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Helium 3.0 biners- what happened to He II? What's the story? (or your favorite full-size UL biner with snag protection)
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I was looking for Wild country Helium 2s, nominally 33g, and I really like them. Suddenly I see it's all Helium 3.0 s, and it's 38 g, an increase of almost 1/6 in mass! Scandalous! Anyone know what's up about this? Do they have a different lightweight, full-size, protected nose biner to replace it? * I'm looking for light biners - sick of my heavy ones * I ice climb, and can't open mini-biners in gloves * after numerous times snagging noses on draws, I just said, "never again". I'm crazy for snagless noses, and I love my Helium 2's. The old "keyway" design petzl spirit definitely eliminated snag ... but it's not so great otherwise (pretty poor with gloves on). So what do I get now??? TPC |
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Find some original Heliums? People seem to like the Camp Dyon for your uses. |
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CAMP Dyon and DMM Alpha Trad |
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https://www.verticallstore.com/WILD_COUNTRY_Helium_20_Quickdraw/p4546831_17165917.aspx They have red and blue 2.0 quickdraws in stock here. |
Linnaeus wrote: Dear Linnaeus: My note on this one say, "Camp Dyon 33 g 26 mm opening $10.46 many fans, not in best-known reviews, made in china (sierra.com) " I like to boycott chinese made products whenever possible (yah, I know) for human rights reasons. But, thanks for that suggestion. |
jdejace wrote: Thank you for that. You can see my other comment on the CAMP Dyon. The Alpha Trad doesn't have a snag-free nose. The DMM Chimera looks pretty good, with snag-free nose, though it has a much smaller opening (21 mm) and costs a bloody fortune - North of $15.50 these days. -TPC |
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The alpha trad does indeed have a snag free nose. I have a handful of those and a bunch of chimeras. DMM is top notch! The chimera is definitely too small for ice, but the alpha trad would be a good option. |
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For me, WC Helium’s are the best. Use them year round paired with Mammut slings. Perfect combo. https://www.backcountry.com/wild-country-helium-3.0-rack-6-pack 15% off.  |
thepirate1 wrote: Aren't Wild Country products also made in China? |
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Don’t get confused between Taiwan and China. A lot of carabiners get made in Taiwan (Wild Country, Metolius...). |
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Petzl Ange would seem to fit your needs too |
Graham Johnson wrote: I absolutely love my CAMP Dyons, but they are 100% made in China. I have the pamphlet that came with them right next to me. |
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CAMP must move around a bit - I'm sure my original Photons were made in Taiwan - thanks for the update - looks like all the random selection of their carabiners I checked on were made in China. Anyway, my point was to make the distinction and do a little research. The MEC website is a good one for telling you where all of the products they sell are made. |
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The Helium 3s are a bit heavier, but I really have to say I have to really focus to tell the difference (about half my alpines are Helium 2s and half are 3s). Most of what I do notice is it's just even easier, amazingly, to use |
The increased weight came from redesigning the nose hood, I believe to make it more narrow. There is a more gradual build up to the widest part of the nose on the Helium 3, which I guess meant more material overall even if the nose itself is thinner. I measured the circumference of the nose of both and the Helium 2 was 40mm while the Helium 3 was 38mm. Considering I still come across bolts where clean nose wire gates don't fit, I can appreciate that difference. Info comes from looking at them and https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/climbing/carabiner/wild-country-helium-carabiner. If we're counting grams though... it increases my quickdraws from 74g to 82g. For a full set of fourteen draws (BD 12cmm/12mm dynex dogbones) that would be 1036g/2.28lbs increased to 1148g/2.53lbs. Just for comparison to a more sport-oriented draw, 11cm Spirits are 93g and a set of fourteen would be 1302g/2.87lbs. Despite the weight increase and it not being a super lightweight carabiner anymore, I now think of them as just the best overall carabiner out there, and they're still lighter than many other carabiners.  |
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To summarize: YOU MP PEOPLE ARE AWESOME!!!! Thank you so much for your great responses. Will WB certainly did a great report, thanks thanks thanks!!! Summary and remaining questions: Heliums - everyone here loves them, but the 3.0s weigh 4-5 g MORE than 2.0, but the nose seems to be slightly more narrow. He 3 will clip bolts with narrower hangers, important to some. --------> DOes anyone know where one can get He 2.0 in the USA with reasonable shipping? or will anyone in the SF East Bay area share an order with me? (There was a recommendation to order from Canada, but who knows how that will work out and free shipping min. is $150. Dyon - all good reviews above BUT people with human rights concern-based boycotts may avoid these due to MADE IN CHINA. (That includes me.) Alpha Trad (not explicitly protected nose) - 35 g 25 mm opening, the nose is not protected or hooded, but someone here claims they are "snag-free". Can anyone second this or refute it? Can you attempt to clip a dyneema sling and see how many snags in 10 clips for us? New Suggestion(please second or downgrade): Petzl Ange L (my reviews said not so good AND people hate the single wire, some people said no, you're doing it wrong, ??? 34 g 26 mm gate)
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The link I shared upthread ships to the USA for free if you spend over $90 US or so. Tax free too! |
thepirate1 wrote: The DMM Alpha Trad absolutely does have a protected nose:  |
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This has some closeups of the Alpha Trad gate mechanism. https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/climbing/carabiner/dmm-alpha-trad I've ordered from Verti Call several times (I'm in the US). No problems, buy with confidence. |
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I have two Angle L biners that I got to try out a while ago. They now stay racked with a 240cm sling just for anchors. They seemed "fine" but nothing special, and the single "wire" is not that weird, just takes some getting used to. I find that my thumb wraps around it, almost squeezing it open, rather than the side of my thumb pushing open a normal wiregate. This can make more of my thumb/knuckle go through gate which I could see being a problem when wearing gloves. The action of the gate also gives resistance more akin to a Spirit than a wiregate. One reason I prefer wiregates is the lighter gate action, so for me it's a detraction of the Ange.    |
 I ended up getting enough 2.0s to make up my draws. I really wanted to like the alpha trad but didn’t like the feel or the gate clearance. Over time as I’ve started to climb a bit more, I‘ve really started to like the one Dyon I ended up keeping. Perfectly happy with the heliums though. I am a total newb so take it for what it’s worth. |
