Looking for Kilter Board Home Wall Recommendations (Mainline or Full Ride?)

Hi all,

I am an hour away from a climbing gym and so I am considering investing in a kilter board home wall set up. Does anybody have experience on both home wall with the full ride vs. main line setups? I am considering between a 10x10 mainline and 10x12 full ride. The full ride has about double the holds and is really densely packed in, while the mainline is cheaper and has fewer in the same space (spacing more like the original kilter board layout). It seems that the mainline give you more variety, but I'm concerned about the high hold density making it hard to pick out holds and also have a limited budget. 

Has anybody tried both of these setups and have a specific opinion out which one is better? Does the extra number of holds on the full ride create a major difference (enough so that you would strongly recommend only going with the full ride)?

Really looking forward to any input people can provide.

Thanks!

You're going to want the full ride

Download the app, configure a few different walls, watch some of the linked beta videos.  You can get the mainline holds, use them awhile, add more later.  Go as big as you can fit for layout.

With the LED setup, finding holds on the full ride is no problem.  

Hey Teddy, I have a 7x10 Kilter in my garage and it’s been the best thing since sliced bread. Im moving this year and can’t take it with me though, let me know if you have any interest! I have the full set with free standing frame and pads. 

Hi Cay C, I ended up getting one already. Where do you live? I definitely know some people who might be interested. 

The whole setup is located in Southern California. Thank you

Teddy Kisch wrote:

Hi Cay C, I ended up getting one already. Where do you live? I definitely know some people who might be interested. 

Teddy, curious which one you ended up going with. Have you been happy?

Bought the full ride, but have been busy and just built it today. Should have all holds up in 2 weeks, will let you know. Ended up doing an adjustable system with ratchet straps (3300 on working load limit each) and a 1500 lb winch to move it up and down. 

Teddy Kisch wrote:

Bought the full ride, but have been busy and just built it today. Should have all holds up in 2 weeks, will let you know. Ended up doing an adjustable system with ratchet straps (3300 on working load limit each) and a 1500 lb winch to move it up and down. 

Sweet! Congrats! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts once the holds are up and you have had a chance to experience it!

Hey Teddy! Curious how you’ve been liking your board!  I continue to debate making a major major purchase…..

I was gonna say don't buy a kilter board.  The price is absurd.  Same goes for the Tension board.  If you have to get a board, go for a moon board, which is way cheaper.  Or even better, build your own board out of a mix of wood holds, used holds, and a few new grips.  Then have the homies come over and make up problems.  You can share a wall on a setting app like retro flash, and then the homies can make you up boulders from afar, as well.  Anyway, congrats on the home wall.  I guess if you got that money, do your thing. 

Shellie wrote:

Hey Teddy! Curious how you’ve been liking your board!  I continue to debate making a major major purchase…..

Hey Shellie, there's a lot of Kilter Homewall owners on Instagram, you could ask them their thoughts. You could try reaching out to John Wilder (@kilterdojo on IG), he has a Homewall setup and has set a lot of problems on the board. Another one is @shackonekbhw. I have the OG version in my garage and I've been super happy with it although the Homewall looks really rad with how dense it is, and how the problems are more about tensiony moves between smallish holds, rather than hero moves between big holds on the OG board.

Hi Shellie,

I unfortunately took a 4 month trip and the board isnt fully built. I bought a 10x12 full ride wall, but right now it is just the 10x12 mainline installed. I need to shorten the wall a few inches to make the angle a bit more friendly,  before i put on the auxiliary holds and lights. I did end up getting some panels and making a side wall for kids and others who wouldnt want to climb on the kilter. I am also looking to have other people who arent super strong be able to enjoy it, the variable angles are important for me. Its an adjustable angle, 10x12 full ride wall at 27 degrees, but looking to shorten it slightly to let it have a lower angle. 

While i havent had the full experience yet, I have a few thoughts from climbing on it at 27 degrees, with just the mainline holds, without lights, kickboard and the auxiliary holds:

1. The home wall holds are completely different from the original. They are much crimpier and harder to hold. They are probably less "fun" than the original layout, but better for outdoor training. So harder holds means the functional angle is probably 15-25 degrees lower than what you would have on a original layout. I typically climb at gym kilter boards that are 30-50 degrees or the tension at 20. Its much better to have a lower angle on the home wall. If its fixed, i would definitely consider the hold difference to set a lower angle

2. I am interested in using the "routes" function (1-3 minute problems), and so am interested in a lower angle, like 15 - 20 degrees. Since my wall is adjustable, its somewhat flexible based on evolving needs.

3. The 10x12 is nice, but it doesnt seem like its much better than the 8x12 and not worth the extra investment. You get 3 columns of holds on each side (for the full ride), but Kilter currently doesnt have a way to filter problems by board type, so since very few people have 10x12 boards, you functionally cant search for the few routes that use the 10x10 or 10x12 boards, and so only end up using the 8x12 holds. You can filter the app for tall routes which gives you 8x12 vs 7x10 routes. I asked kilter for this update to help 10x10 and 10x12 owners take advantage of their wall, but havent seen an update yet. If i could do it again, probably would just get the 8x12. If they make an update that helps find 10x12 routes, then maybe its worth the extra cost?? But probably not at this time given the lack of routes. I will post an update later when i have the auxiliary set in and can compare it to the current mainline.

Incredibly helpful. Thanks. In my current space the 10x10 would have to be at 45 or steeper. Sounds like I can’t translate how the kilter board at the gym on 45 feels to how the homewall holds would feel at 45.  That’s incredibly valuable intel.

No problem. If you just have a 10x10 at 45 degrees and want a kilter, definitely go for the original, the home wall will probably be way too hard unless you are a v8-v10 climber at minimum. I usually am around v6 in gyms, and v5 outside, and 27 degrees is plenty for me. I had it at 45-50 degrees for a moment when i built it, and there were only a few routes i could even attempt at that angle.

Teddy Kisch wrote:

No problem. If you just have a 10x10 at 45 degrees and want a kilter, definitely go for the original, the home wall will probably be way too hard unless you are a v8-v10 climber at minimum. I usually am around v6 in gyms, and v5 outside, and 27 degrees is plenty for me. I had it at 45-50 degrees for a moment when i built it, and there were only a few routes i could even attempt at that angle.

I mostly agree with this. My wife and I have the Kilter Home 8 x 12 that we made adjustable from  30 degrees up whatever. We currently have it set at 45°, and I think Teddy is right.  It is substantially smaller holds than the original so it feels pretty tough even in those lower grades, and I think it begins to shine above V6. With that said, even though the fours might feel hard, they will make you stronger.  Another complaint is that even with the 8 x 12, about 80% of routes are set for the 7 x 10 and their ability to sort doesn’t capture all of the 8 x 12 routes.  It’s a fantastic board and I highly recommend it over the other options on the market.

Eric Carlos wrote:

I mostly agree with this. My wife and I have the Kilter Home 8 x 12 that we made adjustable from  30 degrees up whatever. We currently have it set at 45°, and I think Teddy is right.  It is substantially smaller holds than the original so it feels pretty tough even in those lower grades, and I think it begins to shine above V6. With that said, even though the fours might feel hard, they will make you stronger.  Another complaint is that even with the 8 x 12, about 80% of routes are set for the 7 x 10 and their ability to sort doesn’t capture all of the 8 x 12 routes.  It’s a fantastic board and I highly recommend it over the other options on the market.

I wonder whether if enough people request better sorting capabilities, they would implement it?  Anyway thanks for the helpful beta. Such a useful thread!

Eric Carlos wrote:

I mostly agree with this. My wife and I have the Kilter Home 8 x 12 that we made adjustable from  30 degrees up whatever. We currently have it set at 45°, and I think Teddy is right.  It is substantially smaller holds than the original so it feels pretty tough even in those lower grades, and I think it begins to shine above V6. With that said, even though the fours might feel hard, they will make you stronger.  Another complaint is that even with the 8 x 12, about 80% of routes are set for the 7 x 10 and their ability to sort doesn’t capture all of the 8 x 12 routes.  It’s a fantastic board and I highly recommend it over the other options on the market.

Hey Eric,

I noticed you also live in Kentucky. My wife and I live in the Red and are close to buying a second board for our training space. We currently have a moonboard and have narrowed our second board down to the Kilter 12x12 OG or the 10x12 Fullride HW. Do you have any insight on the HW board? Is it significantly harder the the OG at 40 degrees (our preferred angle). We’re really looking for something to compliment the moonboard. We like the idea of the smaller holds on the HW but we also want a good variety of med/large holds. Any info would be greatly appreciated. We’re a few days away from purchase. Thanks!

Eric Carlos wrote:

Another complaint is that even with the 8 x 12, about 80% of routes are set for the 7 x 10 and their ability to sort doesn’t capture all of the 8 x 12 routes.  It’s a fantastic board and I highly recommend it over the other options on the market.

Eric, have you tried the filter setting "Only Tall Climbs"? I tried it and it seems to show climbs that specifically use the 8x12.

Jeremy Salyers wrote:

Hey Eric,

I noticed you also live in Kentucky. My wife and I live in the Red and are close to buying a second board for our training space. We currently have a moonboard and have narrowed our second board down to the Kilter 12x12 OG or the 10x12 Fullride HW. Do you have any insight on the HW board? Is it significantly harder the the OG at 40 degrees (our preferred angle). We’re really looking for something to compliment the moonboard. We like the idea of the smaller holds on the HW but we also want a good variety of med/large holds. Any info would be greatly appreciated. We’re a few days away from purchase. Thanks!

Kilter customer service is pretty awesome. When I was considering a HW, the guy I was chatting with (Kiehl? I forget the spelling but it was some variation of Kyle) looked up the location of a HW that was actually in a gym within 90 miles of me and offered me a pair of free day passes to go check it out at the gym. I thought that was a pretty amazing offer. Maybe they can do the same for you.