BD Xenos harness ice clipper slots

As some of you have already noticed, the 2009 Black Diamond Xenos harness has some quality issues. In some cases, the ice clipper slot construction is not satisfactory resulting in the possibility of becoming unstitched during use. We became aware of this at the same time many of you did, just as the ice season kicked into gear in the last couple of weeks.

During lab and field testing, it appears that approximately one out of the six slots found on any individual harness may be affected and unfortunately it is not something you can inspect for or visually see from looking at the harness. This is NOT A CUSTOMER SAFETY ISSUE, as it won’t affect the ability for the harness to hold you in a fall, but rather a performance and durability issue that we are not happy with and want to resolve as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We will be replacing the waist belt of any existing Xenos harness starting in late January. But due to limited quantities, it will be first come--first served and we cannot guarantee immediate turn around. Unfortunately, it may push past the ice season before you get a replacement. We realize this is not ideal and sincerely apologize.

If you want to keep using your harness through the rest of the season, back-up your ice clipper slots with the black rubber keeper strap that comes with the Ice Clipper. Wrap the keeper completely around the waist belt and you’re good to go till Spring. Then send your harness in and we’ll take care of you.

If/when you decide to send your Xenos harness in, please include your return address and contact information and send directly to:
Black Diamond Warranty
2084 East, 3900 South
Salt Lake City, UTAH 84124
warranty@bdel.com

You can also choose to return it through your Black Diamond Retailer.

We sincerely apologize and will do all we can to keep our customers out on the ice.

Nathan Kuder
Category Director Softgoods
Black Diamond Equipment Ltd.

Credit where it's due... they're standing behind their product. Kudos to BD.

Of course, as I'm sure they'd admit too, better if it had been done right the first time. Maybe if more companies experienced the down-sides of off-shoring???

Kevin Craig wrote:Of course, as I'm sure they'd admit too, better if it had been done right the first time. Maybe if more companies experienced the down-sides of off-shoring???

+1

Not a big fan of BD producing gear in China, not sure if these harness's are made there but BD has been at it long enough to figure stitching out.

"This is not a safety issue" - it might be when you lose all you screws half way up the Ridged Designator... ;) back it up like they said.

My harness has made in philippines.

Got an email back from BD today... They are replacing my harness.
There customer service is great!

I don't think off shoring has much to do with it. where are aliens made? and look at the oportunities they've had. even arcteryx is making their stuff over seas.

kevin fox wrote:I don't think off shoring has much to do with it.

I couldn't agree more!!!

sunder wrote:Got an email back from BD today... They are replacing my harness.

Yeah, they replaced my first Xenos too... with one on which the clipper slots also broke - except 2 slots the second time instead of one.

sunder wrote:My harness has made in philippines.

OH! The Phillippines! Well SHOOT! Yeah the wages and QC there ARE much better than in China. [rolleyes]

Think I'll refrain from any more posts on the subject at the risk of violating Rule #1...

The warranty manager at BD tried like hell to avoid replacing my harness, reminiscent of so many warranty situations with BD over the years. It looks like their customer service is reverting back to the old days of "we don't care, what are you going to do about it anyways". BD sucks.

I haven't had a problem, yet; but, I really really really don't want to find all the screws in my hand when I hit my panic button and face a 40' to 50' decker with my belayer & in no mans land.

stupid question -- can anyone post a pic on how that plastic retainer/rubber-keeper-strap works on the clipper?

Apparently, the application of such is child-proof for me.

Buff Johnson wrote:can anyone post a pic on how that plastic retainer/rubber-keeper-strap works on the clipper?

The harness goes through the rubber retainer and the clipper.

I'll try it again; I couldn't get it to work, maybe it was too cold

It a little hard to see..

Also the Ice clipper will sit a little higher on your harness...

Buff Johnson wrote:I'll try it again; I couldn't get it to work, maybe it was too cold

It's a good finger workout and requires a bit of spatial reasoning, but after you get one figured out, it's pretty straight-forward. I suppose that both an un-compromised slot plus the rubber thingy would be "safe," but the rubber thingy alone, if the slot is already blown, still makes me a bit nervous. Good news is with an intact slot, the rubber thingy should prevent the stresses on the slot that are causing them to break.