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dyneema or nylon tricams?

Original Post
Kilroywashere! London · · Harrisonburg, Virginia · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 280

was looking at diversifying my rack of gear, something other than cams and nuts/hexes, and have decided on getting some tricams, not a lot just the 4 pack, but i dont know whether to just get the nylon slung set, or pay another ten bucks for the dyneema. i looked at the ratings and the dyneema is actually heavier than the nylon, but the dyneema has a 2 KN advantage in the camming form over the nylon......soooooooo. what to do?

sunder · · Alsip, Il · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 805

Get the Dyneema Tricams. .5 to 2.0 are dyneema only, everything else is nylon.

Add the .25, 2.5, and 3.0 if you have the extra cash.

Joshua Balke · · Colorado Springs · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 260

I'm gonna disagree here. Go with nylon. I've used both. The nylon is stiffer and allows for easier placement and extraction especially in the smaller sizes which are used generally. The dyneema will just piss you off futzing around with it.

Jamie Henrichsen · · Lake Morena, CA · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 60

Just get some tricams. I have both dyneema and nylon slung sets. I can't say I notice any difference in stiffness or weight.

Make sure you know how to place and remove them. Also make sure your second knows how to remove them too.

Marc-Andre · · Squamish, B.C · Joined Jul 2007 · Points: 805

Make sure you buy the small sizes.... they are the most useful. Fucking awesome in horizontals and pockets!

Jay F. Weekly · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2007 · Points: 10

Going to put in another vote for the nylon tricams. The added stiffness helps a lot in placement, and strength isn't really a factor, although they might show a bit more wear over time than the dyneema ones.

As for sizes, listen to everybody else- just get the small pieces and be done with it!

al piner · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 205


Use the stiffy mod if your worried about them flopping.
Jon Cheifitz · · Superior/Lafayette, Co · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 90

I have nylon tricams and have put small tubular webbing over them to protect them from wear. Much like al piner's idea, but webbing instead. Go with the nylon, save a couple bucks your going to get one or two stuck at some point anyway. :)

H BL · · Colorado · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 95

The nylon tricams are stiffer therefore (IMO) making easier to place. the dyneema are flimsy

Rick Blair · · Denver · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 266

I've been patiently waiting for someone to chime in and tell you not buy them because tricams suck and you should simply buy a triple rack of C4s and offset aliens instead, because we all have the money for that.

Sam Feuerborn · · Carbondale · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 810

oh man Rick, if you've got that kinda money laying around i'll trade you a great day of being your belay bitch for a set of offset aliens. Just throwing that out there.

Jay Knower · · Plymouth, NH; Lander, WY · Joined Jul 2001 · Points: 6,036
Rick Blair wrote:I've been patiently waiting for someone to chime in and tell you not buy them because tricams suck and you should simply buy a triple rack of C4s and offset aliens instead, because we all have the money for that.
I was just going to add this. Save your money and buy one cam. You'll get more use out of the cam.
Kip Kasper · · Bozeman, MT · Joined Feb 2010 · Points: 200

yeah, I bought a handfull of tricams (4) and ended up selling them 2 months ago. I found that I never really wanted to spend time fiddling in a tricam where I could place a cam in 1/8 the time. also, when I ended up getting a tricam in they often would fall out (that might just because I'm a tricam noob) save the money and buy a cam, you'll use it more.

Cota · · Bend OR · Joined Dec 2008 · Points: 0

There are some places that you can ONLY use a tricam...Think Sundevil Chimney...Pink is the only clean piece that will work in some of those pockets...one on you rack is worth it. Plus, you can use it in a belay and save the cams for climbing!

Scott O · · Anchorage · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 70

I use the nylons. It wasn't a decision that I thought much about - they just happened to be on sale. I like them a lot and, while I've climbed with my buddy's dyneema ones, didn't notice much difference.

As everyone has said, small sizes rock.

Scott McMahon · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,425
Jay Knower wrote: I was just going to add this. Save your money and buy one cam. You'll get more use out of the cam.
Not to get the whole "passive vs. cams" argument going, but I love em. Sure they don't get placed a ton, but when they do...BOY are they bomber!!

I find I use them a bunch in CO in the shallow and flaring cracks. Nuts don't work and the crack isn't deep enough for a cam...voila!!! A few good yanks to set the caming motion, long sling and you have a pretty bomber downward pull piece.

ME GUSTA!
Timothy Nolan · · Vermont · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 5
al piner wrote: Use the stiffy mod if your worried about them flopping.
Doing this RIGHT NOW.
Mike Baetz · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 95

In the for or against debate over tricams, I am for. Can't say much about nylon vs. dyneema (mine are nylon, but haven't used dyneema).

If nothing else, they are great as another passive chock- I find they work better than nuts in many situations.

If you climb anywhere that has a lot of horizontal cracks or little pockets, most find them useful there as active placements.

Bottom line is I rarely go more than a pitch in 75% of trad climbing areas without placing one. Caveat: this is coming from someone that doesn't lead any harder than 5.9 trad, so I usually am less concerned about whether I need to fire something in quickly.

Tyson Anderson · · SLC, UT · Joined May 2007 · Points: 126

I find that it can be hard to tell the difference between the red and pink dyneema tri-cams.

The color difference is clear as day with the nylon ones and those are the only two I really ever use.

cjdrover · · Watertown, MA · Joined Feb 2009 · Points: 355

While I admittedly do not place them often while actually leading a pitch, I love having the rack of four of them when it comes time to build a gear anchor and I just burned all my cams sewing up the crux. Same with hexes - I don't fiddle with them much mid-pitch, but use them all the time for gear anchors (which you are *generally* building from a decent stance).

Some day I'll man up and learn to use my passive pro during desperate moves, but today is not that day! =)

-Chris

John Maguire · · Boulder, CO · Joined Nov 2008 · Points: 195
Chris Drover wrote:While I admittedly do not place them often while actually leading a pitch, I love having the rack of four of them when it comes time to build a gear anchor and I just burned all my cams sewing up the crux. Same with hexes - I don't fiddle with them much mid-pitch, but use them all the time for gear anchors (which you are *generally* building from a decent stance). Some day I'll man up and learn to use my passive pro during desperate moves, but today is not that day! =) -Chris
+1

I'm much the same way. I carry the tiny white, black, pink and red tri cams. Whenever I'm doing multipitch, I try to use them for anchors so I will still have all my cams for leading. They can be bomber in the right rock and with the right placement, but are kinda finicky for use on lead. That being said, I met a guy in red rocks leading only with nuts and tricams. I made a joke to him and his response was, "If you can't place a tricam, you're in over your head".

I'm not sure I agree with that philosophy, but it is pretty badass. His fore-arms were about the thickness of my neck though, so I think he had an advantage.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Trad Climbing
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