Original Orange BD Fusion Ice Tool Pick Upgrade?

I'm trying to improve how these tools perform on pure ice. BD recommends their new Fusion picks. Does anyone have experience with these tools? Thanks!

Not an exact answer to your question but this convinced me to buy the new Fusion picks for the green tools. Installed them but haven't used them yet.

fusion picks

Those should help. The reduced angle will help your swing penetrate the ice.

A little more about your problems would be helpful.

Are your swings deflecting a bit? If so, that's probably a pick angle/swing rotation issue. Either change to a lower angle pick or adjust the axis your swing to rotate nearer to the handle.

If you're getting excessive brittleness it may be an axis thing like above (very common with this type of tool), or just a thick pick. A distal taper will solve the thickness issue.

Not enough penetration? Thin out the pick or add weight in the form of a hammer or pick weight.

Sticky pick? De-tune it.

A little more info would be helpful.

The T-rated fusion picks are great for dry-tooling and mixed routes but are a bit thick for pure ice. The thickness provides a ton of durability for torquing, but they also displace quite a bit of ice compared to the newer Fusion Ice picks, or the Laser picks. Also, remember that a sharp pick is a good pick. Remember to sharpen your tools every once in a while as necessary. Most BD picks are pretty good right out of the box, but they will perform much better after taking a file to them. Hope this helps.

I also posted this in that thread referenced above, but I'll post it here, too.

I'm running the new Fusion Ice picks on my green Fusions and they're awesome. Their performance on ice is much better than Laser or Fusion picks, displacing noticeably less ice and requiring far fewer swings.

Also of note, BD has their picks just about dialed in my opinion right from the factory. I used to spend a decent amount of time filing their picks to get the diamond shape on the teeth they're now coming with. I still tune up the Laser and Fusion picks by adding a little extra hook on the beak and second tooth. I was pleasantly surprised to see these new Fusion Ice picks are exactly what I've been tuning my other picks into.

Ian Hanson wrote:The T-rated fusion picks are great for dry-tooling and mixed routes but are a bit thick for pure ice. The thickness provides a ton of durability for torquing, but they also displace quite a bit of ice compared to the newer Fusion Ice picks, or the Laser picks. Also, remember that a sharp pick is a good pick. Remember to sharpen your tools every once in a while as necessary. Most BD picks are pretty good right out of the box, but they will perform much better after taking a file to them. Hope this helps.

This is true, Laser picks will perform far better than the original Fusion picks on ice because of their thickness.

The new Fusion picks might be worth trying, but what is the difference from the original? If they're thinner you'll see improvement, but I seem to recall they also decreased the pick angle on them? If this is the case I wouldn't both using them on the old orange Fusions because their pick angle is already less than the new green Fusions.

The most important thing you can do to make the old orange Fusions climb ice better is to put a hammer on them. Don't bother with the mini hammer either, put on the full sized one. The extra head weight will be welcome.

The new Fusion Ice picks have a pick angle that is 2* less than the original Fusion picks. I haven´t been able to take them out for hard testing yet to check how they perform compared to the originals so you will have to just try for yourself. But I agree, when climbing on more alpine climbs I appreciate the extra head weight provided by the full size adze and hammer as compared to the mini versions. The extra weight in the head is worth it even during long days.