Link Cams by Omega Pacific

What's the verdict on these puppies, good, bad, ugly. At $100 a pop are they worth it? Seems like a nice premise, 1 piece to replace 4. How do they operate in the field?

yes

A buddy of mine called his link cams the "onsight pieces" because you could grab one and quickly plug it in without worrying about if you grabbed the right size or not.

I love mine, great for reducing rack size in the alpine. Also nice pieces to bring when your ice climbing may have a little bit of mixed. I also consider these my go-to pieces. If I have them on my rack at the end of the climb, it means that the climb wasn't that hard for me...

Like anything, these pieces have certain placement considerations. I would not place them in a pocket where a fall would result in lateral forces on the cams. There are a lot of moving parts in there, and there has been at least one instance of them failing in this configuration.

Other than that, these pieces are a great piece of technology that are on my rack, whether or not we are using my buddies rack or mine that day :). Highly recommended.

cheers.
-chris

LOVE 'EM!!! Yep pricey, but they cover a wide range and they look cool. A little weighty, but that never stopped me as i tend to carry extra gear anyway. They look cool to.

Get a little practice in setting before you take them on lead (if you are leading something hard)

Yep, I love them too.

Looks like I'm ordering me a set.

Thanks All!

Richard

I got one for xmas last year and I love it! Nothing says "I'm a climber" like having one of these babies swinging from you're rearview mirror!

Seriously though, I use that thing on damn near every route I touch.

A few recent threads on the subject:

one

two

three

four

Robert 560 wrote:Yep, I love them too.

I agree, I love mine!

I am scared shitless of them, the powder met parts cracking, reduced bite of the steel, pin failures, trigger wire problems. Besides why can't they put a loop on the end, the steel end is kind of outdated. That and the narrow ones will have a very wide head for their size...

Andrew,

Good point on the head size of narrower ones; I've been looking at these and thought the original two sizes were the most useful. I don't have any, so I can't speak from experience, though.

Anyway, I'm curious about your negative attitude. Is this from experience, anecdotal cases, or speculation. I heard about the recall on the pin, but haven't heard anybody complain about metal cracking or poor bite. Am I just out of the loop.

Anyway, I want to add a few of these as "panic pieces" for my rack; you wont see me with 8 of them. I dislike the added complexity of these units, but can't argue with the range. So, I think these are specialty pieces with a specific purpose.

Cheers
Evan

Andrew Luke wrote:I am scared shitless of them, the powder met parts cracking, reduced bite of the steel, pin failures, trigger wire problems. Besides why can't they put a loop on the end, the steel end is kind of outdated. That and the narrow ones will have a very wide head for their size...

What do you base these comments on?

I took a decent fall onto a #2 last summer and it was super solid. I haven't used the two new sizes but the bigger ones are stellar. I carry a camalot of the same size, and use that in size appropriate spaces first, but anything where I have to question it, or anything flared, the omega is the one I reach for. Nice sales pitch, huh?

i am not really sold on the link cam as a panic peice. i have a #2 but when im maxed out on lead its not the peice i go for, intuitively ill recognize a placement for what it is, a .75 for example.... the link cam is not intuitive, for me at least. what it does work great for is funky placements and for anchors on long routes. to be honest, when im cragging i usually leave it on the ground. worth a hundred bucks? probably not. i do trust the saftey of them though. also, they tend to set themselves deep into cracks, not walk per say, but the action on them allows for the rope to push them deep into a crack with little effort, making them easy to loose. next time you place yours, put slight pressure on the end of it with you finger, that thing will just slide in deeper and deeper. would be a bummer to loose a key peice on a long route.

Robert 560 wrote: What do you base these comments on?

"During the course of the inspection, we subsequently discovered three units which have a small fissure in the steel linkage of the cam lobes.

As unlikely as it sounds, destruct-testing of these units revealed that the defect does NOT reduce the overall strength of the units. In fact, the units we tested failed ABOVE rating. However, since the goods, obviously, do not conform to our specifications, we would like any units with this defect returned for replacement under warranty."
Cited

Look at where this one broke



More info

Huh, wonder if those cracks they find could cause failure? Any guesses? Maybe not in perfect lab conditions, but weren't these designed so the could fit in imperfect places? I just don't think powder metallurgy was the right choice for the parts. But besides that I can't afford them, and I will say it is a great design feat but I have never climbed with them, only played with them in the store.

I have heard of 7 failures like this. A couple people comment that the steel links didn't provide enough friction on a couple rare instances. And lots of people breaking trigger wires.

Edit: And according to the Omega pacific website I cited above they "upgrade our inspection policies and practices" around June 2007 then another recall June 2008. I'm still scratching my head on that one? Before long they will have the same reputation of aliens

caughtinside wrote:aliens are still the best small cams.

Metolius Master cams are leaps and bounds ahead of Aliens amigo.

Phoenix wrote: Metolius Master cams are leaps and bounds ahead of Aliens amigo.

I agree, I don't even use my Aliens any more.

Richard Fernandez wrote: Seems like a nice premise, 1 piece to replace 4.

I've never understood this comment when I hear talk of these cams. Once you place it, three more of them don't magically appear on your harness...do they? If so, then maybe that's why they're ~$100 a pop!

Just a reference to the size range.

Personal opinion is a combo of aliens and master cams would be the best. Reliability, thumb loop, lobe hardness and narrow head of master cams. Then ingenious lobe/spring design, flexibility, and the wire mesh sheath of aliens.

As soon as I get some cash I am going to make offset master cams :) Shouldn't be to hard, just reassemble them and re-rivet...

So did you buy the link cams?