The Mini Moonboard

Having researched prior threads, watched videos and discussed it with my training group, I thought I would renew the conversation.

For those who own a Moonboard Mini:

- How did you decide on this setup compared to other short boards?

- Did you build the panels yourself or buy a DIY kit? LED or manual?

- What was your total cost?

- What hold configurations did you choose?

For those who own one or have climbed on one:

- How do you like the dimensions, holds, problems?

- How do you perceive the training utility of the Mini vs. just a spray wall?

... plus anything else you'd like to share. Much appreciated. I'm planning ahead for family expansion needs and the Mini would fit my available space.

Thanks, and may tha gotez be with you.

Some of my answers overlap with several questions so I'll lump them together.

The main reason I went with my mini was cost. Obviously it's more expensive than a spraywall with factory seconds holds, but it's still a fraction of the cost of the smallest kilter homewall or tension 2. Especially if one doesn't buy the leds.

I only bought the holds and bolts from moon. I think I paid ~1300€ for all 4 sets. The reason i bought the bolts as well was that finding all thread countersunk m10 bolts elsewhere turned out to be quite difficult.

I built the frame myself, and total cost for wood and hardware was around 400€.

Personally I'm a fan of the holdsets they included on the mini. The yellow crimps are great for building finger strength. The wooden holds are made of plywood, so they have a bit more friction than hardwood holds while not wearing out the skin as fast as resin. 

I've found the size of the board to be quite adequate when one considers the space it requires. I couldn't fit a full moonboard, so this is the next best thing. If I had extra room I would build wider and taller, and use the extra space as a spray wall.

The reason I went with the mini instead of a spray wall, is that I don't have to spend so much time thinking about setting problems. I've set some on the mini, but it's much easier to scroll through the problems and find one that looks interesting instead of setting them all by myself. The quality of the problems varies a lot. If one looks beyond the benchmarks, there are more than enough good climbs. However it's still a board, which means that it can't offer the same variety as a climbing gym.

Nordic Gumby wrote:

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response! So did you decide against the LED kit? And did you build it on a freestanding frame or against a wall?

I've only climbed on a mini moonboard once, but can share a couple thoughts.

-Is an effective training tool, you can get a significant amount of moves in on the small board.  I was skeptical when I had read about em online.

-Board I climbed on didn't have LED's, but the plywood was painted black.  Then you can use sidewalk chalk to mark the holds that are on.  Felt like a good way to save a big chunk of change.

-The app has an overwhelming amount of climbs.  I have a spraywall at my house and found that I often set similar stuff.  Having the app with insane amounts of problems pushed me out of my comfort zone, trying lots of new moves I would have never thought of.

-I didn't buy it, but the guy who did said it was about $1100-$1300 for the holds.  I think that was 3 or 4 sets.

-Wall was free standing, framed with 2x6's, 40 degrees.  Two sheets of plywood.  So, that can add few hundred bucks if you don't have lumber kicking around.  The freestanding frame didn't bother me, but the guy who owns it said the support posts can kinda get in your head a little bit when doing certain problems at the edges.  I didn't notice it, but I only tried a handful of problems.

TL:DR I think it's an efficient tool for the space it takes, but it'll cost a couple grand

Most of your questions answered here.

Executive summary:

"A Mini Moonboard is one of the cheapest and most compact homeboard systems. Both fun and effective for those who boulder V8 or harder. Can also be worth it for those who can boulder V6 — if they add a few more good holds to the layout. A lot of climbing in a small space with the sound philosophy that no one gets strong by pulling on big holds.

I’m a little confused. If you buy the Moonboard Mini, all you get is a set holds?  LEDs, hardware and panels need to be purchased separately?

1,800.00 pounds for a set of holds seems a bit steep, even if an app is included.

I’m not trying to be snarky, as I am looking at building a board in our potential new residence. Anyway, I guess that boards  are pricy, and the cost effective option may be a spray wall or a systems wall, and I already have one of those. 

My free standing Mini Moonboard is just coming together. First problem set.

Frank Stein wrote:

I’m a little confused. If you buy the Moonboard Mini, all you get is a set holds?  LEDs, hardware and panels need to be purchased separately?

1,800.00 pounds for a set of holds seems a bit steep, even if an app is included.

I’m not trying to be snarky, as I am looking at building a board in our potential new residence. Anyway, I guess that boards  are pricy, and the cost effective option may be a spray wall or a systems wall, and I already have one of those. 

Yeah, that’s how all the boards work. Tension and Kilter run $6,000+ for just holds IIRC. LEDs are another $1,000+. And it doesn’t really make sense to manufacturer the board itself unless it’s a Lemur/Grasshopper-type frame, in which case they’re all very expensive.

I am the very, very happy owner of a home spray wall. It’s great for training, but you do lose something by not having external benchmarks or setters. I still session the Moon Board and (now) Kilter at the gym for that.

Edit: Just checked the actual numbers for holds-only:

• 8x12 Kilter Board: $7,310 ($9,885 w/LEDs and bolts)
• 8x12 Tension Board 2: $6,290 ($8,363 w/LEDs)
• 8x12 Tension Board 1: $4,661 ($6,394 w/LEDs)
• 2024 Moon Board: ~$2,850 (~$3,300 w/LEDs; I think you also need to pay import taxes)

Of these, I think the Moon Board is the only one you can get away with not having the LEDs on. The TB1 and Kilter are ridiculously hard to use without lights due to the density and visual uniformity of the holds. I'm not sure about the TB2 but it looks like it'd be a bit better, but still worse than the Moon Board.

F r i t z wrote:

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response! So did you decide against the LED kit? And did you build it on a freestanding frame or against a wall?

I skipped the LEDs. Just couldn't justify the cost. One learns the hold layout relatively fast and if not one can use chalk to mark the holds like Sean mentioned.

I'm renting, so the wall is freestanding. Kind of like Victor's build, but with 2" by 8" vertical supports further out. Building a taller kicker like in the image is a good idea. Also adding minijugs in between the holds can make warming up easier.

Cost is obviously higher than just a normal spray wall, but it's still much less than the competitors.

Anyone know anything about a possible 2024 set on the mini format?

Nordic Gumby wrote:

 Building a taller kicker like in the image is a good idea.

Yes, Moon specs a ridiculous 15 cm kicker, but when they state the total height clearance required it says "plus the height of the padding" so it is assumed that the bottom of the kicker is at pad height. Though you almost never see them built this way.

John Clark wrote:

Anyone know anything about a possible 2024 set on the mini format?

Moon says it's coming.

Hey Fritz,

I own a mini, I went with the full shabang. It was fairly expensive shipped to the US, about $1800 just in shipping and import fees. Maybe $5,500 total. It requires extra steps to ship if you’re getting the panels. Moon really needs a US distributor.

I built the frame myself and that was maybe $150 in 2x6s. It’s built into the framing of my garage, so no posts on either end.

I, like another poster mentioned, am bound by my own lack of creativity, and simply can’t climb on a spray wall effectively. I think the style of the mini is much more applicable to outdoor climbing compared to the other sets. Lots of tensiony traversing sequences or very small but difficult hand movements because of the positions you’re forced into. The fact that there’s more feet and you spend more time on the kickboard also lends itself to this “outdoorsy” feel, with less giant high steps and hand-foot matching. Though there’s plenty of that too!

I’ve owned the board for about a year now and don’t regret it one bit, tho in the upper end the climbs can be very height-dependent. The main moderator(and strongest setter) Dolph is a giant.

Also as mentioned, Moon is planning a reset in 2024. Might be worth waiting on that, I’d imagine they’d use the new blue holds and maybe a set of woods.

If you do build it inside a room, make sure it’s sealed from the living space, unless you go chalkless. I use liquid chalk and only chalk up outdoors and my garage is still a mess after a couple sessions. I vacuum religiously.

Edit:Add 4 inches of wood to the bottom of the kicker but keep the feet at standard height. I also did this and it was very worth it.

Eric Marx wrote:

Beta so good, it boArders on canonical. Solid post, thanks! 

I have one and like it a lot. Would still prefer the normal moonboard, but don’t have the ceiling space.

I spent a little over $1100 usd on the holds. I used basic plywood and 2x4s to build the wall myself. That was about $400.

It is too small to warrant the LEDs. I never have a problem remembering the holds and moves after a quick peek at the app.

It has a great little community that is very active on instagram. The v3s are all virtually the same. It really shines at v4-6. BUT, the grades are generally sandbagged by 2 vpoints. I’ve climbed many v10s outside, but still have a few v5 and 6 benchmarks that feel like legitimate projects on the mini. That said, grades aren’t why I use it. It is a wonderful training tool that fits in a small space. If you climb 12b or harder, longer circuits are entirely possible. You can also squeeze extra holds in between the grid if you want some bigger holds.

the kickboard is frustratingly narrow at spec. I see a number of folks with MUCH bigger kickboards. They set problems and rate problems… which I think contributes a bit to the sandbagging. Some problems would be much easier if you could sag into them on the starts… again, no big deal.

all and all, it’s a great tool. I’m inspired by it enough to keep jumping on it and trying new problems. Right now, there are about 4000. Hard to complain about having access to that many problems in the comforts of your home.

Eric Marx wrote:

Also as mentioned, Moon is planning a reset in 2024. Might be worth waiting on that, I’d imagine they’d use the new blue holds and maybe a set of woods.

I was exited about this when I first started building my mini, but I've now decided that the 2020 set up will serve me better both because of present availability and the number of established benchmarks on that set up. I'm making my own wood holds and at my age I likely will never be good enough to use many of the yellows anyway. I did purchase the footholds which were very reasonably priced.

That may make the blues better for you! Seems like they’re a bit bigger/friendlier/and less painful holds.

I don’t think I’ll switch anytime soon tho.

C G wrote:

It is too small to warrant the LEDs. I never have a problem remembering the holds and moves after a quick peek at the app.

Thanks for the info! This seems like a great way to keep costs down.

I was also wondering how feasible it would be to go with TB2 10x8, and just buy one set of holds to start with. Then later on, get the second set to fill out the board. Anyone have an idea on how many community problems would be available, if this were even possible?

F r i t z wrote:

Thanks for the info! This seems like a great way to keep costs down.

I was also wondering how feasible it would be to go with TB2 10x8, and just buy one set of holds to start with. Then later on, get the second set to fill out the board. Anyone have an idea on how many community problems would be available, if this were even possible?

I haven't climbed on the tb2, but the problems are visible in the app. The 10x8 only lists a few dozen climbs when selecting for only plastic or wood. I would guess that most people get both sets.

IMO the mini also suffers if one doesn't get all the holds. Currently all 4 sets total like 5200 problems, but foregoing even a single set cuts the problem count by at least 2000.

I inherited a mini from the previous tenant of the house I rent. I can't speak to the cost of the setup but I love climbing on it. Ours doesn't have lights, but when you climb on it regularly, its not hard to just remember the holds of the problem. If you are taller, I would highly recommend adding a little bit of height to the kickboard. I am 5'2, so it doesn't bother me, but my 6ft tall roommate has lots of trouble fulling weighting the kicker feet without his heels touching the floor. The wall is freestanding with support posts and if you have the option to mount it to a wall so that you don't have posts that would be way nicer. There's been a handful of times that I've tried to hold a swing and hit the post. Not hard enough to get hurt, but annoying for doing the problem. 

While I really love climbing on the 2016 set, I appreciate that the mini has less jumping and way more tension-based moves and hard footwalks. It feels more applicable for outdoor climbing and I feel like I can climb on it more consistently without being as worried about hurting my fingers. I also really like that you can pretty much pull on and try any single move in isolation because the board is so short. It makes it much easier to work on truly limit moves than on other boards. I find the grades to be a little less consistent and more morpho than on the 2016, but not so much so that its annoying. I think your height factors in way more than on other boards. There have been a lot of very scrunchy problems that I found quite easy and many "easy" problems where I couldn't keep my foot on the kicker and had to jump to quite bad holds. On most other training boards, the row of holds that is just out of reach from keeping my foot on the kicker is a lot juggier, so losing your foot isn't that bad.  

As other people have said, I don't always have the patience to set boulders on a spray wall and tend to fall into ruts, so I prefer to climb on a wall with preset boulders.

The previous owner added 3-4 jugs and 3-4 juggy incut finger buckets in between the moon holds and it makes warming up and doing endurance work pretty pleasant. The Mini set up has quite a few juggy holds, so you don't really have to add that many to be able to climb continously around the board on jugs.

I just got my 2019 moonboard mini last month. I bought it used off of Facebook market place for $1500 with original school yellow, and wooden A,B, and C holds. It was built by the previous owner DIY style and I just took it apart and rebuilt it at my place. I chose the moonboard mini because that was the only board that would fit in my house. It has been an amazing training tool and I love the fact that I can climb whenever I get the itch. The app is not going to blow your mind but does what it should and has plenty of problems to work through. Overall I have loved mine so far and don’t really have any complaints. I looked into getting the LED’s but it’s not worth how much it costs because I pretty much have the board layout memorized after a few weeks. I’ve already seen progress from flailing around on sandbagged v3/4’s for the past couple weeks;). Let me know if you have any other questions and I’d be happy to answer them. Good luck Fritz!