First quickdraw set recommendations.

I've been building my equipment up over the last few months after discovering climbing earlier this year. Quickdraws are the last thing on my list to be able to head outside. 

I've looked at tons of reviews and everyone has different opinions on what to get so I figured I'd ask here. 

Do i go with the cheapest option and upgrade later? Do I go all out and get the better ones now? Get all the same kind or mix some longer ones in there? 

Any guidance is appreciated, thanks!

Currently am think about getting the petzl djinn or cypher firefly 2. Djinn has good reviews for being a solid all around draw but the cypher draws are cheap. 

The Fireflys are tiny and wont last as long as the Djinns for sport climbing. They're fine, but you'll probably enjoy the Djinns more for cragging and have them longer.
If you want to save money and get a better draw than the Firefly, you can snag a couple packs of these Camp Orbits at Moosejaw for cheap right now. One of my favorite inexpensive draws.
I've owned nearly every quickdraw on the market and i would typically steer people away from the cheapest of the cheap like Cypher Fireflys, Mad Rock Concord, Trango Phases or BD Miniwires. They're all tiny, have crappy gates and are annoying to handle. They get the job done, but it's worth an extra couple of buck to me to not have to fuss with draws so much.

Edit: The Djinns can be had for cheap too here. If you're patient and look hard enough, you can find most draws on sale for close to what the cheapest retail for. In your case, you don't even have to wait!

Just get the Firefly draws, they're fine. By the time you finally develop rope grooves in the biners you will have climbed so many pitches you'll know if you want something fancier. (You can always just replace the rope end biners with cheap wire gates when they wear out, but to be clear that will take a long time for a new climber). If you get two steel anchor draws and a steel 1st draw that will also go a long way to extending the life of your biners and keeping your rope clean, regardless of which draws you choose. Having a couple longer draws can help on certain routes but most of the time it doesn't matter.

The difference between quickdraws is almost exclusively aesthetic (they all have basically the same safety ratings ~24kn and you're not going to really wear them out anytime soon unless you climb 300 days per year), you can't really go wrong. Obviously dependent on where you climb, but I'd recommend 12 standard draws and 4ish alpine draws, extra long draws are kinda pointless since alpines can be used extended or not and extra longs can't. Most important thing, MAKE SURE you always use the same biner (black biner for BD) on the bolt and the colored side for the rope. You don't want metal spurs from the bolt roughing up your rope. 

You'll get a lot of opinions, but the Djinns would be a solid choice. I wouldn't get cheap draws that you assume you will upgrade later unless you're not sure if climbing is for you. 

My favorite draws have a straight gate notchless 'biner on the bolt end like a Petzl Spirit, a medium length (17cm-ish) thick dogbone in the middle like a Petzl Express and a wiregate bottom 'biner like a Wild Country Wildwire on the rope end. I have a mix of 'biners from BD, WC and Petzl but over the years I've standardized on the 17cm Express dogbone. If you are doing a LOT of toproping I agree with Linnaeus about getting a couple of Edelrid Bulletproof draws for the anchor or the first bolt if you are really working sport routes. But I've never worn out a full-sized biner, only the superlight ones.

For sport climbing, the Djinns are really nice. I use them as my sport draws. Got them on sale: $135 for 12. Durable, snagless, nice clipping action.

I'd get the djinns, they are a great workhorse draw that you won't really outgrow, and also recommend a couple of steel (or the edelrid bulletproof) draws for the anchor and one for the first draw, this will prolong the lives of all your other draws, and keep a lot of the black oxidized aluminum dust out of your rope/off your hands.

I'm gonna agree with Tony; I believe that most of the differences are aesthetic.

I have a pile of draws with maybe 5-7 different kinds of carabiners and 5-7 different brands / lengths of dog bones, in addition to my pile-o-alpine draws.  This is the result of buying gear over multiple decades, and one or two draws here and there when I lost one or needed a replacement.

At some point I may get picky about the weight... I've been walking a lot further to get to climbs, but that's not usually a factor when I am sport climbing.

If I had all my gear stolen and I wanted draws to go to a sport crag, I'd just get whatever is cheapest, even if that means buying used stuff on CL/FB marketplace/ MP for-sale forum.

Or better, if I had a rope, I'd just make the person I am with bring their draws :D

I'm more in the buy nice or buy twice camp.  It will take you a while to totally trash a set of draws, so I think it's worth it to spend a little more for higher quality.  

I'd vote for the Djinns.  The key lock gates are really nice to have IMO.  Petzl 'biners are generally high quality with good handling and clip-ability.  I think the key lock nose, thicker dog bones (easier to grab), and Petzl quality is worth $4 per draw.  The Cyphers are lighter but unless you're doing long approaches I think a bit of extra weight isn't a big deal for sport climbing draws.

Backcountry has the Djinn on sale for $12.71 per draw right now which is an excellent deal IMO.  

With that said, if your priority is $$ then just get whatever's cheapest.  They'll all work just fine.  

Btw, I am willing to spend what I need to to get the right product. The reason I was going cheaper is I have a lot of other hobbies and commitments and I'm not sure if I'll be able to climb outside other than a few times a year at most. BUT...

if for some reason this ends up replacing any of my other hobbies I'd like to already have solid equipment. 

Also I'll be climbing at the RRG pretty much exclusively if that helps.

That's a great price for the Djinns at Backcountry, I would get those. If you're mostly sport climbing at the red, I imagine you will appreciate having a bigger dogbone to grab than the Firefly has. You may even consider something wider, but those Djinn Axess are very nice.

The djin is probably the nicest sport draw out there, the only thing that would be a bit nicer is if they had some varied width webbing for hauling on. They out last some of the more expensive draws on the market (spirits) and they're pretty gentle on the rope so your rope will last longer. 

Those on the biggest sale.

David House wrote:

You'll get a lot of opinions, but the Djinns would be a solid choice. I wouldn't get cheap draws that you assume you will upgrade later unless you're not sure if climbing is for you. 

My favorite draws have a straight gate notchless 'biner on the bolt end like a Petzl Spirit, a medium length (17cm-ish) thick dogbone in the middle like a Petzl Express and a wiregate bottom 'biner like a Wild Country Wildwire on the rope end. I have a mix of 'biners from BD, WC and Petzl but over the years I've standardized on the 17cm Express dogbone. If you are doing a LOT of toproping I agree with Linnaeus about getting a couple of Edelrid Bulletproof draws for the anchor or the first bolt if you are really working sport routes. But I've never worn out a full-sized biner, only the superlight ones.

I wouldn’t buy cheap draws period because if you don’t like it it’s a lot easier to sell Spirits or Djinns on here than cheapo ones 

If you're climbing at the red you're definitely going to appreciate spending the extra few bucks on quickdraws that have a clean nose/keylock on the wall side. Cleaning overhanging routes with a hooked nose biner on the bolt is very much doable but just enough of a pain in the ass to warrant spending the extra $20-$30 imo.  Also I agree with what was said about having steel draws for your first and anchor draws, that will help you get maximum life out of your draws.

My experience: 

- Wider dogbones are better than thin and lighter dyneema ones. For grabbing and general handling.

- Carrying slightly longer draws for sport climbing helps reduce rope drag. I usually only carry two or three of the (standard 12cm) short ones, two or three long ones (20cm) and the rest are medium, 16cm draws. I rarely felt the need to carry alpine draws on sport climbs, although it happens. Usually you can just use a shoulder length sling and a standard draw though ...

The Djinns are great draws and you’ll be very happy with them! Backcountry has a great deal right now on a 6 pack. Get two of the packs. 

Ended up going with the camp orbits since they are on sale right now for $59.96 for the 6 pack on moosejaw so we will see how it all shakes out. Seemed like they got decent reviews and they feel like they will serve me pretty well. I'll hopefully find out soon enough.

I actually like the BD black and yellow solid gates and my mad rock concordes a lot. Not the largest fan of the djins I do have. Find the gate a bit stiff. 

The Djinns are worth the money - great value and performance.  They'll last forever too.

Those claiming that differences in all draws are mostly aesthetic... are you high?

It’s worth getting keyless/snag-free for the gear end at least. Assuming for mostly sport. Folks have offered up some good suggestions already, but don’t be fooled in thinking all QDs are created equal.