1st set of cams

Im thinking Totem Basic Cam or DMM Dragons.

Any tips? Stories of uses if any.

One of things you might consider is: What cams are on your partners racks.

If you buy a rack that is not very common, then that is what you will learn. That is the rack with which you will become familiar and comfortable. For example, hands = yellow Camalot; tight hands = red Camalot; rattlely fingers = green Camalot. You will only want to climb on your rack because---you learned precisely what to use to be able to “plug and chug”.

If your rack radically differs from that of your partners, then they will not want to climb on it. It will stress them on harder climbs. They have to take the cam and hold it near the crack. They cannot “plug and chug” as easily. They will insist you climb on their rack. That will stress you.

This becomes a problem on multi-pitch. Carrying two racks is a pain—heavy and harder to move quickly and efficiently.

For this reason, in my view, the decision of what rack to purchase involves more than simply the quality of the cams.

Scott Mc

BD Camalots are the workhorse of any rack and a set of those is what anyone should start with. Then you can build on that with some specialty pieces in the smaller sizes, like the flexible-stem Totem cams you are looking at.

I agree with Scott. Heck I even get uncomfortable when they don't have a color matched neutrino on the cam lol. The best thing to do is ask your partners what they don't have and go with that. For example, if they don't have a #4 camalot or they want an extra #3 for a climb. And not to sound like a broken record but camalots are always a safe bet.

I know a Frech guy selling tons of Metolius Power cams used. You could build most of your rack out of that. Good prices, too. $10 - $15 a piece.

I seen the hole bd cams thing coming.. not saying bd sucks but im the guy that dont like doing the same thing as every one else

Thanks for the reply

I think the dragons are a horrible, overpriced rip off of BD cams. On sale you are still usually paying $65/cam, vs. BD is about $45. The BD cams are much nicer to place with their thumb loops, and the "extendable" sling on the dragons is next to useless. About the only thing I like about the dragons is that they use the same color scheme.

I cannot understand why anyone would buy them... (yes, I wanted to try them when they came out and I climbed on someone's rack who had them, and I was not impressed... it probably didn't help that they had a recall right after they came out!).

HB Quadcams

Any one use totems?

Why do you even ask bud? Get your totems and climb!

Lol best advice of the week..

About a year ago i bought a bunch of the old WC Tech Friends to fill out my IC rack. Having used BD almost exclusively (I have tried and liked Wired Bliss also), I was really impressed with WCs product. My double set of BD C4s is my standard rack. However, when I am climbing stuff that needs more than 2 cams of the same size, I really like my WC Tech Friends.

Everything I have read leads me to believe that their new Helium Friends have maintained the same quality and even improved on the design. You might want to check them out.

well if you want to be the different guy stay away from the totems as everybody has and loves aliens... they have more of a cult like following than the C4

Get metolious and helium friends. I like my rack. It is what I learned/am learning on. Although I still go for a nut or a tricam every time I need pro NOW.

I like master cams for smaller stuff then bd from .5 up. i feel that bds are the standard for a good reason. i dont know of other mid to large cams that are clearly better than c4s. getting something different just to be different is okay i guess. get some hexes and try to get them in instead of a cams when u can. dont see a lot of that going on.

Dragons are awesome, they're my favorite piece of gear that I own.

I'm not dissing the Camalots, they're GREAT and I would recommend that you go to a store where you can pick up and play with both Camalots and Dragons to see which you prefer, that's what it'll come down to, that and getting the right tool for the job.

Things to note about Dragons:
- The lack of a thumb loop bothers some people but not others, I find it beneficial not having one.
- Dragons are lighter and cover the same expansion range as Camalots.
- Weight decrease comes from having thinner hot forged lobes, this makes Camalots more suitable on soft rock where a greater surface contact is desirable.
- Same color/size scheme as Camalots helps keep things standard across the board.
- The extendable sling is a real benefit that means you can carry less quickdraws saving you even more weight. This is especially beneficial on wandering routes but of no use if all you do is climb cracks and never (or hardly ever) need to extend your pieces.

I have doubles of BD, which I learned on, then got doubles of metolious ultralight power cam to buff out the rack for the creek. Used both separately a bunch to learn the sizes and ended up loving metolious. Way lighter. Great deals on line, gearx, e-omc, etc. Bomber. Just like them I guess. But it is true that partners will all want BD, all the time. I'm like the op, in that this makes me like the metolious rack even more. Not much challenge sorting gear usually! But I sure as shit wouldn't get a whole totem rack.

Whatever you get, make sure you have a yellow Metolious and pink Tricam. They always get used.

I started with metolius power cams since they were in my price range. Great cam, light, low cost and uber durable.

BD's are great, I have pretty much a single rack of them from bottom to top. If I had to choose, I'd be sure to get the .75 - 3. Metolius power cams would be just as good below that.

However to tangent a bit, your second rack I cannot recommend enough to diversify to cover different ranges. I use metolius TCU's, WC Tech friends in the red and yellow. These sets almost mirror the range but can place in more shallow placement than the BD and are slightly in between. I don't how climbers have a double rack of the same cams, except for maybe like indian creek.

Oh and totally get tricams. haha So bomber.