Big bros. Do u need them?

Trango big bros. Do you need 'em? Do you want them? I personally don't like them. They seem to take up WAY too much time. I suppose on an aid climb where you might be hauling things and in a place for a while but I think they would wear you out trying to do it with one hand. Are they cheaper than offwidth large cams? Should I buy one? Let me know if they are worth it. PS I do a fair amount of offwidth.

Get a valley giant or a merlin 9. 

A Big bro is like life insurance...You dont need it until you need it, and then you only need it once.  

They are cheaper, lighter and smaller that really big cams.  I keep toying with the idea of buying one, but I have yet to get on a route (partially by choice, looking at the beta) that requires anything bigger than a BD #4.

Just like anything else on the market today, you don't need it.  But it has it's place and use.

I suspect this might hinge on what your goals are. Most offwidths I've tried have been fine with a smattering of big cams and some amount of walking them as I go. Wide cracks that are really sustained, part of a longer route, in a demanding place (hard to get to, alpine, etc.), or some combination of these things (I'm looking at you, Road Warrior) make Big Bros really hard to beat because they're so light relative to large cams (esp valley giants). They allow you to walk a cam, place a Big Bro, continue walking said cam, etc. I would probably leave a cam behind every so often, but this allows for a much lighter rack than carrying however many BD 6s and VG 9s you might need for a long, continuous pitch. 

OW: Penitent Martyrs don't need big bros.

Ģnöfudør Ðrænk wrote: A Big bro is like life insurance...You dont need it until you need it, and then you only need it once.  

A big bro is like American health insurance-- you realize the flaws while in the process of using it. 

I bought one Big Bro for one specific climb.

Used once. Never used again.

Related question: has anyone taken a whip on a Big Bro? The basic question I have is whether they even catch falls, since I've heard precious few people who have them and trust them, or have taken whippers on them.

They are fantastic to use as a foothold. I don't know a ton of people that will intentionally climb the wide. But if they do, they always say they were glad to have a big bro, so they could back clean their big cams, which they didn't have a lot of.

David Kerkeslager wrote: Related question: has anyone taken a whip on a Big Bro? The basic question I have is whether they even catch falls, since I've heard precious few people who have them and trust them, or have taken whippers on them.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/106732326/anybody-ever-fallen-on-a-big-bro