Whats the deal with aliens?

Hello everyone. This is my first post ever, i've been climbing about two years.....im a noob....be nice... I bought a used rack from a guide over a year ago and with it came a bunch of aliens. I heard from several people, some experienced, some not, some old time guides that aliens are crap and they break. I also heard from other people that they are great and very versatile. I personally like them a lot but find myself not wanting to trust them because other people have told me they are known to break Anyone have any other stories or better knowledge about them? Any advice? thanks for the info

aliens are the shit(period). i have whipped on them multitudinous times over my 12 years of climbing with fantastic results. if placed well, they hold, end of story.

stredna wrote:if placed well, they hold, end of story.

That's definitely not the end of the story. Some Aliens were made poorly and don't even hold body weight.

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It mostly depends on the DOM. I don't remember the date; I'm sure someone will be able to provide it. I think it was in 2001. At some point they started having quality control issues. They dealt with them and then something else came up. There are lots of climbers out there that won't climb with any aliens that were made after the issues arose, but haven't been tensile tested. If you're worried about them at all, I would send them into CCH, Trango, or someone else that has the capability to test the tensile strength of cams.

--Marc
Proudly born and raised in West Hartford, CT.

Make sure that they are stamped "tensile tested." If they are not, send them to CCH to be tested(I believe its free).

The bottom line is that it comes down to whether or not you trust them. It's a personal decision.

I feel that they have a more questionable record than other cams, but that they are still reasonably reliable and place better than anything in certain situations. Flip through the miles of posts on this subject and draw your own conclusions.

Evan

pacoarg9, it's going to be a long road to find and read all of the various threads out there on Aliens. Start on rockclimbing.com and search. I have some bootied Aliens myself, so I of course use these two units. I tried to find the range of dates that they had production quality problems.

They had two known problems. One batch had not been cooled properly after brazing, so the wires would pull out of the braze. I forget what the second problem was, but again the heads popped off. If your units pre-date these problems, you might be OK. Sending the units to CCH for pull testing proves nothing, so don't bother with that.

In the end, it's all going to boil down to it being a matter of faith pretty much.

Stich wrote:Sending the units to CCH for pull testing proves nothing, so don't bother with that.

Why is that? Obviously, they can't really find out if the unit is full strength, but they should be able to tell if it's one of the units that doesn't even hold body weight...

--Marc

Look, aliens are great, not because of any testing qc issue; but because climbing with them is like sex with stone, sure there are risks; but then again, I have my needs

never met anyone who actually broke an alien because of a factory problem. maybe im bias. to me, cch aliens are the best small camming units available (period).

stredna wrote:aliens are the shit(period).

nuf said!

stredna wrote:[I've] never met anyone who actually broke an alien because of a factory problem.

Well, I've never met anybody that's actually crashed a Fiat... :)

I've also weighted or fallen on all of my Aliens; I know they're good. But you and I don't know that the Aliens currently residing on Paco's rack are good.

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Rob Kepley wrote: nuf said!

It's not enough said. Some Aliens fall apart under body weight. A new climber is asking about the integrity of Aliens, and you guys are telling him to use them without consideration. I think that's irresponsible.

--Marc

Just remember, using aliens is a sin.

Everytime you plug yours into a crack, a kitten takes a dirt nap with Baby Jesus

They're great...until you take a fall and the head pops off and nearly kills you. Don't ask how I know this.

Supra

Buff Johnson wrote:Just remember, using aliens is a sin. Everytime you plug yours into a crack, a kitten takes a dirt nap with Baby Jesus

Still recovering from that comment.

Seriously, this is a religious war you have waded into. There are very strong opinions on the topic of aliens both pro and con. I have used them over the past few years and even own a few. I think they are safe and they have a home on my rack for the foreseeable future.

Listen to Mark.

There has been quality control issues over the years, most notably after 2001. They do have a great basic design that makes them useful when other cams are not. Thus many people love this aspect about them.

Can you get any information from the person you bought them from about the history of the cams? I would be very cautious with them until you know more about them. What is the manufacturing date?

I have two from 1997, and they work great. However, I will not buy any more because of the past issues.

I like them, but I won't buy more due to their quality control issues.

pacoarg9,

There are countless discussions on aliens. There were some quality issues for sure. Not just the braising problem. More recently, some had the hole in the lobe drilled in the wrong spot. This of course affects the cam angle and ultimately, the holding power. One of my partners has some older aliens. I feel ok about them. I have taken a few falls on them, too. But, they have had way too many problems in my opinion to be worth risking my life. Climbing has enough risks already. I don't need to be worrying if my cam is going to fall apart.

If your aliens are old, they are likely quite trustworthy. Ironic, I know.

2001??? I am very interested to know about
all the aliens manufactured since then. I have 2
purchased in 2006. Aliens are still manufactured, right?
How can large retailers sell them if they are failing under small loads?

Aliens are a very specialized piece of gear that will work in a placement where nothing else will. Use them for that purpose and they will serve you well. For most climbing it's hard to beat TCU's and C4's.

Aliens are awesome and far superior to other micro-'quad' camming devices on the market.

The Colorado Custom Hardware website describes how to identify the batches that were below strength standards.

aliencamsbycch.com/recall/i…

Marc H wrote: Why is that? Obviously, they can't really find out if the unit is full strength, but they should be able to tell if it's one of the units that doesn't even hold body weight... --Marc

Because their tracking control is so bad that there was a documented case (search RC.com) of a unit being stamped tensile tested that failed under body weight. Obviously the unit was never tested but somehow got stamped. If you want them tested send them to an independent tester.

To the original poster. The design of aliens is awesome, and I really like placing them. However their manufacturing and QC process is not so great. So read up on them and make your own decision. You can always take them out and test them in a well controlled situation or bounce test them.

People have decked and gotten messed up from these units failing.

Har har har! Wotta laugh.

I can see joking about some stuff, but not this.