Favorite Standard Stoppers

So I have a set of the DMM Alloy Offsets and Peenuts and they've been great but I want to get a set of regular nuts to compliment them. The ones I'm looking at are the BD Stoppers, WC Rocks (the unanodized ones because they bite better right?), and the DMM Wallnuts. Does anyone have some favorites that they prefer over the other? Or are they all pretty much the same?

Most of my climbing is on granite if that helps. Thanks!

I think in general people like Wallnuts the best and BD stoppers the worst.

I wouldn't get unanodized ones. After some practice the color is helpful for picking sizes, and don't think it affects the performance much if at all.

Wallnuts!  Personally the 1-6 is perfect addition to the offsets for me.  

I never carry the 7-11 wallnuts.   

The purple, green, silver walnuts have been clutch for me.  

Purple and green will often fit in “micro” placements but with how much metal they have in them + strength rating I feel really good falling on them.  I wouldn’t hesitate to buy again and having owned all 3 of those nuts sets the DMMs are by far the best IMO.   

Bryce Dahlgren wrote:

So I have a set of the DMM Alloy Offsets and Peenuts and they've been great but I want to get a set of regular nuts to compliment them. The ones I'm looking at are the BD Stoppers, WC Rocks (the unanodized ones because they bite better right?), and the DMM Wallnuts. Does anyone have some favorites that they prefer over the other? Or are they all pretty much the same?

Most of my climbing is on granite if that helps. Thanks!

If anodizing is affecting your placements, something is seriously wrong with your placements.  :)

I've got DMMs and BD stoppers.  There's not a huge amount of difference, but the shape and divot in the side of the DMMs seems to find irregularities to lock into better than the BDs.

I rarely rack more than the DMM offsets plus wallnuts above and below the range of the offsets.    Don't think I've ever wanted a standard nut when I had an offset, but most cracks I climb aren't perfectly parallel.

Wallnuts hands down

I like the look of the Wallnuts better but only have one bootied recently so haven’t placed it yet. I have maybe a BD nut or three but I find offsets work well and I don’t really need a “standard” nut. You could also just double up if you want more nuts (I guess price is a concern too).

I like walnuts but strangely I've booties two size 7 BD nuts and they're my favourite nuts (one sadly got dropped into the ocean by someone I was teaching), something about that size of that bd nut just seems to go in on almost every limestone route I climb. 

Seeing all the "likes" of Wallnuts in this thread makes me a bit surprised. There might be large regional differences. Everyone I have climbed with over the years (a few dozen people) have had at least half a set of BD stoppers and no one has the Wallnuts. Personally, I choose BD or WC any day and I feel half naked if I don't have a double set (BD #3 to #9). On a regular day of leading, I probably place 30-50 nuts, so being easy to place and clean is high on my list of requirements. I find BD/WC are the easiest to clean of all nuts.

greggrylls wrote:

Wallnuts!  Personally the 1-6 is perfect addition to the offsets for me.  

I never carry the 7-11 wallnuts.   

Note that the #1-6 Wallnuts are NOT the six smaller sizes below the #7-11 offsets. The #6 Wallnut is almost as big as the #9 Offset. There’s a separate thread here on this topic.

I used other people's basic BD nuts and the shape doesn't seem to stay put very well in various rock types in WA. People say they are easier to clean, but that also means they are easier to zipper. 

I got metolius curve nuts as my "regular" nuts and they're phenomenal. It's best to use a nut tool to clean them, but they stick way better and move less from the rope. I mostly climb granite these days so often I only bring offsets but in Leavenworth, Tieton or other places I'll use the metolius nuts too, especially the larger sizes. 

In my experience it's like the difference between the way C4 cams walk a lot and totems don't. Both will hold a fall if they stay put but I trust one more than the other to do so.

DMM Wallnuts

Go climb on 5.5-5.7 multipitches after the weekend or a rain storm and the right sizes will be there waiting for you. Only partially joking, since the only regular nuts i use are the same ones that i regularly booty. Silver and purple BD

You’ll be fine with any of them. My personal experience: 

A few years ago when I started leading and building my own rack well before I ever should have, I went for the wallnuts because of threads like this. And I will say, they worked/work just fine.

But flash forward a few years, and now I have a nearly complete set of BD nuts, mostly acquired as booty, and those are much more often my go-tos. Especially in the very small sizes. I’ve just found the more I’ve climbed with both, the walnut shape seems odd compared to the stoppers. I mostly climb on quartzite, and rock type likely plays a role, too. But they all work. Who you wind up climbing with and their gear is likely equally important to the calculation—I wound up cleaning a lot of BD nuts as a follower bc that’s often what partners carried, so that is a consideration too.

Caveat: I almost never think an offset is better than a regular nut, and I always carry a 5 rock.

Your mileage will absolutely vary.

I personally favor the Wallnuts, but would be fine with anything other than the BD. There's just something about the cables on the BD stoppers that I find frustrating when trying to place them. Idk exactly what it is (seems like it's something about the swage), but the only time that I insist on using my own gear is when my partner is carrying the BD stoppers.

That said, lots of people seem to like them. Maybe just check them out before buying if you're leaning that way to see if it's something that stands out to you. 

I prefer WC rocks up to #6. I place a lot of nuts. Rocks set well in shallow placements and have bigger cables in small sizes making them last longer.

A mentor of mine once said he recommended Black Diamond standard stoppers because when you leave one behind, bail, drop, etc. They are always the easiest to walk into any given climbing shop and pick up the one you're missing. 

Personally, I carry Wild Country Superlight rocks or Superlight Offset rocks.

I like placing my Frost Nuts and DMM offsets. I bought a Kouba Mosaz set too which look great and offer a different size but I haven't placed them yet because i never got around to my passive project this summer. Boo.

Alex Fletcher wrote:

A mentor of mine once said he recommended Black Diamond standard stoppers because when you leave one behind, bail, drop, etc. They are always the easiest to walk into any given climbing shop and pick up the one you're missing. 

That's the reason I suggest BD Stoppers to new climbers (who not coincidentally are most prone to losing them one way or another). But the greater security of nuts with a longitudinal groove (DMM and Met) make them far superior for my purposes.

people still use non offset DMM's?

abe r wrote:

people still use non offset DMM's?

As the thread title and comments indicate, yes. 

OP: If I were starting from scratch, I'd get the WC superlight offsets or DMM halfnuts and call it done. Not quite as strong or durable as others, but you get a good standard and offset option in one, at a very low weight penalty. Their narrowness also makes them fit well in shallow placements, around crystals, etc. Aside from those, I like BD stoppers, but not by a significant margin over the others mentioned.