finding that the main limiter on my home fingerboard intensity is skin-surface tearing, not the (dreaded?) tendon soreness. Not what I expected when I started out with the fingerboard-training thing. KenYou said it, to complete the hang board routine the limiting factor is your skin putting up with it, while outdoors, actually climbing you never notice it because you don't spend 60 seconds or whatever hanging off the same hold, except maybe at a rest. |
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correct. you don't want to be half way through a workout and unable to continue because you just tore the skin off your fingers (don't laugh, this is kind of common). the v512 really excels in this area. i am about 3 weeks into a cycle right now, and haven't had to stop a session yet due to flappers. with my old hangboard, i would typically have around 2 to 3 workouts per cycle that i would have to stop one of the sets (or a couple sets) due to flappers. |
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slim wrote: with my old hangboard, i would typically have around 2 to 3 workouts per cycle that i would have to stop one of the sets (or a couple sets) due to flappers.Yikes! I think I'm pretty high on the psi curve and its been years since I've had to end a set due to a flapper. Here is my trick: An ounce of prevention (tape) is worth a pound of cure (neosporin). Also, having a hangboard (or holds) that is ergonomically shaped to fit the dimensions of your fingers will help a lot. It may take some legwork to find the right combination of holds, the right orientation of the holds, the right spots to apply tape, etc, but it is essential that you create an apparatus that allows you to give 100% to the workout. If you are failing because of skin issues, you won't get much out of hangboarding. |
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man, i've tried the tape thing but it just feels SO slippery. In the past, if I had to bail on a grip due to a flapper, i would try to make up for it by going to a smaller (usually) or bigger (sometimes) hold to finish my set. not ideal though. |