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Reviews by hotgemini (12)

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Stainless Steel Wiregate Carabiner 4" (Manufacturer link) Average Rating = 1.00/5 Average Rating : 1.00/5

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

Heads Up. 1 out of 5 stars

Review by: hotgemini, 2009-10-07


These appear to be the same carabiners as are madly being removed from climbs in Australia as a number of them were found to have developed significant cracks and when pull-tested, almost all failed to make it to 20kn and quite a few failed at under 5kn.


Spirit Quickdraw - 11 cm popular Average Rating = 4.58/5 Average Rating : 4.58/5

In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Carabiners: Quickdraws

I like your old stuff better than your new stuff. 3 out of 5 stars

Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-29


These used to be my favorite solid gate quickdraw (a prize which now belongs to the DMM Shadow) but in ~2005 they revised the design of the spring inside the gate and the action on new ones lacks the subtle finesse of the earlier models and that was really what made them special. You can identify the new spirits by the flat hourglass shaped plate visible through the back of the gate near the hinge, old spirits have a conical wedge. Still a fundamentally sound design, just not the wonderful things they once were and they've fallen behind in the weight stakes.


SuperFly Wire Gate Quickdraw (Manufacturer link) Average Rating = 4.00/5 Average Rating : 4.00/5

In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Carabiners: Quickdraws

Cheap light great. 4 out of 5 stars

Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-29


First a bit of a caveat, I'm definitely a lightweight wiregate fan, my main draws are neutrinos and I bought another 12 of these superfly draws to pad out the numbers, and I'm now counting the days until I can afford a set of DMM phantoms.

I use these interchangably with my neutrinos quite happily, they clip similarly, the superflys are noticably lighter but its not major. I love the narrow nose, they'll go through an anchor chain where many other carabiners won't (hence I've also got half a dozen superfly lockers). They appear to be a bit softer than my neutrinos and have knotched up and worn a bit more, but at the price difference its not something that I'd lose sleep over, I do wish they anodised at least one carabiner off the quickdraw.


Wallnut Set 1-10 (Manufacturer link) Average Rating = 5.00/5 Average Rating : 5.00/5

In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Protection: Passive: Nuts and Stoppers

Great nuts. 5 out of 5 stars

Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-29


I haven't measured but my gut tells me these have a bigger taper than the WC rocks, the rocks seem to seat deeper and more solid but are a bit harder to clean. These seem to not seat as deeply and are easier to clean as a result. I found them really great on a trip to Point Perpendicular (NSW, Australia. Sandstone sea-cliff) where lots of the placements involve sticking the nut into a horizontal break, then moving it across behind a constriction and then seating it, the shorter height made them go in nicer than the Rocks or Smileys.

Great nuts, light, colour-coding matches WC. More placement options than BD/Smileys/ABC huevos, stack well. Top product.


Peenuts Average Rating = 4.40/5 Average Rating : 4.40/5

In: Gear: Essential Equipment: Protection: Passive: Nuts and Stoppers

DMM peenuts, the duck`s nuts! 5 out of 5 stars

Review by: hotgemini, 2007-08-29


What can I say, I've got a small nut fetish. My small nut biner has a set of superlight rocks, set of these peenuts, 5 HB offsets, full set of RPs and wild country minirocks. The peenuts are great, on a local mountain (Trachyte) there are lots of little flared drainages and an offset nut is about the only solid pro you'll get in them. I've ended up with all five of them equalised together for a (less than ideal) belay. They're now anodized to match the DMM/Wild country sizing/colour pattern.

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