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Review by buckyllama (1)


Omegalite 4.0 Wiregate Carabiner - Special Buy (Manufacturer link) Average Rating = 4.00/5 Average Rating : 4.00/5

In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Carabiners: Non-Locking Carabiners: Wire Biners

Review 3 out of 5 stars

Review by: buckyllama, 2003-11-07


Background: I've used these carabiners on the rope-end of all my slings and quickdraws for about the last 5 years.
This is what I've observed in that time:

This biner is about on par weight-wise to most other full-sized wiregates. It's heavier than many of the newer ultralight biners.

The gate opening is huge, which is really nice. The shape of the spine of the biner allows the gate to open much further than normal.

The steep slope of the biner between the basket and the nose allows for much easier than normal back-hand clipping. (place middle finger in basket, hold rope between thumb and index finger, rotate hand to push rope through gate)

The contoured spine of the biner makes it a little better than average for forehand clipping, however it's slightly greater than average width makes it a touch harder for fore-hand clipping than it maybe could be. I.e. it's easier than normal to keep your hand positioned, but the greater width makes the biner want to spin out of your hand more.

When used for the rope-end of a draw or sling, if it is not fixed to the draw in some way the biner tends to flip end-to end as the rope runs through it. This is slightly worrying since it increases the risk of cross-loads, however I've never seen it "catch" in a crossloaded state.

The nose is not hooded which increases the risk of being scraped open if it slides across the rock.

The unusual spine configuration makes it useless for things like biner brakes, and the shape does not lend itself well to using two biners reversed together.

Overall I'd say that I've been happy with these biners, and 5 years ago I think they were the best deal in town. Now I'd look closely at some of the newer ultralight biners if I were in the market. I believe these still hold up well against the competition, but there is less that makes them stand out.

They are not good general-purpose biners and really are best as the rope-end of a quickdraw.