which hexes to buy

Wildcountry Rockcentrics -vs- Metolius Curved Hex -vs- Black Diamond Wired Hex. I've looked at all the various features, but would like to know which is most popular and why.

I am a big fan of the Wildcountry Hexs. The slings are nice, in case you run out of runners. You can use them to runner other pieces or just clip them with a single biner. The color coding scheme also matches well with the Black Diamond camalots.

My vote would be for Wildcountry Rocks. Second place would be BD.

Uh, I think the answer is cams. Not sure which brand that is but they seem to do everything a hex does and a whole lot more. Cost a bit more too.

I would go with BD personally. Cheaper and easier also to leave then cams... Gotta love the cow bells!

I like my BD hexes too. I love the cow bells! I have 5 of them.

: )

I always like to have hexes on the rack they are lighter and cheeper than cams and in some cases easier to place and more bombproof. I would think that BD size 5-9 would be about right. I never like the wired ones as the wire can make them harder to place.

Then add the first four tricams for a great range of passive gear.

Rocentrics are great because you can place them in four different ways and a full set is only $90 at bent gate.

I like the WC Rockcentrics for both their shape and their slings.

hexes are awesome. cams are super easy to place and great to have, especially if you're gripped, but nothing instills more confidence in me on a trad lead than a well placed hex. i've also been in situations in which, in a sustained crack, i ran out of appropriately sized cams and was loving having brought hexes. they're a lot cheaper (and just as useful) than doubling or tripling up on cams, especially with C4's at like 60 bucks. larger sizes are definitely more useful, the wild country set looks like it's mostly bigger pieces.

i've only climbed on/placed black diamonds, and they've done everything i've needed them to, though the angle-y corners sometimes want to resist biting the rock. when i have dough to replace them i'll definitely be looking to the wild country hexes.

I prefer Tricams to Hexes. Though a bit more difficult to place, they are far more utilitarian.

I recently bought a bunch of Metolius curved hexes. I don't have the largest couple of hexes, but they aren't real necessary here at the Gunks. They weigh a little more than the BD version, because the metal is thicker.

SO far, I really like my hexes. I use them for building anchors, and placements on fat ledges. I doubt I will place many hexes in the middle of a hard crux, but it's nice being able to leave my hexes at the anchor and take my cams with me on the climb!

I also a series of the old Black Diamond hexes (before they used wires). BD's are lighter and I prefer them in some areas but the Metolius are nice in cracks with lots of crystals and irregularities. If you tend to climb on cracks with smooth walls, I'd probably opt for the BD's. If you have to deal with lots of funky shapes and crystals, the Metolius hexes will work better.

I've never used the WC, so I won't comment on them.

If you don't plan to carry cams your gonna want to have a set of tricams and hex's to 3"

This thread seems to come up every few months. Either hexes or tricams.

Hexes are also nice because IF you have to bail and leave gear I'd much rather have some hexes to leave than a cam (if you can't get a stopper that is). They also work well at belays and save cams for the next pitch.

I have the BD hexes and they work well, but probably would prefer slung instead of wired. though the wires are light and rack well all on one biner. I find the wires sometimes hard to clip once buried in a crack. I don't use the small ones much as stoppers are sufficient in that size and the big ones stay at home usually. I just bring about 4 mid sized hexes typically. Equivalent of .5-#2 camalot....sometimes the #3 equiv.

However still my problem is that so many partners don't want to bring them so they don't get much use. Or I have to carry them the entire time which seems silly.

I still don't see why anyone is using tricams still! Except for some crazy aid placements perhaps. I can't stand to deal with those things.

Let me tell you why I like Tricams.
I’ve been getting back into adventure rock climbing. I’ve been devoting Saturdays to bagging first ascents of multi-pitch trad routes at an undisclosed area in The South Platte.
Since I only have about one and a half sets of active camming devices, I’ve found that my twenty-five year old Tricams extend my rack nicely. I finally went to the climbing shop and bought enough sling material to replace all of the sewn slings on my complete set of Tricams. I regularly use the #6 and #7 where the crack is too large to take #3 active cam, and it is standard knowledge that the smallest Tricams fit where nothing else will.
It is my belief that hexes and Tricams fill the same niche. Taking everything into consideration, and having used both for many, many years, I must say that I prefer Tricams over hexes, hands down.

Why does the question have to hexes OR tricams? I have been a big fan of the pink - brown tri-cams for years and lately I have been very impressed by the new black tricam. I don't think the new white one is strong enough, or I'd have one of those too.

I find that their are some placements that are clearly tricam placements and some that are clearly hex placements. I don't tend to use the big tricams but the small ones are money and I don't leave the ground without them.

Tricams and cow-bell are two examples of technology that works as well today as it did 20 years ago. I'll admit, I don't plan on leading without my C-4s any time soon, but I still think the tricam and hex earn a spot on most modern trad racks. If nothing else, they are lighter and cheaper than cams and are a great way to double up on an important size range.

This summer I want to start doing long easy back-country climbs in the Adirondacks. I'd rather carry my hexes and tri-cams than a rack of cams any day of the week.

I think today's climbers are often too dependent on cams (myself included). Think about the crazy things people led on nothing but pitons / nuts. Cams are nice but not strictly necessary.

I think hexes and Tricams are great. I lovingly refer to my #11 hex as the boat anchor, occasionally I even imitate a fog horn as I place it. I haven't gone above the #5 Tricam in my rack but have considered it as I love placing them. It takes more practice to get good at efficiently placing them as active pro, but well worth it IMO. Any thoughts on the use of Big Bros? I've been contemplating picking a few of the smaller sizes up.

Edit:

Oh, yeah: BD Wired Hexes

Mike,
The Bigbros are great they hold solid and fit into so many places. I have a 2 and a 4 which cover most 2 inch + cracks. it takes some practice to get them to fit right but once its in, its in. The down side is there totally worthless in flares

Mike,
I think Bigbros are terrific for wide cracks, but if anyone thinks placing Tricams takes practice, just wait until you try to place your Bigbro while getting ready to grease out of some flared offwidth. And you thought placing a Tricam takes some getting used to?

Thanks for the input guys, I think I'm gonna go for it. It occurred to me how great they would be after placing my three largest hexes on their ends on Stone Groove at Eleven Mile last week.

i just got my hands on a couple of camp hex's, they are bombproof like the metolius hex's but slung like the WC's and cheaper then both (here in europe) might be worth a look?