Best small-size locking biners for building anchors at bolted belays

Like many, when I first started climbing a number of years ago, I bought a large quantity of used locking biners. Most of them are large pear shaped biners that work great for belaying but are abysmal when it comes to creating an anchor (mainly speaking of multi-pitch routes with bolts at the belays. In these situations they are unwieldy at best and virtually unusable at worst.

Although I have a few older, smaller locking biners that work well, I'm looking to finally start adding some locking biners that actually function properly for these situations.

Any thoughts on whether there are shapes/models/sizes that people recommend, or do you think that most anything being produced that is "small" would be fine and not to fret over finding the "right" one?

I like the BD nitron. Light (50g?) wide gate, fits most chain/hangers.
That said, i find i use fewer lockers at belays these days. Master point and device....of coursed depends on situation.
B-walling, i still love my Jakes.
Oh, and the nitron is keylock. Why isn't every biner keylock?

I think each company now has some pretty comparable small sized lockers. That being said, I bought a 3 pack of BD's small Nitron Screwgate. The seem to be fine for me.

A friend of mine is more into big wall climbing, and I respect her opinion. In that little gear shop outside zion she asked for the element by metiolus and mentioned that she liked it above others. After handling them, I like them better, but not enough to go and replace all my usable older ones.
Hope this helps.

BD: blackdiamondequipment.com/e…

Metiolus: metoliusclimbing.com/elemen…

My only gripe with the metolius locker is that it takes forever to screw it open or close. It's about 6 full turns compared to the BDs 2 or so.

Other than that, it does feel more solid.

The petzl attaché? I'm not sure on what specific name, but it's the smallest of their I-beam screw locks. I love the gate action on those biners. Super smooth

^^^. I think you're talking about petzl spirit locker ($$$). Or perhaps the attaché 3D but that's an HMS.

Like Muscat I rarely use lockers on bolted anchors or gear for that matter when multi free climbing. Except of course the belay/master point (attaché) and on my daisy (BD positron) which are on sale often. There's gonna be a ton of different answers on here. Just my $0.02.

Current fave = BD Positron lockers

Christopher K. wrote:Like many, when I first started climbing a number of years ago, I bought a large quantity of used locking biners. Most of them are large pear shaped biners that work great for belaying but are abysmal when it comes to creating an anchor (mainly speaking of multi-pitch routes with bolts at the belays. In these situations they are unwieldy at best and virtually unusable at worst. Although I have a few older, smaller locking biners that work well, I'm looking to finally start adding some locking biners that actually function properly for these situations. Any thoughts on whether there are shapes/models/sizes that people recommend, or do you think that most anything being produced that is "small" would be fine and not to fret over finding the "right" one?

Are you talking about large as in the size of the metal of the biner or are you talking about the size of the loop? I never had issues with a biner being to large (being large is a good thing), but I have had issues with some of the biners that are really thick and have trouble going through things.

If you get small biners you may at some point build an anchor and not be able to get everything you need through the biner, aka if you are at some strange point and have to add extra backups due to everything being questionable.

I have the WC eos lockers. they're medium sized but i have never had an issue with using them in bolts or chains. also, they're quite light.

bd nitron or positron lockers. for something cheaper camp orbit lockers

I typically wouldn't use lockers on the bolts unless I was building the anchor with the rope. Cypher makes some small lockers and I got a few for $4 last year on black friday. I like them a lot for general use lockers, especially when I want to use a locker on lead on a placement that is mission critical. That being said, I've also used the Mad rock small locker and the positron locker and I like them all equally. Just get whatever has the best price.

ViperScale wrote: Are you talking about large as in the size of the metal of the biner or are you talking about the size of the loop? I never had issues with a biner being to large (being large is a good thing), but I have had issues with some of the biners that are really thick and have trouble going through things. If you get small biners you may at some point build an anchor and not be able to get everything you need through the biner, aka if you are at some strange point and have to add extra backups due to everything being questionable.

Good point. I am speaking of thickness. You are right. Thanks for responses all

eli poss wrote:I typically wouldn't use lockers on the bolts unless I was building the anchor with the rope. Cypher makes some small lockers and I got a few for $4 last year on black friday. I like them a lot for general use lockers, especially when I want to use a locker on lead on a placement that is mission critical. That being said, I've also used the Mad rock small locker and the positron locker and I like them all equally. Just get whatever has the best price.

Other than a top rope I can't even really think of a reason I would not be using lockers on anchor bolts.

My favorite biner I have for anchor building is a petzl william but looking at their website I don't know if they still make the version of it I have. The one on the website looks alot thicker and what I love about mine is it is really thin but really big pear and can be loaded with a ton of stuff an still easily open / close.

I dig the new Edelrid lockers with the tiny button on the gate. They are small, autolocking, and super easy to manipulate with one hand. I purchased one because I liked the idea. After using it while guiding and for personal use, I'm sold on them. 10 more are on my Christmas wish list.

I don't use lockers at the belay when clipping bolts or gear. I only use a locker when clipping myself to the master point if I'm using a cordalette. If I'm using the rope and clipping to two to three points I don't use lockers.

I like the cheap mad rock screwgates. The only problem is that they're really small, so they aren't good for much else.

I like CAMP's Photo Lockers. Super light, not too small, but still low profile which makes them easy to fit through chains, hangers, etc.

camp-usa.com/products/carab…

Although it's bigger than a BD nitron and 2 grams more I love the BD vaporlock. The little bit more of space makes it great for just about everything.

Christopher K. wrote:... or do you think that most anything being produced that is "small" would be fine and not to fret over finding the "right" one?

This. Exactly this.

Get a couple of different biners from different companies. Almost every small biner will work in almost every situation, but in the weird one-off places you want a variety to choose from for that extra skinny, or extra narrow, or different curvature to fit where the other biners don't.

That said, I really like the DMM line, and like my lightweight DMM lockers an awful lot.

DMM

I'll add that the BD positrons are a great locker. Nothing fancy but they aren't expensive and function well. For a nicer but more expensive small locker, DMM phantoms are very nice. All of my friends who handle them on multipitch climbs go "damn these are nice!" Another locker that I just got and like a lot is the CAMP HMS Nitro. It is medium sized, so it is versatile, and still very light due to its I-beam construction.

jard wrote:I like CAMP's Photo Lockers. Super light, not too small, but still low profile which makes them easy to fit through chains, hangers, etc. camp-usa.com/products/carab…

I'm with you on this one. I don't have any but I like them alot. If I needed any more lockers, I'd probably get a photon or DMM