Gear4Rocks 1axle Cam Set of Six Review

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Thomas G Clark wrote: ...Also, one of the cams arrived with two of the lobes incorrectly positioned on the axle. The little stem thingy that prevents the lobes closing too far was the wrong way round.

You have to be kidding me? They sent you six cams - for review no less - one of which was manufactured completely incorectly and your only comment is that it was "very, very easy to fix the problem"? I am beyond speechless.

-sp wrote:was manufactured completely incorectly

The cam was not manufactured incorrectly, it was only partly assembled incorrectly, which was a one-off error. The cam has also taken quite a few falls since I repaired it and so this was only a minor error and not a manufacture disaster.

Thomas G Clark wrote:The cam was not manufactured incorrectly, it was only partly assembled incorrectly, which was a one-off error. The cam has also taken quite a few falls since I repaired it and so this was only a minor error and not a manufacture disaster.

That is an absurd comment. So please stop, you're clearly out of your element here.

" Great QC inspires confidence to climb above them.
Please note that these heavy duty cams with hardware store nuts are not for girly men. "

I'll stick with my $30-40 mastercams and $38-48 c4s. Once again, price being their so-called advantage is beaten by sales of the popular cams.

Also, cheap cams are marketed towards n00b leaders as they don't want to shell out a lot of $$, but as a n00b, how confident would you feel climbing above these? I think your water bottle has to be full of vodka to get the Ukrainian QC confidence.

Isn't most of their gear not UIAA/CE certified yet?

How about a head-width comparison? After looking at the line-up photo of the color coding (and what's with one black stem? ran out of blue?) those things look wide.

Those cams look like a 10th grade metal shop project.

I used to have a set and they saved my ass a few times
But the only cam I ever had rip that I thought was good was that largest gear for rocks cam in vedawoo wy. Granted I think I may have strode on it while climbing above it in the hand crack but still

Ray Pinpillage wrote:Those cams look like a 10th grade metal shop project.

Exactly. If you can't tell from the first look that these things are crap then I don't know what to say.

For all future reviews please cut and paste the following:

"I recently got a set of Gear4Rocks cams for review. I opened the box and played with them for the few mimutes then threw then in the trash where they belong. Thanks for reading."

I'm not usually one to say negative stuff, but this is a poor review. It sounds like paid advertising. If anyone looked at G4R objectively they could see that they are beat out on all specifications by most cam producing companies; price, QC, materials, you name it.

All I know is when I finally take that 18Kn whipper, I'm gonna be glad I had GfR on my side!! I could never trust those other cam companies that only make cams in the measly 14 Kn range.

Isnt your life worth that extra 4 Kn and burly hardware store nuts?

-sp wrote:tell from the first look that these things are crap then I don't know what to say.

Have you even read this correctly? gear4rocks' objective is to make their cams extra strong by using stronger parts which then mean they do not look as good as other big name cams. It shouldn't be about how good cams look; it should be about how well they work and hold.

The review is poorly written and doesn't come off as objective at all. Honestly this makes me suspicious this is a "review" written by gear4rocks, or someone paid to. Also your constant spelling and grammar mistakes also make me very suspicious of this post.

"They also do not have a tendency to walk out of their placement, which is an attribute which I believe is unique to gear4rocks cams."

This is just total BS you can not make a blanket statement like that. Especially without saying what kind of rock and placements they were tested in.

"The cams have holes in the lobes to reduce the weight as much as possible without reducing the strength of the cam."

One of them has holes....

"Also, one of the cams arrived with two of the lobes incorrectly positioned on the axle. The little stem thingy that prevents the lobes closing too far was the wrong way round."

This = HORRIBLE QC. no excuses. Makes CCH looks like a 3sigma founding member

I don't have anything against gear4rocks, there was another member who has done good reviews of them.

C Blank wrote:"The cams have holes in the lobes to reduce the weight as much as possible without reducing the strength of the cam." One of them has holes.... "Also, one of the cams arrived with two of the lobes incorrectly positioned on the axle. The little stem thingy that prevents the lobes closing too far was the wrong way round." This = HORRIBLE QC. no excuses. Makes CCH looks like a 3sigma founding member

I understand what you're saying here. I have edited the lobe hole section, and I know that it was a big mistake for them to send me the cams for review without checking that they were assembled correctly. On that point the QC is poor.

Thomas G Clark wrote: I understand what you're saying here. I have edited the lobe hole section, and I know that it was a big mistake for them to send me the cams for review without checking that they were assembled correctly. On that point the QC is poor.

This is your edit: "Also, one of the cams arrived with two of the lobes incorrectly positioned on the axle. The little stem thingy that prevents the lobes closing too far was the wrong way round. This meant that the cam was incorrectly assembled which was a big problem as in no way could it be used on a climb as it would not close."

Once again you miss the point: the problem isn't that it couldn't be used on a climb, it's that it calls into question all of the control measures used during the entire manufacture and assembly process. In other words if they can't prevent or detect something so simple as misassembly of cam lobes why would you have any confidence in the strength of those swages, or the accuracy of the cam lob angles, or any other property the end user relies on but can't verify?

-sp wrote:the problem isn't that it couldn't be used on a climb, it's that it calls into question all of the control measures used during the entire manufacture and assembly process. In other words if they can't prevent or detect something so simple as misassembly of cam lobes why would you have any confidence in the strength of those swages, or the accuracy of the cam lob angles, or any other property the end user relies on but can't verify?

That is a very valid point, and thanks for that. On their website they also say that "Before it leaves the factory each device is reinspected to ensure that all components are working appropriately." I am going to address this with gear4rocks.

Thomas G Clark wrote: Have you even read this correctly? gear4rocks' objective is to make their cams extra strong by using stronger parts which then mean they do not look as good as other big name cams. It shouldn't be about how good cams look; it should be about how well they work and hold.

I could use a hydraulic bottle jack as protection and it would probably get a better rating than 18Kn. But, just like the GFR's cams, it'd be a cliunker.

Further, it appears that GfRs only has four colors of heat shrink available to them. Its the age of information, they shouldn't be limited to only what the Uzbekistani Lowes has in stock.

I want to see an actual test video showing them achieving an actual 18Kn final result.

Thomas,
Nice review! Any review for any gear for rocks product posted here on MP is going to get a lot of shit. Don't take it personally

The quality control with their products is my biggest concern. Do they test them to a certain stress load? I'd assume not considering they sent one improperly assembled

milfred wrote:Thomas, Nice review! Any review for any gear for rocks product posted here on MP is going to get a lot of shit. Don't take it personally The quality control with their products is my biggest concern. Do they test them to a certain stress load? I'd assume not considering they sent one improperly assembled

Thanks for that. Makes me feel a little better after the work that I put into this review.
On their website gear4rocks say:

"As part of the gear4rocks quality control, each device is loaded to half of its maximum rating. Before it leaves the factory each device is reinspected to ensure that all components are working appropriately"

If it is true that the cams they sent me were inspected, then how could the cam get in the state that it was? I admit that when I received them I was worried about climbing with them. Anyway they load the cams to half their strength rating, apparently.

Thomas G Clark wrote: Thanks for that. Makes me feel a little better after the work that I put into this review. On their website gear4rocks say: "As part of the gear4rocks quality control, each device is loaded to half of its maximum rating. Before it leaves the factory each device is reinspected to ensure that all components are working appropriately" If it is true that the cams they sent me were inspected, then how could the cam get in the state that it was? I admit that when I received them I was worried about climbing with them. Anyway they load the cams to half their strength rating, apparently.

Look it's not that I'm hating on gear4rocks, I'd like to try their stuff IF it's legit. But you have to be skeptical on products you are trusting your life too. The fact that a cam came assembled wrong from ANY company would be a HUGE red flag. You shouldn't take people's critique of your review personally either seeing as they are not critiquing you as a person but the work that you have put forward, which honesty needs work.