BD's? Petzl? Cassin?

I have Nomics and I love them. I had Quarks for part of the season last year and while they are a solid tool I found that the upper grip broke easily which made matching a pain in the ass.

My buddy has X-All mountains. They swing really well, have a great pick and an upper pommel rest so they're good on steep ice. Probably a slightly more versatile tool but ultimately I like the swing and especially the grip of the nomics more.

You can save quite a few bucks with the X-All mountains though!

Garret Nuzzo-Jones wrote:I have Nomics and I love them. I had Quarks for part of the season last year and while they are a solid tool I found that the upper grip broke easily which made matching a pain in the ass. My buddy has X-All mountains. They swing really well, have a great pick and an upper pommel rest so they're good on steep ice. Probably a slightly more versatile tool but ultimately I like the swing and especially the grip of the nomics more. You can save quite a few bucks with the X-All mountains though!

I have Cassin X-Alps (my first set of tools). I really like them.

I've used a handful of tools over the years. Most recently, I tried Petzl Nomics (loved them) and BD Fusions (meh).

I used the Nomics on soft ice and did a bit of dry-tooling as well. They just felt like million-dollar tools. I really like them, would like to use them again, and they will probably be my next purchase.

I used the Fusions on very hard ice (single digit temps) and felt they were too light and I really had to pound them. I think I would have been better off with my heavier X-Alps. I guess I should try them again on softer ice.

The Viper is a good tool. You have to learn the swing of any tool you own and how each tool respectively works. If all you are swinging is the Viper you will learn its nuances and climb hard on it. Have fun and be safe out there.
Dallen

Thanks Dallen,
I will be testing them out this coming week!

The Viper is an decent tool. Good quality. The down side is they are kinda heavy, weight biased in the middle of the shaft, and use BD picks. I prefer the swing of the Cobras over the Vipers because the weight is bias is in the head. I'm a fan of Nomics but probably would buy Cobras over Quarks. I just don't like the feel of Quarks. I've never used CAMP tools but would like to.

I swung the new DMM tools in some ice but not enough use to form an opinion. They don't have the support in the States that BD or Petzl have which is a turn off to me.

Yeah I agree - DMM is mainly a European product/customer support and not really here in the USA.

I'd like to try the Petzl's someday if the opportunity exists. I hear so much about them and would like to 'test drive' some out for myself. I didn't wanna have to drop over $200 per tool right now - so the Viper's on sale for $183 ea was a decent deal I thought - so we'll see....