Black Diamond The MAGNATRON Auto locking carabiner

Bought this when it came out the middle of the 2013 winter. This auto locking carabineer is one with a twist. The twist is that it doesn't have a twist, lock that is. No sir this puppy locks up tight with the power of magnets.
In this day and age you would t think that there is no new way to reinvent the locking carabineer. Well black diamond did just that. For those who live on another planet the last year and a half BD has been leaking this magnetic based closing system for a auto locking carabineer. The traditional method has been a spring system that locks the biner closed as a default setting. This has been working pretty well over the years. There have been a couple variations but essentially all the same theme.

So, are these any better or are they just a gimmick. Having first getting one of these units in the middle of winter gave me a chance to see how it performs under winter conditions. It just so happened it showed up in the middle of my ice climbing season. I made a point of taking it out every day that I went climbing. This added up to about forty or fifty days of ice climbing.
Let's start out by saying these things do close as they are suppose to. In the 100 days of use to this point sometimes using this carabineer several times on a single climb I have never found it to be open when it was suppose to be closed. The magnet has two gates that act independently. What would possibly keep one gate on one side open would probably not effect the other side. Dust, running water, mud, ice nothing has stopped this puppy from closing when it was suppose to be closed. So in the closing department this thing gets a A+.
The only real issue I have found is with winter climbing. Larger gloves are not well suited to pinching the triggers that open the biner. Where the fairly small pind/buttons which are embedded into groves. You have to pinch these groves to hit the gates. Winter gloves just do not fit within a the grooves. Not saying they won't fit it just takes a bit more effort to line up the tips of your gloves to the embedded gate clips. Most of the time this is not really a issue, most of the time. There are times however when your tired cold and the minor discomfort of double clicking that gate is a pain in the ass. Fortunately this doesn't happen often. Under summer conditions with thin summer gloves this is pretty much a non-issue. With bare hands this biner is a no brainier. Quick to lock, quick to open and on top of that reliable. I have seen two basic models one being the pear shaped munter biner and the relatively new belay biner.

I have to admit that after 8 months of use I am still trying to catch the thing open by mistake just so I could go "Ah you sneaky bastard! I knew I couldn't trust you" but I haven't been able to say that yet. Standard locking biners I am always catching myself not locking or waiting to lock at a more suitable moment. Why right now is not suitable don't ask because I don't know.

So in conclusion I like the Magnetron. I make a point of annoying my climbing partners/clients by saying "Lets use the MAGNETRON!" I have only used the pear shaped munter style but see no reason why the belay would not work just fine. In fact on the belay is most certainly the place you want your belay puppy locked and loaded. Think I will add the belay to the hundreds of biners I have.

A for the overall design and ingenuity. If they made the indentations a bit bigger so that winter ice gloves worked better I could add the plus value. Don't hesitate to get one if thinking it was a gimmick has been holding you back.
From Mountainguide.com Rants and Raves

Now if BD would use this system on their “Vapor Lock” lockers! I don’t want to carry “Rock Lock” size lockers on me all the time, they’re huge. BD has proved the design on the larger carabineers, what’s stopping the adaption to their smaller lockers?

Unsure on the date but there should be a Vaporlock Magnatron coming soon. I've seen it. Actually I've used it!

Been using ours since end of summer. Like them for cragging with my 9 year old daughter. She doesn't have to worry about overtight screw lockers and I don't have to worry that the gate is locked. I would like see them in a lighter weight version as well.

I bought a Magnatron biner a few months ago. They're great and all but I find myself leaving other lockers unlocked if I use a regular locking biner to belay with. I'm thankful no one I climb has gotten complacent! I never use any other locker other than the Magnatron in the gym cause who doubles checks each other at the gym.

Was Magnetron' the best Transformer or what, I love those movies.

Definitely second the magnetron review.

This thing works great. It's much faster than twisting and much more natural than any other kind of autolocker I've used.

A few people question the autolocking time savings, but I've been in alpine or multipitch where time is important and I've actually made the choice not to lock my lockers in some situations (if you think about it there is at least 3 lockers to be locked and unlocked to setup an anchor and belay the follower). If you need to do 20+ pitches and are already tired this adds up.

I'm waiting on the vaporlock magnetron... then I'll pick up a couple

On a wall, I use large lockers like these on the anchor bolts. It's a fairly unique problem, but if you have to open them, it's hard to get your fingers on the wall side to release the lock.

Any problems with other stuff in your pack that might come into contact with the magnets ... phone, GPS, watch etc ... ?

Syd wrote:Any problems with other stuff in your pack that might come into contact with the magnets ... phone, GPS, watch etc ... ?

Phone- no
GPS- no...but it might screw with the heading if you have both right next to each other while you are taking a reading. This would happen only if you have a magnetic compass feature in the GPS.
Watch- no...but same thing as with a gps if it has a magnetic compass.

It might erase your favorite Neil Diamond cassette if you stash your walkman with your gear.

Tyson Anderson wrote: Phone- no GPS- no...but it might screw with the heading if you have both right next to each other while you are taking a reading. This would happen only if you have a magnetic compass feature in the GPS. Watch- no...but same thing as with a gps if it has a magnetic compass. It might erase your favorite Neil Diamond cassette if you stash your walkman with your gear.

Tyson, you sound brave to have tested your electronics like that ;-)

Tyson Anderson wrote: Watch- no...but same thing as with a gps if it has a magnetic compass.

It can actually screw up an analog watch if left next to it for a short time. If the spinning gears are within the magnetic field of the magnet it can magnetize the watch gears or mess with the motor…since motor drives rely on magnets as well...throwing it off, usually by slowing the watch down.

For some reason this thing makes me nervous. I mean, is the normal locking biner really that inconvenient? I am trusting a magnet now?

For some reason this thing makes me nervous. I mean, is the normal locking biner really that inconvenient? I am trusting a magnet now?

Russ Keane wrote:For some reason this thing makes me nervous. I mean, is the normal locking biner really that inconvenient? I am trusting a magnet now?

Make sure you don't use electric motors, credit cards, audio speakers, CRT monitors, MRI scanners, or compasses. All those feature untrustworthy magnets.

Skylotec, a German fall protection and climbing brand has a similar PinchLok since 2010. PinchLok

I got a couple while i was in Germany and I gotta say I really like them for just about everything because you can open them with one hand with just a pinch.

Russ Keane wrote:For some reason this thing makes me nervous. I mean, is the normal locking biner really that inconvenient? I am trusting a magnet now?

Yah, if you see how they open and close, you probably won't be as worried. Double action and twist gate carabiners are nice but rollout does happen when ropes twist barrels. Its a sweet design, happy BD is bringing it stateside too!

"Make sure you don't use electric motors, credit cards, audio speakers, CRT monitors, MRI scanners, or compasses. All those feature untrustworthy magnets."

Sorry but it's a little different. Those are not the same application/situation.

Would you want the door of a car to be shut only by way of a magnetic connection? Or would you want the thing to be physically SHUT with steel and a closure mechanism.

Woodchuck ATC wrote:Was Magnetron' the best Transformer or what, I love those movies.

Amen.

Russ Keane wrote:"Make sure you don't use electric motors, credit cards, audio speakers, CRT monitors, MRI scanners, or compasses. All those feature untrustworthy magnets." Sorry but it's a little different. Those are not the same application/situation. Would you want the door of a car to be shut only by way of a magnetic connection? Or would you want the thing to be physically SHUT with steel and a closure mechanism.

You act like magnets are some kind of bizarre unknown technology. If you handle one you'll see it's quite secure. The magnet doesn't affect the closure or integrity, just the locking of the gate. Even if the magnet doesn't function as advertised it's still a solid gate biner.

I'd be fine with a magnet closure on a car door. Just maybe a little bigger than the ones on the magnetron biners...

Ryan Kempf wrote:Now if BD would use this system on their “Vapor Lock” lockers! I don’t want to carry “Rock Lock” size lockers on me all the time, they’re huge. BD has proved the design on the larger carabineers, what’s stopping the adaption to their smaller lockers?

John Wilder wrote:Last I heard, the VaporLock was getting a Magnatron version this spring.

FINALLY... Mr Wilder you speak the truth. Thanks BD!