Gear showdown: which locker is your favorite for a tether or personal anchor?

When you buy a personal anchor system like the Petzl Connect Adjust or similar it doesn’t come with a locking carabiner… this leaves you with a choice on what to use! Most lockers will work totally fine and you need not worry but not all lockers are created equal in this respect. Some would not work at all (i.e. big pearabiner too fat to clip a lot of hangers/chains). For all the gear dorks out there who enjoy this kind of question, which locker do you think is best suited for this use? Petzl recommends the Spirit Screwgate and I see most people using some kind of offset D with a nice screwgate mechanism. The evaluation criteria I can think of:

1) Thin profile in nose and spine to easily fit in crowded anchor hardware or smaller chains. 

2) Can be easily manipulated with one hand and is fast/easy to lock. Quality of locking mechanism. Ease of manipulating carabiner in hand.

3) Visual indicator or affordance to help you avoid forgetting to lock it since it is not redundant in many uses.

4) Good gate clearance making it easy and not fiddly to clip crowded anchor.

5) Durability

6) Weight

7) Cost

What’s the best you’ve found?

I prefer a low profile, small enough   and keylock .  Those 2  criterias are the most important IMHO.

I am using the Black diamond Hotforge for many years without issues.

Camp Photon screw gate or petzl SM'D twistlock

I think that ergonomic ease of use is the absolute most important factor, and a keylock nose is mandatory.  All other factors take a back seat.

The BD Rock Lock Twistlock is thus my choice.

I use these and love them

https://www.climbingtechnology.com/en/outdoor-en/carabiners/aerial2/aerial-pro-sg

I like an oval carabiner on the lanyard so use the edelrid kiwi slider, which excels at OP’s criteria 1, 2, 4 & 6.

Scott D wrote:

Camp Photon screw gate or petzl SM'D twistlock

I second the Petzl SM’D Twistlock. 

Simond Spider locker

CAMP Photon or Orbit locker. Super narrow nose and spine and lightweight to boot. 

Edelrid slider 

I use a DMM Phantom but I am not in love with a screwgate in this application as sometimes I find that the screw has partly closed and I have to open it before clipping, and I could forget to lock it. For a single attachment point I don't completely trust a twist lock or slider.  The Grivel twin-gate is the fastest action I trust so I would like to try the Sigma K8G.

Edelrid pure screw. Fits everywhere and easy enough to lock one handed. Haven't tried the slider version, but not a huge fan of the way it locks. 

I almost entirely use Edelrid pure sliders these days.  I had them on my petzl adjust for years now and love them.  Petzl spirit lockers use to be my go to but the auto locking ability of the Pure Slider is hard to beat.

Worth noting on the sliders that after some wear and tear the the gate doesn’t completely close and lock automatically every time. 

Petzl Sm'D twistlock (2 stage, red sleeve).

Andy Wiesner wrote:

Worth noting on the sliders that after some wear and tear the the gate doesn’t completely close and lock automatically every time. 

Add some cam lube to the locking mechanism.  I have a couple prototypes that are still working fine and am yet to have one not work after adding some lubrication.

Scott D wrote:

Camp Photon screw gate or petzl SM'D twistlock

Thanks everyone for the responses! I'm also using a Camp Photon Lock but I have to admit the screw mechanism is not quite as slick as other lockers (notably Petzl's and Mammut's 2022 models which appear to be a knock-off of Petzl's) and can get stuck more easily. Kinda interested in the Edelrid Slider or the Sm'D Twistlock.

Edelrid slider if you like ease of use and keep em lubed, they do stick. Petzl smD twist if you like max safety and are willing to crap your pants a bit when you need to access your tether fast w non dominant hand. 

DMM Shadow Kwiklock, I have no problem trusting a twistlock on a tether.

I have the Grivel Sigma K8G and I don't like it. It's wider than the DMM Shadow, and when you clip, instead of clipping the bolt at the nose of the carabiner, you have to bring it up and clip near the narrow end the biner. It may not sound like much of a difference, but when you are so used to how every biner on your rack clips and need to make a mental adjustment for just one biner, it gets annoying. I'm sufficiently annoyed by it that the Grivel is only used to hold my friction backup for rappelling these days.

Of course a twistock on a tether is bomber. The point above is the slider is way easier to access. 

aikibujin wrote:

I have the Grivel Sigma K8G and I don't like it. It's wider than the DMM Shadow, and when you clip, instead of clipping the bolt at the nose of the carabiner, you have to bring it up and clip near the narrow end the biner. It may not sound like much of a difference, but when you are so used to how every biner on your rack clips and need to make a mental adjustment for just one biner, it gets annoying.

Did you have clearance problems with the Sigma or just find it a faff to clip?  I understand why having just one carabiner like this may be annoying but I may move toward twin gates as my default if I don't discover issues like clearance.

j mo wrote:

Of course a twistock on a tether is bomber. The point above is the slider is way easier to access. 

I believe he was replying to my statement that I don't entirely trust a twist lock.