Ever use a 25 degree Moon Board?

Hi all,
I'm thinking of building a home Moon Board. The concept is totally awesome, but based on my experience with the 40 degree wall in my gym, I think the problems are mostly too hard for me.
Has anyone out there tried one in the 25 degree configuration as well as the 40 degree? If so, was the 25 degree substantially easier? It looks to me like building a wall with an adjustable angle wouldn't be too tough, and then I could always change to 40 if I ever got strong/skilled enough.

My ‘homewall’ is Basically a moonboard In that 20 to 30 degree range. A few things to keep in mind if you don’t make it adjustable. Most of the assorted hold packages include holds that are better than those on a typical moonboard, so you can make easier problems. Because of my holds, 20 degrees wouldn’t/doesn’t provide much of a power or core workout, just endurance by climbing up and down. I wish I would have gone slightly steeper, or adjustable! 

Zach Holt wrote: My ‘homewall’ is Basically a moonboard In that 20 to 30 degree range. A few things to keep in mind if you don’t make it adjustable. Most of the assorted hold packages include holds that are better than those on a typical moonboard, so you can make easier problems. Because of my holds, 20 degrees wouldn’t/doesn’t provide much of a power or core workout, just endurance by climbing up and down. I wish I would have gone slightly steeper, or adjustable! 

Thanks Zach. Do you have a Moon hold set on your wall? I was thinking one option would be to go to the 40 degree wall but with just one Moon set and then some easier holds to warm up on... 

Also I realized that Moon actually uses a 25 degree board for their easier option, not 20, so I edited my post.

Optimistic wrote:

Thanks Zach. Do you have a Moon hold set on your wall? I was thinking one option would be to go to the 40 degree wall but with just one Moon set and then some easier holds to warm up on... 

No, I think I didn’t read your post very well the first time. I wasn’t going for a moon board, my wall just happens to be about that size. I had it in my mind you were not going to have the moon set, but now I see. I would also be reluctant to go at 40 degree, though the benefit from that workout is pretty great!  I have a variety of holds and change them around at random. It’s also only a third of the way done, and will have more options for longer and more enjoyable climbs if I ever get to finishing it! Adjustable sure seems like it would be awesome, as is the warm up problem/holds. 

John Wilder wrote: Get a Tension Board instead. The app does anything between 20-50 degrees, holds are wood so you don't wreck your fingers, and everything is either three or four fingers. Plus the symmetrical training is insanely awesome.

+1 best option out there but pricey 

+1 for Tension Board, you can always buy the holds in stages to cut down on costs

I would always err on the side of a little too hard for you for a home setup in both angle, but especially in holds. The idea is to improve, of course, and if it feels just right right now, it might be just a touch too easy before you know it. That said, based on your tick list (which I realize might be extremely incomplete), yeah, a standard Moonboard is probably too hard by a bigger margin than you may want right now. One thing to keep in mind is that a steeper board will fit more moves into a given space (a 25 degree Moonboard requires a much higher ceiling than a 40 degree board). I wouldn't go much past 40-45 degrees though because past that you start to lose specificity for most outdoor areas. IMO 30 degrees is a good compromise if you decide to just build your own custom setup.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all beta.  But...has anyone tried either the Moon or Tension setups at the lower angle? If so, does the lower angle have a major effect on the difficulty? (25 degrees is still steep, and I don't want to spend a lot of time and money on something that doesn't get used. Having thousands of problems in my home gym sounds pretty awesome though!) 

The tension I tried was i believe 30 deg, I liked that angle so much more than 40, maybe 5% of my goal climbs are in the region of 40° so I’d prefer a setup that allows me to use smaller holds at a less steep angle.
Gently overhung is rarely that gentle!

25 will be significantly easier than 40, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to challenge yourself. On climbing walls I find difficultly increases almost exponentially as they get steeper. I can barely tell the difference between 10* and 0*, but 20* feels a bit worse than 10* and the jumps between 30* and 40* are pretty noticeable. You probably will be happy with 25 unless your a V7+ climber

John Wilder wrote:

The Tension is awesome at 30 degrees- I think the hardest 30 degree problem is v12 or 13 right now. We just installed one in the gym and it pretty much lives at that angle, although a handful of the stronger climbers move it to 40-45 for their workouts.

Thanks John. Is the adjustability something it came with or homemade? If homemade, how did you guys do it? I think it was on the Power Company site I saw a setup using a hinge at the top of the foot board and a pair of chains going to the ceiling that could be hooked at different lengths to create different angles. The adjustment on the Moon Board in our gym (using a steel frame from Moon) would be a pretty major undertaking to change. 

Have you tried the new hold set on the moonboard? The red holds are mostly jugs and there are legit v3 problems set. Far easier options available for problems than the 2016 set allowed (that said I prefer the older gold layout).

I also echo the statements about starting hard. A year ago I could barely eeek out non benchmark v4s over multiple sessions. Now I do v5 bench’s in the yellow holds. It should be nails hard or you’re missing the real benefit.

If you’re doing the lower angle on a moonboard I would get the yellow school holds and wood holds. Red holds are far too easy and white/black are a tad big for such a mellow angle.

If I was doing a board at home I would also opt for a tension board over a moonboard without a doubt. I destroy my skin on the moonboard and end up only using it for training in winter, not maintenance in summer.

We've had a 40 degree home Moonboard for about two years now. I just had a chance to climb on a 25 degree MB at a gym and I was amazed that I could actually hold onto the original set holds.   While it was fun to actually climb on the original holds on the 25 degree MB, I felt it would quickly feel too easy. To allow for bigger holds and longer endurance workouts on our 40 degree MB, we added an 5x12 grid pattern to our Moonboard in between the standard MB t-nut pattern. We've got larger, juggier holds on this additional pattern. Sometimes one bigger hold may be in the way for a MB problem so we just take that hold down or swap it out for something smaller. I wrote up a blog post about our build and it may give you some additional ideas.

John Wilder wrote:

We custom built our adjustable walls- they're motorized and were pretty affordable to build. There are several adjustable walls out there now- Ben Moons Ahh Grasshopper company has some really slick ones for a pretty reasonable price. The big trick with adjustable walls is keeping the deflection down.

I struck out web searching for Ahh Grasshopper... Do you have any pics that show the details of your motorized setup? I might just do a 25 degree wall to start and a 40 degree when (if?) I progress.  I'll give the Tension board a look, sounds like it has a dedicated following! 

Jason Halladay wrote: We've had a 40 degree home Moonboard for about two years now. I just had a chance to climb on a 25 degree MB at a gym and I was amazed that I could actually hold onto the original set holds.   While it was fun to actually climb on the original holds on the 25 degree MB, I felt it would quickly feel too easy. To allow for bigger holds and longer endurance workouts on our 40 degree MB, we added an 5x12 grid pattern to our Moonboard in between the standard MB t-nut pattern. We've got larger, juggier holds on this additional pattern. Sometimes one bigger hold may be in the way for a MB problem so we just take that hold down or swap it out for something smaller.  I wrote up a blog post about our build and it may give you some additional ideas.

Thanks Jason that's a great idea. I'll check out the blog post as well. 

John Wilder wrote:

The Tension is awesome at 30 degrees- I think the hardest 30 degree problem is v12 or 13 right now. We just installed one in the gym and it pretty much lives at that angle, although a handful of the stronger climbers move it to 40-45 for their workouts.

Which gym John? Id be psyched to hop on the Tension Board

Nick Drake wrote: Have you tried the new hold set on the moonboard? The red holds are mostly jugs and there are legit v3 problems set. Far easier options available for problems than the 2016 set allowed (that said I prefer the older gold layout).

I also echo the statements about starting hard. A year ago I could barely eeek out non benchmark v4s over multiple sessions. Now I do v5 bench’s in the yellow holds. It should be nails hard or you’re missing the real benefit.

If you’re doing the lower angle on a moonboard I would get the yellow school holds and wood holds. Red holds are far too easy and white/black are a tad big for such a mellow angle.

If I was doing a board at home I would also opt for a tension board over a moonboard without a doubt. I destroy my skin on the moonboard and end up only using it for training in winter, not maintenance in summer.

Tbh you can make v1s using red and white, the app just doesn’t go that low

John Wilder wrote:

Origin in Vegas- it's adjustable and been an amazing addition to our facility. We also have an adjustable kilter board being installed and should be done shortly.

I don't have any pics of the motorized setup of the boards, and seeing as we are a commercial entity, I won't share any on this forum since we did engineer it specifically for our building. You're of course welcome to come down and check it out anytime, although most of it is hidden due to the construction of the boards.

The photo below shows the complete tension board minus a few pinches that hadn't arrived yet. The motor you can see belongs to the kilter board to the right and is not finished in this photo (although it is done now).

Wow you guys are gonna have a Tension Board and a Kilter Board!  Sweet!  

John Wilder wrote:

Origin in Vegas- it's adjustable and been an amazing addition to our facility. We also have an adjustable kilter board being installed and should be done shortly.

I don't have any pics of the motorized setup of the boards, and seeing as we are a commercial entity, I won't share any on this forum since we did engineer it specifically for our building. You're of course welcome to come down and check it out anytime, although most of it is hidden due to the construction of the boards.

The photo below shows the complete tension board minus a few pinches that hadn't arrived yet. The motor you can see belongs to the kilter board to the right and is not finished in this photo (although it is done now). 

Thanks John, that was actually a good enough hint to point me in the right direction. It would definitely be cool to have the board be adjustable! 

John, can you take a pic of the Kilter Board (not the motor)? Which size is it?