The end of an era (small cam choices)

Okay so as you may or may not know my single cam

some hexes and 2 dozen nuts has served me well, but recently i have the sudden urge to buy cams (just as i became employed, what a coincidence).
As the title suggests i have made up my mind on the bulk of my cams (dmm dragons) but i have no idea what to do for small cams, aliens? X4's? C3? Totems? I know how all of these perform but have no idea how to build a rack of small cams. Big cams are easy, choosing the bulk of my cams is easy, but there is so much variety in small cams.

Even with all the cool new stuff out there, I still find C3's very useful; part of the toolbox

C3 and c4 are still universally awesome

I'd go with a set of C3s and a set of aliens, they complement each other nicely.

• edit* by aliens I meant to say the totem basic version. love them.

C3 is the cam I just can't imagine using. IMO they are terrible in things other than perfect cracks, and stiff, and... yeah, I've got pertners who bought then sold them with similar feelings about them.
I like Aliens and Mastrcams similarly, though Aliens have less tenancy to overcam and be hard to clean.

Small camalots are OK down to the little blue one. X4's I'd presume to be as good.

There's a couple things that I would think about

1 Sizing scheme

Small cams come in two sizing schemes: l with a smaller range per cam and more cams and one with a larger range per cam and fewer cams. for more range per cam there are the aliens and X4s. For less range per cam its the WC/Metolius/DMM/anybody else. These sizing schemes overlap kind of like the overlap between friends and camalots. Once you are used to one sizing scheme, the other will feel very weird.

2 Hardness of the rock

Because the lobes are so small (more force/surface area), and the margin of error is also very small, you need to think more about the rock breaking. If you're climbing bomber granite, you don't need to worry about this much, but if you're on really friable sandstone or other choss, you might want to consider this. Cams with a higher camming angle will transmit outward force on the rock (less likely for it to break). Cams like aliens and X4s have a higher camming angle than WC/DMM/Metolius cams.

I personally prefer WC Zeros, but those are harder to find now as they aren't made anymore. If you decide you like the aliens, go with the totem basics because Fixe and CCH has/had shit QC so your cam might randomly explode. If you decide you want a 3 cam unit instead of a 4 cam unit, I prefer the BD C3s over TCUs because they have a narrower head width. Also consider ball nuts for the smaller end of the range.

I'd pick a totem cam over a black diamond cam in comparable sizes any day.

Because...?

r m wrote:I'd pick a totem cam over a black diamond cam in comparable sizes any day.

why?

for free and aid clibming?

ALIENS.

I really like Totem's version, the "Totem Basic Cam".

C3's work really well too but you have to watch out for them walking.
Their body is really stiff; on routes that wander where the rope is pulling through at angles to the left and right of plumb they can move around a lot.

As for building a rack of these things, I'd absolutely acquire blue, green, yellow and red aliens. The red Alien is around a purple C4.
From there double up on what's necessary for you to double up on.
I find yellows and reds to be "every route" pieces.

If you aren't used to small cams keep in mind the fact that the usable range on these is way smaller than bigger cams. The variance is sizes of crack that something like a green alien fits in is fractions of an inch.

Consider getting two sets, one symmetric and one offset. If you're counting on a small cam, you want the best fit for the placement. And often, at least on many kinds of rock, an offset will just fit the placement better.

Among brands, I think there are several good choices. I use X4s and offset mastercams (with older Metolius running third string if I need 'em). I know a couple of people who love their Totem Basics. If I were to replace my rack now, those are the three I'd look at first.

Andrew Pow wrote: why? for free and aid clibming?

Both. I'm on a phone so will be terse. I didn't explain because its yet just another opinion.

Totems feel more secure to me more often than C4s. They also allow more placement options.

C3s with their stiffness never inspired me enough to invest in my own.

X4s look interesting, though are only a minor evolution of whats already on the market...But seem to have generated a number of negative comments, negative totem cam comments on the otherhand seem much less common. Maybe thats because people expected too much, who knows. X4s seemed to me to be popular first and foremost because they came out of BD.

Now...The alien cam with its soft lobes is iconic. BD doesn't offer a cam like it, and fixe/cch have had QA problems. Totem basics on the other hand have QA under control.

I genuinely think totem is the most underrated cam company around. Most people I know default to BD, hell I did too because everyone said to just get BD. However after the totems arrived it became evident totem should be the new default!

Check out the reader comments on m.outdoorgearlab.com/Climbi…

Thanks for the input guys, I all ways forget to mention this metolius products are out, i'm in the UK and metolius don't ship much to europe. So at the moment i'm definitely going to be getting some totems (1.25 and under) but for really small cams i think i will get some X4's the totem basics look sweet but i'm a tad bit concerned for the durability (fabric and soft metal) where the BD cam has harder metal and a armored cable. Maybe i'm seeing the Totem basic as to much of a aid dedicated piece, let me know if you see any issues with my plan don't want to spend all that money just to realize i should have gone for something else.

x4s are shit. Totem basics are fucking awesome. plenty durable, and if the x4s I've seen are anything to go by, the totem basics will last longer. Mind you, my X4s will last forever because I hate them and leave them off the rack at any opportunity. My yellow totem basic comes with me everywhere. Like many other people here, I love my totem basics, c3s and c4s. I like normal totems too but I don't own any.

So much hate for X4s on this forum...very weird. I like mine a lot, especially the 0.4 and 0.5 (I doubled with a C4 at this size and vastly prefer the X4). If we're posting outdoorgearlab reviews, we may as well be fair and point out that they absolutely raved about them:

m.outdoorgearlab.com/Climbi…

Granted, they tend to have a pretty strong BD and La Sportiva bias...but they did pretty much trash the C3s.

I've whipped all over my X4s. Offset and regular. None of them exploded. They are great pieces.

As other people are saying, Totem Basics are beautifully made pieces. Like Aliens, but made by grown-ups.
IMO you're not missing much by ruling out Mastercams (if that's what you meant by "Metolius"). Mastercams have really lost popularity here in the Gunks since Metolius disavowed their use in horizontal cracks. That may not be relevant where you climb, but to me that's a total deal breaker.

that guy named seb wrote:Thanks for the input guys, I all ways forget to mention this metolius products are out, i'm in the UK and metolius don't ship much to europe.

Metolius Mastercams & Offsets: Banana Fingers

(best small cams money can buy :) )

Optimistic wrote:As other people are saying, Totem Basics are beautifully made pieces. Like Aliens, but made by grown-ups. IMO you're not missing much by ruling out Mastercams (if that's what you meant by "Metolius"). Mastercams have really lost popularity here in the Gunks since Metolius disavowed their use in horizontal cracks. That may not be relevant where you climb, but to me that's a total deal breaker.

Can you elaborate on this? Metolius doesn't want people using their mastercams in horizontals?

Is this applicable to the new Ultralights as well? I love my orange Ultralight...

Ted Pinson wrote:Granted, they tend to have a pretty strong BD and La Sportiva bias...but they did pretty much trash the C3s.

Well, it's either bias or incompetence or both. How else does a BD crash pad get editor's choice in a field w/ Organic & Asana???

ChrisN wrote: Can you elaborate on this? Metolius doesn't want people using their mastercams in horizontals? Is this applicable to the new Ultralights as well? I love my orange Ultralight...

Yes. The triggering mechanism is designed to be loading over one orientation only (Metolius chose vertical).

Optimistic wrote:Mastercams have really lost popularity here in the Gunks since Metolius disavowed their use in horizontal cracks. That may not be relevant where you climb, but to me that's a total deal breaker.

HUH! WHAT!? Since when? This doesn't make sense at all. FYI, I whipped on a 00 Master Cam and in a horizontal and it was totally bomber!

Optimistic wrote:As other people are saying, Totem Basics are beautifully made pieces. Like Aliens, but made by grown-ups.

Totem basics are at the opposite end of the grip spectrum to MasterCams. They are totally different cams, don't climb with these on slick rock!

Totem Cams as in the original Totem cams have the best of both works. Good grip and good flared performance.