our testing there was no clear w

2022.07.31
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our testing there was no clear w

In our testing there was no clear winner for versatility as many cams offered features or performance that gave them a broad appeal. The opinions reflected in our reviews do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Moja Gear as a whole; rather, they are a sole individuals honest account. I've used pretty much every cam available and have the following observations: people always chat about camming angles affectin holding power, obviously they do but I would bet good money that 99 times out of a 100 the reason a cam ripped is not related to whether the camming angle is 15 degrees or 13.75 or whatever. Upon cancellation, you will have access to your membership through the end of your paid year. Wild Country has chosen to align with Black Diamond in their sizing and numbering. The extendable double slings were easy to use and helped add stability and give versatility. Illustrating that some cams are more niche than others youll find a wide range of size offerings in todays cams. Some slings on cams showed signs that they would need to be replaced sooner than later, as is common with many of the skinny, lightweight slings used on cams such as the Dragons or Wild Country Friends. We paid close attention to how cams handled when being placed or cleaned and by various climbers to gain a sense of each cams ergonomics and ease of handling. This topic brings much praise or harsh criticism.

While the extendable sling was harder to use than others the Dragon Cams are built with durability in mind but that also made them the heaviest cams tested. You may cancel your membership at anytime, but no refunds will be issued for payments already made. The original Friends utilized a rigid metal stem that was both heavier and more difficult to use in horizontal placements. With those weight savings come some concern about durability and a 10 year lifespan for the cam along with a stiffer stem and sling that caused them to be less stable than other double axle cams tested. > the bigger dragons are lighter than the comparable friends. With a new .4 size coming in 2018, this will surely help extend the current range offering. This makes them great for building gear anchors, as a crux piece or when you only want to carry a couple of cams but be able to fit a wide range of placement area sizes. Durable components including Kevlar trigger wires, Less stable than the double axle cams tested, Extendable sling harder to use than others, Available in single or extendable, double slings, Durability concerns, particularly with wires, Smallest three sizes rated to 7 kN and under, Durability issues with cam lobes and stems. Posts in all Forums, Free As a result of our testing, the double axle Wild Country Friends won the award for best stability in part due to the extendable sling that is connected loosely to the thumb loop, allowing movement of the carabiner and sling while, relative to other cams, minimizing movement of the cam. Most cams offer color anodization of lobes to aid climbers in finding the size they are looking for while all include some color scheme of the stem, loop or sling to work to the same effect. Cams have either a thumb loop or thumb piece, the former offering a wide and spacious place that can help hold your thumb in place when in use. Poor stability and ergonomics compared to other cams as well as the weight of the Link Cams make them less likely that youll want to carry multiples of them, instead they serve as a great compliment to a rack. Proper and regular care and maintenance of your cams is important to ensure their reliable use. I really hope we will see a .1-.3 size in the future, as Wild Country already has the lockdown with my favorite wide pieces (the 5 & 6 Tech Friends). The Metolius Ultralight Master Cams are a lightweight cam with ten sizes to put on your rack, from cams smaller than your fingertips to fist size. Modern cams, in general, have become lighter while also becoming easier to use due to favorable ergonomics and offer an increasing number of features. While during in-house testing we were able to better control test results we still observed and made note of cams that were more prone to moving and came close to losing some cams when they walked into difficult positions that required careful extraction. If youre interested in becoming a gear reviewer, get in touch. The TripleGrip cam lobes are the widest cam lobes out of the cams tested and feature square cut edges and a non-anodized surface to increase stability and holding power. Friends also offer patented hollow axles on all but their smallest size, which they claim to be lighter and stiffer. Today cams can offer a range of unique features and construction attributes that can improve their performance and their appeal to climbers to shed old cams. Meanwhile, three-lobe cams, often referred to as TCUs, lose some security due to less surface area but can fit shallower placements and make use of otherwise difficult to protect cracks. Explore our new expert-led online courses. Annual subscription to Climbing magazine. WatchJames Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini put the new Friends to the test: The new Friends have been redesigned with Wild Countrys patented hollow axles. The name Friends came from Jardines secretive trials with his newly engineered prototypes which he kept hidden from outsiders view. amzn_assoc_region = "US";

Every cam was used by many hands in the field and a consensus was reached to score cams on their ease of use when placing and cleaning, or ergonomics, and the features offered. Create a personalized feed and bookmark your favorites. The Range Finder system provides color coding to help new climbers find the right fit for cam placements. Climbing cams have long been popular with climbers due to their ease of use, hence the general ergonomics of a cams design and features are significant factors in determining if a cam is to be popular with testers. After arduous use, much debate and averaging out opinions the Wild Country Friends came out on top but was followed close behind by the Metolius Ultralight Master Cams. Great stability was provided by the double axle design, non-anodized and square cut cam lobe teeth and patented hollow axles for stiffer axles. This weight savings can add up, particularly when taking multiples in sizes for desert splitter cracks or when loading up a pack with overnight gear for an alpine climb. Most of my friends havent realized they were using Wild Country or they mistook them for Ultralights. Companies such as Black Diamond and Wild Country offer trigger wire replacement kits while most companies, such as Metolius, and some third party services such as Fish, offer mail-in cam repair services of trigger wires and slings. Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more. amzn_assoc_title = "Related Best Sellers"; Durability is good with solid cam lobe and stem construction and tough Kevlar trigger wires. This savings is equivalent to the weight of a small cam. Additionally, the trigger wires are coated to prevent damage and they held up through all manner of use and abuse during testing. With six sizes available they are limited in their versatility beyond small cracks. Only four sizes are offered in the Omega Pacific Link Cams while other cams, such as the Black Diamond C4 Camalot and Metolius Ultralight Master Cams, offer a wide size range, giving them the ability to serve as the backbone to a rack. Wild Country Friends offer great ergonomics, stability and extendable slings but with only six sizes available climbers will still need to seek out another cam to fill in the gaps for the smaller sizes and the larger. While cam companies dont typically advertise a lifespan for their product, other than regular replacement of the slings, the Camalot Ultralights are unique in that the Dyneema core stem includes a ten year lifespan, limiting their longevity. I sure hope so. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "mojgea-20"; Offset or hybrid cams utilize two different sized sets of cam lobes, creating a cam that excels where other cams struggle when faced with flared placements or old pin scars. Heavy use further reduces that. > In spite of the highly polarised advice you will get there will be no appreciable difference between the two models when you get them out and start climbing with them. The thumb loop or tab is a key piece in a cams ergonomics as, used with the trigger bar, its what allows a cam to be placed and cleaned from a crack. > I meant the larger of the sizes he specified, but yes, the balance swings the other way again in the big sizes. Tricams placed to cam into a crack rather than merely sitting passively in a constriction are cams as well. The lightweight and effective ergonomics of the Black Diamond Camalot Ultralights gave them great appeal for long climbs and climbs requiring many pieces of gear but a less flexible stem, concerns about durability, only six sizes available limited their broader appeal with those looking for a rugged single pitch climbing cam. All cam lobes have some manner of teeth to them but companies have branched out from simple the basic teeth offered on early cams to offer other teeth patterns and designs to try to increase stability and security of cam placements. Please provide your cell phone number for shipping purposes. In a side-by-side comparison with the Friends main competitor, the Black Diamond C4, you realize that at the same price you are getting a lighter product with more functionality. The Wild Country Friends scored the highest for ergonomics as testers raved about the wide, textured thumb loop and spacious trigger bars that are curved and textured to provide easier purchase. They are less stable than the other double axle cams tested, particularly in the larger sizes, and their ease of use and ergonomics scored lower with testers due to the lack of a thumb loop and a small trigger bar. > 4CUs are even cheaper than 30 in places, I've seen them for 27 each. Built on the companys original 13.75 constant camming angle, the new Friends have seen notable upgrades, including weight savings. Trigger wires may be the first part to be damaged and need repair although many modern cams are taking greater effort to make trigger wires more durable and longer lasting. Particularly with large cams, the lobes can be bent or deformed by accident, such as throwing a heavy pack laden with cams down on the ground. Audacity. I have been climbing on them since they came out last summer and after about 400 pitches, here are my thoughts as compared to others cams in their class: A post shared by Wade Morris (@wademorris12) on Oct 4, 2016 at 7:30am PDT. Compared to first and second generation camming devices, modern day cams have come a long way and today there are many fine cams to choose from when building a rack. If stitched loosely the thumb loop strength is reduced. Please help UKClimbing continue to provide varied and free content by becoming a UKC Supporter, or UKC Supporter Plus which Friends stood out for ergonomics and ease of use with their spacious, contoured and featured thumb loop and curved trigger bar. On long and wondering pitches, I often find myself out of slings near the end of the pitch. Go and get the ones you think feel nicest, you won't regret whichever you buy, any reasoned argument either way will merely be a theoretical excersise. *Outside memberships are billed annually. To test a cams stability we used field testing but we also pulled hundreds of feet of rope through a carabiner attached to the cam while placed in an adjustable crack made of wood. Four-lobe cams provide greater surface area that contacts the rock and should offer a more secure placement. Omega Pacific Link Cams stand out as offering the widest camming range of any cam on the market thanks to the trisected cam lobes, meaning where another company will only have one cam to fit in a placement the Link Cams may have three cams that can fit the same placement. Read the Full Review Particularly in areas such as the Gunks, where the horizontally banded rock necessitates a lot of horizontal placements, the rigid stems had to be tied off short to avoid levering the stem and negatively affecting the placement or potentially breaking the stem in a fall. Companies such as DMM, Wild Country and Fixe offer extendable slings on their cams, making it easier for climbers to extend the clip-in point on a sling to make a deep placement more functional, reduce rope drag or improve a placements stability by allowing a freely moving sling. Points: 30, Latest While not the lightest cams tested, the Friends offer a lot of features seen on a heavier cam and their biggest drawback may be that they are only available in seven sizes. The Ultralight Master Cams from Metolius offered the most sizesa range of 10of any cam tested and their lightweight construction and durable components appealed to many. Having the extra extension built into the cam is a nice insurance policy against rage-inducing rope drag. This week's Friday Night Video is a feature documentary based on the unique climbing culture of a small city park on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California. While some cams may excel at single pitch climbing others may be better for longer adventures or they may be best for a narrow range of objectives if they serve a small niche as a compliment to other cams on a rack.