Preferred hex brands, and wired vs slung?

I really like the DMM ones. They place super well and the extendable sling is right on considering I mostly take the hexes alpine climbing to save weight. Looking at the aspect of sling vs wire I feel the sling works in favor of keeping the hex in place and not walk out of the crack because it's not as stiff as a cable. Seems important to me since hexes don't keep themselves in place like SLCDs do.

DanielJames wrote:

I have played with BD, Wild Country, and Metolius. I strongly prefer the Metolius curved hex. I don't like the wires though, so I cut them off. 

If you have played with the old-fashioned straight-sided nuts and found them harder to place than the curved nuts that are the standard today, the advantage of the Metoilus curved hex over the straight-sided BD-style hex is somewhat similar. Both curved nuts and hexes sort of "find themselves" the best spot in the rock. Straight-sided gear take a little more tinkering with. Even though the Wild Country hexes have some curvature, I have not found these to "adjust themselves". Hard to describe. I have not played with any of the smaller sizes of hexes (smaller than let's say a #13 BD nut), so I don't know if the same holds true for those. 

I really like the WC hexes. I prefer slung for isolation although I haven't much used wired hexes. The WC ones match BD cam colors which is pretty nice. 

+1 metolius.  I have a couple larger ones that I still use.  Definitely sit better than WC ones or BD ones.

My own hexes are BD's and I like them.  I've looked at DMM; they seem good too.  My partner carries a few WC hexes, and I would advise NOT getting them.  If you are well-versed in hex use, you know that they can be "cammed" two ways.  In the larger of these two modes, the WC hexes do not "expand" sufficiently to get good purchase on the rock.  It's really not a good design IME. Not familiar at all with Metolius hexes.

This is like arguing whether you should drink Mickey's or peach schnapps before prom. They'll both get the job done and neither is a great choice. Just like bad alcohol in high school, as time passes and memory fades, you'll end up looking back fondly on the experience. This is why hexes are still made, also Mickey's (RIP Zima).

I like the stiffest wires I can find. I'm not opposed to a layer of heat shrink or tape to give them more rigidity too. I damaged my ears at one too many Spice Girls concerts back in the day, hexes have a very similar sound. You can protect your ears with a very small amount of Great Stuff. Just mask the outside of the hex, give it a squirt, wait a few hours, cut off what is sticking out, and remove the masking tape. Like magic, your hexes will have nice dull sound. Before someone says it, no, you cannot see part of the wire to inspect it after this. The good news is that these are hexes, you're not going to use them enough to fray the wires.

For brands, I like BD. It almost doesn't matter. Find them on sale, used, dropped, or pounded into an icy crack. 

I have both slung and wired BD Hexes.  The wires are good for the smaller hexes, as they can extend your reach.  For the larger units, it becomes a question of if you stust swaged wired or tied cord more.  They are a piece of gear I almost always take with me.  A well placed hex is a thing of beauty.

I don't always use hexes.

But when I do, I prefer Wild Country Rockcentrics.

I'm a huge fan of the DMM Torque Nuts.  They are color coded to approximately match the comparable size of a cam, have an extendable sling, and have a fairly wide range of placements due to the various ways you can slot them.  

DMM>>WC>metolius>BD.

+1 for dmm hexes. Something about them sets better than the straight chouinards or the overly curvy metolius units. I haven't used wild country or others. They also cover a big range with 4 hexes, vs like 6 for the other ones.. They will make you deaf from the high pitched clanging due to the high strength alloy, so I rack them by clipping both top and bottom..