Anyone else not impressed with the DMM Dragonfly cams?

Got my DMM Dragonflys and was stoked, but after one day of use the red and yellow gave me some trouble.

Cleaned and lubed (shouldn't have had to IMO) then actually had a DMM rep move the spring around which seemed to help, but they still feel sort of gummy and slow to retract.

Anyone else seeing this?

Don’t ruin this for me

Anonymous wrote:

BD Z4.

Was going to buy some but I think I'll wait. Especially after the problems people had with the X4's...

I just posted on the Dragonfly page....I cancelled my order with Campsaver because I don't want to get charged for a product a have already replaced with a Metolius ULMC.

I still think those will be standard small cams in the future. DMM almost always gets it right.

Still waiting to see the verdict from more people on these. Guess i'm glad i snagged your black alien in the mean time!

Jason Erickson wrote: Still waiting to see the verdict from more people on these. Guess i'm glad i snagged your black alien in the mean time!

glad your liking it!

I've had nothing but quality gear from DMM, bummed your cams are giving you problems Caz.  
IMO buying small cams right when they come out is a bit of a gamble with so many past QC/ergonomics problems.

Had the same experience as Caz! Placed the yellow a few times on Positive Vibrations and when I got home I had to clean and lube it.
Feels kind of crunchy and not smooth :/

Not sure if I should try to get C3s instead. I’ve had good experiences with those 

Anyone out there with any more feedback on the Dragonfly? I'm interested in the 1, 2, and 3 particularly.

1. I've had the #1 green dragonfly for a few months now thinking that i would place it all the time in situations that were before not possible. Turns out its pretty hard to find a placement for the cam where a nut or RP wouldn't work better. The cam has it's time and place but its few and far between, its easier and less time consuming to just place a passive piece.

Elias Tinseth wrote:

1. I've had the #1 green dragonfly for a few months now thinking that i would place it all the time in situations that were before not possible. Turns out its pretty hard to find a placement for the cam where a nut or RP wouldn't work better. The cam has it's time and place but its few and far between, its easier and less time consuming to just place a passive piece.

That's really interesting to me. I have the .1 and .2 X4s and find that usually when I can find a place to put them the rock is too parallel for nuts, and I place them a lot. I would guess it's an area thing but you're norcal too, so we're probably climbing the same rock. *shrugs*

Took mine on Spearhead in RMNP - used them all on one pitch and then just the 2, 3 on the 5th, and just the 1 on the 6th. The 2 on pitch 5 got stuck and slowed up my second, but havent had any sort of gummy action with the cams. Maybe the braid around the cable is getting gunked up making a harder trigger?

But yes, 2 out 6 of those placements were probably necessary and I was specifically looking for placements for these but they also came in handy when needed. Def felt hyped prior and still happy with them, just gotta keep using them more.

Thus far I've found the size 6 (basically an alien version of the metolius 3) to be quite nice, especially in eldo but I found that I still prefer my tcus over the dragonflies. I had a set and sold the size 5, 4, and 3 and kept the biggest and two smallest (the smaller ones just due to the extra kn) I only bring the smalls if I know I'll need doubles in that size and the size 6 always comes along mostly because I dont own an orange metolius, if I did I'd probably sell the size 6. 

Got 2 & # 3 and a single #2. Felt very happy with their placements. used a #3 in an anchor that i had to use a 3:1 on and it was bomber. Bounce tested/French freed on both pieces and they felt very secure. Used about 5-10 times through out the weekend and none of them have any issues.

Overall pretty satisfied. Not sure i will get a #1 as offset nuts seem to sink faster and feel more secure. #2 is similar in size to black alien - places equally

I now have four of them (#3 to #6).

I've probably placed #5 between 5 to 10 times, and it now squeaks a lot, as well as feeling really gritty.

I've also noticed that the wires are making their way out of the lobes, but that's the case on all three of the bigger sizes, and it's only #5 that feels gritty, so I'm not convinced that the wires have anything to do with it.

I've never had single axle/microcams - is this normal?

Elias Tinseth wrote:

1. I've had the #1 green dragonfly for a few months now thinking that i would place it all the time in situations that were before not possible. Turns out its pretty hard to find a placement for the cam where a nut or RP wouldn't work better. The cam has it's time and place but its few and far between, its easier and less time consuming to just place a passive piece.

Fully this.  Was telling a buddy today that I'm still happy to have the new green and red dragonfly in my arsenal but am finding they are a little tough to place with the wide head.  I feel like apart from super splitter, parallel IC or yosemite, that cracks when they are that of that size, are too undulaty and my brassie offsets fit way better and more bomber.  Or a c3 just fits better with the narrower head.

Plus green is not much bigger than 00 MC, which I do love.  Overall, happy to have them, and have placed the red in couple bomber spots, but I wouldn't call them must-haves.

Anyone not feeling their dragonfly’s? Feel free to pm me and l will buy em off you.

I bought a full set for the Gunks. Have placed all pieces a lot and think they are all pretty solid. The narrow head is great, the soft material is great for holding but definitely not super durable. They are not as light as the TCUs but overall, I think they are the best gear purchase I made this year. 

crewdog lm wrote: Thanks for posting. I've held off on these myself although, I think DMM stuff is fantastic. FWIW, my favorite small cam is still the Metolius TCU . If we're talking about free moves and no-shit falling on it, I personally bear in mind,  the two tiny sizes of cam at <.5", are only rated at around 1100 lbs. (That is true for TCU's, X4's and Dragonflies.)  For a parallel-sided crack, Camp Ball Nuts ("sliders") go substantially thinner (down to 4MM) than the tiniest cam and they're all rated to 1800 lbs. Edit: the #1 Ball Nut is rated at 1500.

3mm and Camp shows the #1 at 8kn, the same rating at the #2 ball nut.  Mine also shows the same 8kn on it but I have seen other people quote lower...not sure whats the deal with the discrepancy here.

It's a Totem Life!