Continue with onX Maps
Sign in with Facebook
Finding the Best Alternative to the Original Attache: A Review of Rope Bearing Carabiners
|
The goal of this review was to find the best fully round stock locking carabiner for rope bearing on a belay device in plaquette or "guide" mode. In addition to the fully round stock carabiners, the CAMP Nimbus was added to the review by special request (shout out to Nick B!), and two non-round stock carabiners were added to the test for comparison purposes only. Most people are aware that the new Petzl Attache and Sm’D are not the best option for a rope bearing carabiner when belaying from above. In adding these to the review, the intent was to have the data represent what we already know. In this review, five metrics were measured:
The carabiners (all brand new) that were tested include:
 Weight To find the weights in the chart below, I measured each carabiner 3 times on an electronic food/baking scale, not much variance was recorded between measurements, occasionally +/- 1 gram.   The clear winner here is the non round-stock carabiners. They have less cross sectional area, and therefore less mass. Followed by the Metolius Element and the old round stock Attache, due to their being the smallest of the fully round stock carabiners in the test. What was interesting to me on this chart is just how little the difference is between something like the old Attache and the Rock Exotica Pirate. For only a 3 gram penalty, the Pirate is a much larger carabiner. The old Attache burns up a lot of weight in the size and shape of the gate and locking sleeve. Dimensions Overall size is a double-edged sword. Bigger carabiners are better with gloves in winter, and are easier to manipulate for those with larger hands. Smaller carabiners are more compact, and therefore take up less space on the rack and at the belay. They can be fine for single ropes and small hands, but some folks find them more cumbersome. Dimensions were measured with digital calipers.   In my opinion, carabiners for this specific application don't need to be all that big. Therefore, something like the old Attache, Element, or Salewa HMS seem like the better choice. Gate Opening A larger gate opening is always going to be better. Gate opening ranking for these carabiners was more or less expected, with a couple of exceptions. The KONG HMS Napik is the largest of all of the carabiners, however, it ranked relatively poorly in gate opening. This is due mostly to a large diameter gate and locking sleeve, as well as an overall narrow design. The Rock Exotica Pirate has a huge edge in this category due to a fantastic design tweak, which has the gate open to the side of the carabiner spine, in lieu of opening directly into the center of the spine. That extra millimeter or two is surprisingly noticeable. Gate opening was measured with digital calipers.  One of the main reasons for using a fully round stock carabiner is the option to belay with the rope bearing on the spine. This is most often true when belaying with a KONG GiGi. The combination of gate opening and round spine on the Rock Exotica Pirate and the Sterling Falcon make those carabiners excellent choices for that application.
Resistance in Plaquette This is the real meat and potatoes. I find the below chart to be the most important takeaway of this review. Resistance was measured by setting up a plaquette with the full weight of the rope on the climber's side. Then, the brake strand was then pulled while connected to a very high-tech and scientific force measurement gauge (hanging luggage scale) a total of 5 times, and the average value recorded. Yes, I know kg is not a force measurement, but you can use your imagination. All carabiners were positioned in the same way and loaded onto the same side of the belay device.   When pulling rope over the carabiner when the rope is loaded in plaquette mode, the carabiner wants to orient itself as parallel with the brake strand as possible. In lockers that are not fully round stock at the rope bearing surface, this forces the rope to pass over the uneven areas of the carabiner, which may be the cause of additional friction.  This was even present in the *almost* fully round stock Salewa HMS. The cross section for that carabiner is slightly oblong; possibly causing higher resistance values. The smoothest, roundest carabiners had the lowest resistance values. With the bottom three perfectly round, smooth, and polished. # of Rotations to Lock/Unlock Here is where all of the Metolius Element haters come out of the woodwork. The graph below proves them right!  If lockers like the old Attache and the new Nimbus Lock can achieve these low numbers, it is my opinion that every carabiner should follow suit. There is no real reason for more rotations of the sleeve on a locker; and even less reasons to have resistance in the threads. All of the carabiners that were tested can be "flicked" fully open or closed, except for the Metolius Element. There is an argument for "safety" in difficulty to lock/unlock, but I'm not really buying it. You can usually snug up any locker to prevent it from coming unscrewed, and if you're really concerned about it, you've gotta be "clippin' and flippin!" This seems like the best time to add a locking sleeve shape section to this review. It is worth noting that a friend and I have experienced issues rapping (read: bailing) in high winds, cold temps, and blowing snow using an old Attache and a Metolius Element. Both of these carabiners have huge gaps between the sleeve and the gate when in the fully locked position. Of course, carabiners get warm when you rappel, and in blowing snow, these carabiners packed up with ice and couldn't be opened at the next rappel. In that specific case, we continued to rappel with new-style Attache's and did not have the same issue, due to their tight clearance at this location. Therefore, I would actually recommend a new-style Attache or Rock Exotica Pirate for rappelling in cold/wet/icy conditions for that reason. Those two carabiners have the tightest tolerance between the locking sleeve and the gate, when compared to the other carabiners in the review. Final Notes
Happy Climbing! |
|
Didn’t they discontinue the old attaché 10 years ago? The only problem I’ve had is that a partner couldn’t unscrew one at a belay one time. |
|
isnt this all a moo point because of the edelrid bulletproof carabiner? |
Lincoln S wrote: That is not a remotely round stock biner, ja? |
|
yeah, but the title is "best rope bearing carabiner" and it's rounder than the sm'd or new attache and it'll make your rope less gross |
Lincoln S wrote: Selective reading much? |
Lincoln S wrote: Lincoln appears to be correct.  I'll second the appreciation for all the work on this. |
|
I admit I kind of want the edelrid just to keep my ropes cleaner, but rock exotica stuff is so nice. Every time I use their carabiners I'm surprised that they feel and act so much nicer than anything else. Their tri lock "orca" biners have an "unlocked until you clip" feature that is safe and kinda cool. A friend who is in a special forces unit in the military gave me some of their gear years ago and it is top notch quality. Made in USA, if that matters to you. I used the metolius elements for years and don't remember it being such a big deal to open and close, but I did throw them in slackline kit bag and never took them back out. I like the rock exotica pirate, have kind of big hands but I don't think it is too big at all. Who used to use omega pacific Jake carabiners? |
|
Nice job putting all of this together. I use to work with a designer at Edelrid a bit and asked about making an I-beam style biner with a round stock for the rope bearing part. Not sure why no one is doing it as it seems it would be the best of both worlds. Back when I was guiding (and still using plaquette devices) I use to do tests like this but also with different combos of belay devices and biners. They definitely aren't all equal when it comes to resistance which was the biggest issue when guiding. |
Mikey Schaefer wrote: DMM makes the Rhino which is an I-beam/round stock combo (73g). The Phantom HMS is an I-beam with a beefed up, almost round stock rope-bearing surface (56g). I use both. https://dmmwales.com/climbing-products/locking-carabiners/rhino-hms https://dmmwales.com/climbing-products/locking-carabiners/phantom-hms |
Brandon R wrote: That is pretty much what I'd been asking for. Looks like a pretty good solution. |
Alec Baker wrote: Not fully round stock. It is even bigger than the biggest carabiner in this review. In my opinion, too big for this application. If we opened up the review to carabiners that are round stock at the basket but not the spine, I’d run out of money buying biners! DMM Rhino and Grivel Plume HMS K3GH come to mind at first thought… |
|
I'm curious why you're considering switching to Salewa instead of Sterling. All your metrics seem very similar except the sterling has less resistance. Seems like this would be a better choice? Or is the longer OAL enough to negate the pulling resistance? |
Alec Baker wrote: Round stock spine for use with a KONG GiGi, Grivel Scream, etc. Traditional plaquettes. Some people also like to have the rope bear on the spine when using a tube-style plaquette device like the Reverso or ATC Guide. My opinion is that too large of a carabiner for rope bearing only wastes bulk and weight. |
|
Thanks for all your work. This is a sweet comparison. |
|
GREAT WRITE UP! |
|
https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/product/pearlock-screwgate-carabiner/ The new BD pearlock is 76 g, roundstock, and ‘feels’ like the old attache when handled |
Patrick L wrote: I ordered 4 omega Hms before they closed there doors. I find them very smooth and easy to work with. They create enough resistance for my 6mm abseil line. |
|
Thank you soooo much for this! |
|
Thanks for doing all the work. |
 Just to chime in: I think this new Grivel carabiner which was released lately is exceptionally good for this use, and way lighter than everything else comparable as far as I can tell. I did a quick test at home and the pull resistance was very very good with an ATC-guide. I did a quick comparison with a metolius element and sm'd. It is auto locking and with a completely round bar where it counts. Its a bit more fiddly at first to use the twin gate but you get used to it quickly, so I think it's a good compromise for the weight. The weight listed (44g) is accurate on my balance. I've not used it in anger yet as it just arrived but I'll probably use it with a Sm'd for main belaying and this one for the guide-mode. There is a bit more curve through the basket so it might have slightly more resistance with double ropes which I didnt test yet.. But with a single rope in guide mode, American style, it is very impressively smooth. |
