Gear : Reviews
Reviews by hotgemini (12)
ATC Belay/Rappel Device (Manufacturer link) popular Average Rating : 4.31/5
In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Belay Devices & DescendersGood simple device, soft material = black ropes.
Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-11
The ATC is a good device, it performs adequate to most of the tasks you present to it. It does appear to be made of quite a soft alloy and blackens ropes faster than any other device I've tried. I'd suggest the trango pyramid or Wild Country Variable Controller as better devices for similar dollars.
VC Pro Belay Synergy Biner (Manufacturer link) Average Rating : 3.00/5
In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Belay Devices & DescendersFeeds like glue and brakes like teflon, engineered to bring you the worst.
Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-11
Got handed one of these to test by the gear store I work in to access whether we'd carry it as a stock line. Tried it out over a period of three weeks of reasonably solid climbing including one day of 600+ metres, used it on single ropes at 10, 10.2, 10.4 and 10.5 and halves at 8.4 and 9.0mm. By eye it very much resembles an ATC-XP in design, traditional tube but with jaws added for a higher friction mode. Nothing very revolutionary so how hard can it be to make it work? Well I'm afraid that whist I'm usually a rabid Wild Country fan they seemed to have dropped the ball on this one. The slots in the device were too short, meaning that it routinely locks up when you try to feed rope and was annoyingly high in friction (even in low friction mode) when abseiling on two strands of a 10.2mm+ single rope (reasonably new ropes, not fuzzy or anything mitigating there).
Conversely and this is what really surprised me, on the day of 600m of climbing we were trying to knock off every pitch on a particular wall of a mountain in one day, so we were doing some funky things of fixed ropes from belays that we would visit multiple times. When rapping on the single strand of 8.4mm half rope, the device which had so consistently yielded frustratingly high friction in every other situation could only just muster adequate friction to abseil (in high friction mode with the added resistance of a prussic below the device as a back-up).
Needs a serious rethink and redesign. Oh, btw, the shop decided not to stock them.
Conversely and this is what really surprised me, on the day of 600m of climbing we were trying to knock off every pitch on a particular wall of a mountain in one day, so we were doing some funky things of fixed ropes from belays that we would visit multiple times. When rapping on the single strand of 8.4mm half rope, the device which had so consistently yielded frustratingly high friction in every other situation could only just muster adequate friction to abseil (in high friction mode with the added resistance of a prussic below the device as a back-up).
Needs a serious rethink and redesign. Oh, btw, the shop decided not to stock them.
Personal Cooking System (Manufacturer link) Average Rating : 4.00/5
In: Gear: Hiking and Camping: Stoves: Canister MountedLong Slender Ceramic Insulator ruins otherwise fantastic product
Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-11
I dearly love my jetboil, its packability, efficiency and most of all ease of use made it my stove of choice for a three month climbing road trip. At the crag the PCS cup was fantastic for hot drinks and lunches and back at camp the pot adaptor meant it was used for an amazing variety of cooking. It was our source of hot water for bathing (very glamorous sponge baths!) and it also makes a seriously big rum and coke which stays cold in the insulated cup.
I can't stand the inexcusable poor design of the auto-ignition system, in use the piezo ignitor flexes in its mounting and the long slender ceramic insulator pushes against the side of the base plate. At this stage (1 year in) of regular use the fourth piezo ignitor is currently installed, that said, it broke a few months ago and I will simply never bother to replace it until I can devise something better. My current plan is to drill out the existing hole in the base plate, then gut a silicone ignition lead from a car and slide it over the ceramic insulator of a new ignitor, so that if it does hit the side of the hole, the silicon lead a) spreads the load and b) maintains insulation in case of the ceramic cracking.
Fix the crap ignitor and this stove is worth 5 out of 5.
I can't stand the inexcusable poor design of the auto-ignition system, in use the piezo ignitor flexes in its mounting and the long slender ceramic insulator pushes against the side of the base plate. At this stage (1 year in) of regular use the fourth piezo ignitor is currently installed, that said, it broke a few months ago and I will simply never bother to replace it until I can devise something better. My current plan is to drill out the existing hole in the base plate, then gut a silicone ignition lead from a car and slide it over the ceramic insulator of a new ignitor, so that if it does hit the side of the hole, the silicon lead a) spreads the load and b) maintains insulation in case of the ceramic cracking.
Fix the crap ignitor and this stove is worth 5 out of 5.
HMS Mini Screwlock Carabiner (Manufacturer link) Average Rating : 3.00/5
In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Carabiners: Locking CarabinersPoor man's attache?
Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-11
Have a load of these used as belay 'biners for a climbing club. Cheap, small, cheap, well-made, cheap, nice to use and cheap! For personal use you'd buy an attache` or BD minipearabiner every time for the keylock nose, but for the dollars these are a good nice to use mini belay biner.
Cosmic (Manufacturer link) Average Rating : 3.67/5
In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Harnesses: AdjustableThe *Perfect* club (not institutional) harness.
Review by: hotgemini, 2007-05-25
I run a reasonably large rockclimbing club, this harness (or the same thing branded as the trango cosmic) fits our needs perfectly. We want a cheap, durable harness that is uncomfortable enough that it keeps new climbers motivated to buy their own gear. We *don't* want a single tie-in point harness because we want the new climbers to get accustomed to a proper belay loop, dual tie-in harness the same as they'll eventually own. We also prefer that it has buckles that need to be manually doubled-back, that way new climbers recognise that as the norm and a permanently doubled back harness as a luxury. It isn't an ideal institutional harness though (camps, guided climbing, gyms etc) because of many of the same reasons, its harder to inspect than a single tie-in point gym harness, a permanently doubled-back buckle means less chance of accidents etc etc.
The latest editions we recieved had two little loops where you could tie your own gear loop out of cord, rather than an actual gear loop. I wasn't very fond of that but its not the end of the world either.
The latest editions we recieved had two little loops where you could tie your own gear loop out of cord, rather than an actual gear loop. I wasn't very fond of that but its not the end of the world either.