i have had the smallest four sizes about as long as ive been leading, and only placed them a few times. however, i still end up bringing them on climbs where there's thin pro because they really do go in just about anywhere.

i havent spent a lot of time around crazy aid climbers, but the couple of ballnuts ive cleaned that were body-weighted went fine. just had to squeeze the trigger harder than normal.

speed climbers and hard climbers are always going on about using cams instead of nuts becuase they're faster to clean. it strikes me that these puppies would be the perfect speedy piece on hard climbs. you can put them in where a nut goes, but it will be in and out faster.

Definately NOT a piece for beginners. I would only recommend these for experienced leaders. They do take some work to get them just right. I love these to protect trad and aid climbs. I'd rather climb above one of these than a similar sized cam. Aiding, I prefer the small cams though. Ballnuts can be difficult to clean once they're weighted. If you whip onto one, don't even try to clean it. It won't come out without a LOT of work.

Ballnuts are only for the more experienced trad leaders or aid climbers. They can be a bit of a fiddle to get just right. They have to be set with a really good hard tug in the direction that they could ultimately be loaded in. Once set it is a matter of then trusting that the gear will hold. A reasonably long quickdraw should always be used so that no rope wiggle can induce the Ballnut to unset.

My climbing partner has taken numerous whippers onto the very smallest ballnut and they have always held whereas I have been aiding on one of the midrange Ballnuts and have had it popout on me when I put my weight on to it. The reason it popped out is that torque was applied over a nubbin below the crack it was placed in and it moved thus sending me down for a short ride.

In clean cracks these pieces are good. Getting them out is just a matter of giving them an upwards flick and then releasing the ball via the trigger. For really thin smooth cracks these are an essential piece of gear.

...Phil...

Lowe Balls work when nothing else will. I bought a set of 1,2,3 (the only sizes made at the time) after some experienced friends of mine pointed out that on some Gunks climbs, nothing else would do. I have since discovered that the same is true of some aid placements. The #1 Lowe Ball is the smallest active protection that I know of, and while you can spend twice as much on a Zero cam to place where the #2 and #3 fit, the piece will be much weaker. I have doubles of them nowadays; for any parallel placement smaller than a black Alien, Loweballs are often your only choice. Not something a beginning trad leader needs or wants, but if you need a Lowe ball, nothing else will do.