Aliens are taking over?

Looks like Fixe has dropped their price to less than the Fixe Basics:

totemcams.com/blog/?id=2139 (Scroll towards the bottom of page, also their webstore is no longer up???)

fixehardware.com/shop/index…

They should've done that a long time ago; they were essentially asking more for an inferior product. If not for the shortage of totem basics b/c of their production move, $2 isn't worth the savings over the basics.

reboot wrote:They should've done that a long time ago; they were essentially asking more for an inferior product. If not for the shortage of totem basics b/c of their production move, $2 isn't worth the savings over the basics.

I actually only own 1 Totem Basic and no Aliens, but I always thought they were darn near the same thing.

FYI: If you go to the FixeHardwear.com site right now you can get a coupon for 25% off! That's $51 per cam. . .

DoesNotCare wrote: I actually only own 1 Totem Basic and no Aliens, but I always thought they were darn near the same thing.

There are many small differences that are probably insignificant on their own, but they do add up. The blue (& blue/green hybrid) basic, however, is way better than the blue alien. If you need a cam right now, you don't really have a choice. But during climbing season, backcountrygear.com frequently had 20% off coupon. So it's $56 a pop, no tax (since they operate in a state w/ no sales tax), free shipping on its own.

Locker wrote:Worth repeating: "FYI: If you go to the FixeHardwear.com site right now you can get a coupon for 25% off! That's $51 per cam. . ." No doubt due to some loyalty on my part. But I personally do not see enough of a difference between the two, to have me choosing from an out of country company. And yes I know that FIXE cams are made in Spain. But the owner and company are here and I personally try as much as I can to support my fellow LOCAL climbers and their businesses.

The owner of Fixe is in Spain (where they make the cams). The US distributor is, well, in the US.

where are you guys seeing the 25% off coupon?

Patrick Mulligan wrote:where are you guys seeing the 25% off coupon?

left side (slider) bar of the web page:

"Like us on Facebook" fb25off

reboot wrote: left side (slider) bar of the web page: "Like us on Facebook" fb25off

Its not coming up for me, but thanks for the code.

Locker wrote:So Kevin is ONLY a distributer of FIXE gear? I was under the impression that he owned the company.

http://www.fixehardware.com/shop/about-us

I'll give you that Fixe has done more for climbing in the US than Totem, but w/o Totem, I feel the alien concept will just become less competitive (to the likes of BD X4) & die a slow death.

Locker wrote:"I'll give you that Fixe has done more for climbing in the US than Totem" There you go! Another good reason to support FIXE (the company in SPAIN!) LOL!

Anyone who has clipped a few bolts in the Owen's River Gorge should give Kevin a huge thanks!

Locker wrote:"Anyone who has clipped a few bolts in the Owen's River Gorge should give Kevin a huge thanks!" More than just Owen's River Gorge. After a little thought I did in fact recall the FIXE/Distribution factor. So with some change to my original post. Personally I go with FIXE distributers out of Bishop California. I really dig that they've been so supportive and helpful to the local climbing community.

You're thinking of Fixe Hardware in Bishop. Fixe Fader is the manufacturer in Spain. Nuanced for sure.

VaGenius wrote: Why this cam specifically? You own both, I assume?

Because Totem extended the internal spring design down to the blue, whereas the vanilla Aliens in blue & black just have springs in between lobes which make them wider than the larger green & yellow sizes. I've used my partners' blue Aliens many times before & it never felt "special". The blue basic, which I do own, is pretty nifty.

Fixe Hardware is the US distributor of Fixe Faders of Spain. Kevin owns Fixe Hardware, but is just a distributor. He is still local, and still a major part of the community. Definitely a business worth supporting for Californians.

VaGenius wrote:There's probably some psychology behind why YOUR cam feels special. That said, I get that the width is narrower. How about the actual range of the cam i.e. is one .667-1.1 and the other .77-1.3? I know that Basics were supposedly eliminating sizes/trying to make less sizes cover more territory. Do you find them close, identical, or different enough to comment on in terms of cam range/size of cracks they fit.

The Red basic is slightly smaller than the Red alien, enough that sometimes I make a point to differentiate the 2 in a known tight placement. The others are practically the same size. The up side is it makes the grey alien some what redundant if you have the yellow + red basic and then some purple C4/X4s (or totem), as that covers a wider range than yellow + grey + red aliens. I've climbed plenty off-finger cracks lately and the overlap seem pretty good w/ this combo.

As for the blue, IMO, outside of splitter cam design, having no gap between opposing lobes is quite a bit more superior than just a small gap (by the spring) when a cam is loaded on 2 lobes. Because any gap will introduce a "twisting" force on the lobes. Is that a major concern? Not really. But I have fallened on cams where only 2 lobes engaged.