Trango Flex Cams

I am going to start building my rack with some active pro, and I've noticed that except for the bigger sizes, the Trango Flex Cams are getting good reviews (Climbing Mag gave them an A). What are your guy's opinions.

Yeah bro, I second the Camalot vote. Once you get into smaller sizes Metolius TCU's and flex cams are pretty nice... or if you've got the bread C3's. IMHO nothing makes my head happier than knowing I am placing a Camalot though.

I'd third the Camalot opinion. I got the flex cams years ago when I was building my rack. They're not that great. It's worth the money to go for BD's. You're gonna have them for years and you do get what you pay for.

Another option is to go for Wild Country Tech Friends (flexible stem).
You get an extra cam or two in a full set, they're light, cheaper than BD's and, friggin bomber!! They do tend to get stuck easier as, they don't have the range of BDs but, a bit of practice and, you'll devolop an eye for the best placements.

Don't short change yourself by buying cheap gear. You're gonna end up wanting the goods later on.

I would stay away from the flex cams. I buddy of mine has a set of them. Played around with them the other weekend and i didn't like them at all. There's something about them makes me nervous to take a fall on one. I have camalots and love them. I would go that route if i was you. You won't be dissapointed. But i would shy away from the flex cams.

I'd say its pretty hard to judge a cam just by holding it. Trial and error use is one of the only ways to find out what you like. I say whore it up and whip on all your pals gear :) I have used the Trango's before and actually found them to rather pleasant. with the same type of cable thumb loop as C4's they were not too much different in my book. I also own 4 different brands of cams and enjoy the various ranges and head widths. Its hard to not say the BD makes the best cams on the market but that really is in the eye of the beholder. I own the c4's and c3's. LOVE THEM!!! I use C3's more then Tcu's now a dayz. Aliens are nice but those come with a nice gripping past history of recalls and breaks :) Trango is a home town team though too and supporting your local manufacturer is always a plus. I don't think there is such thing as a horrible cam. They are all made with the same thought in mind and thats what counts.

Best of luck in your choice.

I'm another one for the BD Cams. When I started to build my rack I first looked at the Trango Flex cams. I had already purchased other Trango gear and I'm happy with those items, but to me the cams didn't feel that solid when compared with the BDs. Granted I have not climbed with them, but I was turned off by the quality of the piece. My buddy has Metolius cams and they are solid. I still prefer the BD's over the Metolius because the BD stems are flexible while the Mets are rigid.

My two cents.

I find the metolius fat cams and power cams to be a little heavy for my liking.I guess that is why they "feel bomber" Tcu's a different story. light, bomber and great for all sorts of climbing.
Trango is a stand up company and all the other gear I have of thiers is great! I hardly doubt they would drop the ball on somthing like a protective cam. It probably just boils down your prefernece on head width, weight, lobes and all that good stuff.
You'll probably end up like me with a set of everthing from everyone :)

I really like the three flex cams that range from a bit smaller than 1 camalot to a bit bigger than 2 camalot to complement a set of camalots - they fit perfectly as in between sizes. I've aided and whipped on them plenty - no reason at all to feel nervous.

Trango's are the sketchiest cams I've ever used.

Metolius has a demo they used to put on display in mountain shops (with the range finder colors) so we asked to see all the brands of cams that fit that demo. Long story short - the only cam we could pull out of the demo was Trango.

I'm of the BD mindset for the medium/small to large gear and Metolius for the small stuff. Personally I would say wait for someone on this board or another to throw up their extra BD's for $30 or so a piece and grab them. Also maybe wait for next years Metolius to come out with the single stem in the spring (they look tasty) they have a good MSRP. I've never actually placed a trango cam but playing with them in the gear shop I'd pay a couple bucks extra for what I get out of a cam I really like and I'm dirt poor.

Ya, BD is hard to beat in qualitiy....but the price!
I got a set of C4s and then went to rock empire to double up. Rock Empire makes quality stuff for pretty damn good prices.

For small stuff, I'm an alien fan.

Any opinions on the Rock Empires? Those are an extremely low cost alternative. I have some of the smaller ones(Durango line) and although they are stiffer than the C4's, they are easy to place and feel really solid. I haven't fallen on one, but have heard of others doing so(they held).

I think they are made in the Czech Republic. Available at Gear Express.

I have a few flex cams, two older and one newer. The newer one is on my rack as a double, which is a good use for flex cams. I have had zero problems with it. Jimn, since the flex cams are not all that different than other single stem cams, I find it hard to believe that they were the sole ones that pulled in that bitchin' Metolius display. Sounds like pilot error.

I'm not sure why you say the Rock Empire is of less quality than the Trango. IMO, the R.E. Comet cams are very solid--they're basically an older WC Friend design. Very solid, I've fallen and aided on 'em quite a bit. But I also don't have experience with other the RE Pulsar or Robot (I dislike dual-stem climbs) or the Durango cams. The Durango, btw, seem similiar to the Trango.

Tim - Go try it and it will happen. After the first time I did it I showed at least 4 other people the same thing and let them do it and it happened. I don't know if it would happen on rock but it was the only cam we tried that you could pull out of the display by hand.

I climbed on Trango Flex cams for over a year, and had no problem. Big sizes seemed to walk some though not too much, little sizes were great. Overall no problem.

But know that if you stay in the trad game, you'll eventually be sorry you didn't buy Camalots. My .02: pay now and get the BD's from .4 up to whatever size you think you need, doubles from 1-3, plus a set of TCU's and a few Aliens in key sizes. Lots of dough, but a rack that you won't need to add to any time soon.

Side note: I've got the C3's also, and though they are unquestionably bomber, their thick plastic sleeve makes it hard to visually assess the quality of your placement from below (not so with TCU's and Aliens). This has implications both for free and aid climbing that bug me, at least. Couple that with their price and I think other options beat 'em out.

So overall, I guess I'm hearing that the general consensus is the Flex Cams are fine, but odds are high that I would end up getting BD Camalots anyways. Why not just spend the money now and not more later? Does that seem right?

I climbed using primarily the older generation flexcams for about 2 years. Currently I use a mix of aliens, flexcams, and a couple of BD cams. The small ones (smaller than fingers) work fine. In the larger sizes the cams can be pushed past the point where the triggers are capable of retracting the cams. At this point the tips of the cam lobes are now wider than the cam at the axle. In cracks with lots of crystals the slightest walk of the cam can make removal difficult.

I don't think that I have fallen on any of Flexcams, nor weighted them often, but I do trust them. The lobes seem to be of a harder alloy than the BD cams and lobes have held up better on the flexcams than the couple of BD cams I own.

I am all for the rock empire robot cams. i have a few BD c4's and they are wonderful but i just couldnt afford to build my rack out of them. The bulk of my rack is rock empire and i have taken plenty of falls on them and they hold great. Rock empire just doesnt have the range that BD does though. I guess it just depends on how deep your pockets are.

Made in the Good Ol USA too :)

When your 50ft run out, I don't care how much I spent, I just wanna know it is the best cam availible...

Go with BD!

They place well, smooth action, C3s fit in pin scars very well. I have quit using tri-cams, and now carry very few nuts if any on most climbs. And haven't had one pull or fail on a fall yet.