How do you color code your cams?

I have a cam rack with cams from different company's and I'm wondering how I can color code them to black diamond cam colors without having to buy a bunch of new colored carabiners. I thought that I'd seen cam tape in the past, but now of course can't find it. Thanks for the help!

FIngernail polish

Not worth it, just learn the sizes in each brand, won't take that long once you're actually climbing with them.

My buddy just uses spray paint on the top of the carabiner. I also color code to BD since that color system is used by BD and DMM. When I got my mastercams I was in need of racking carabiners so I just bought new color coded biners for those. 

Nathanael Myton, I've done a handful of routes with my cams already. I understand the sizing the more I use them, but color coding would be better, otherwise I doubt every cam brand would color code their gear. 

I would just deal with it until you accumulate enough colored biners to match each cam with a biner of the same color.

I think it's just going to look confusing and dumb to try and force BD colors on everything.

You will quickly learn how the colors between brands match up (and situations where one brand's color will fall somewhere between others etc...); it's really not hard and won't take you more than maybe 10 outings to get it down pretty well (I find re-organizing between trips to be as useful as climbing with the different brands in committing this to memory).

The only time I've put the BD color on the racking biner was when I didn't have a biner that matched the cam and the colors at least looked good together or were very similar (e.g. silver cam with a green biner, red cam with a purple biner). I've found that I tend to look at the sling or feel for the size I want rather than look for the correctly colored biner too. 

Putting BD colored tape on a biner sound more confusing than helpful (now you have 3 colors for one piece - cam, biner, and tape). That's just my opinion though, and I also hate having tape on any gear. 

John Wilder wrote:

Just rack them in order of size-

+1

Anything else just complicates the issue and is a solution for a problem that doesn't really exist.

I use the color biner that most closely matches the bd size for my metolius cams, so I use a yellow (.2) for the purple mastercam, silver biner on the yellow metolius cam, ect.  Although I use and orange biner on the orange cam 'cause BD doesn't have orange so its not confusing.  Also I use nuetrinos for my c4s Oz's for my x4s and c3s and trango phase for my metolius cams so I can easily tell whats what.

one reason I try and use the BD colors for all my biners is that its really easy to tell a partner "all my racking biners are sized for BD color scheme"

i just get the slings anodized to match BD sizing.

I have a Black Diamond Hotwire Rackpack (6 colors-blue, green, yellow, red, grey, purple) that is brand new that I'm selling for only $30.  It's about $20 in savings from what you would pay online or in a shop.  PM me if you are interested and I will send photos/info your way.  It's the low cost standard biner for racking BD cams sizes .5, .75, 1, 2, 3, and 4 or instead of a 4 a .4 X4, C4, or C3.  

You might be able to get away with only buying one pack of colored carabiners, depending on which brand you're matching to BD.

I would say you really only need a colored carabiner for the mid-range sizes .5 - 2.

I say that is because in my (limited) experience, color coding the big ones isn't needed and coding small ones is confusing.  For .4 and smaller, just learn the brands.

Small ones are confusing to me because the yellow Totem Basic is one size bigger than the yellow C3, which is one size bigger than the yellow X4.  (The C3's are out of whack with the rest of BD cams, which is what really screws it up).  When you change the biners, one of them gets a silver, another a blue, and the other stays yellow.  Three yellow cams with different colored carabiners, all right next to each other on the rack and it's confusing.  Maybe for other brands, and if you don't have C3's, this might not be an issue.

I match the colour of my racking biners to the colour of the cams they are on (so that will be different between BD vs. Metolius vs. Aliens, etc.), and then I rack according to size.

I used to just use all silver biners with my BD c4 and x4, then I picked up some different brand cams so I color coded them based on cam range (something like...red  for .75" to 1.5" ) but now I just have them match the black diamond sling color (my #5 mastercam has a green biner) 

This stuff

https://www.ebay.com/i/331752110039?chn=ps&dispItem=1

To think that at one time there was no such thing as color coding cams or nuts. How did we ever survive?

Zacks wrote:

I use the color biner that most closely matches the bd size for my metolius cams, so I use a yellow (.2) for the purple mastercam, silver biner on the yellow metolius cam, ect.  Although I use and orange biner on the orange cam 'cause BD doesn't have orange so its not confusing.  Also I use nuetrinos for my c4s Oz's for my x4s and c3s and trango phase for my metolius cams so I can easily tell whats what.

one reason I try and use the BD colors for all my biners is that its really easy to tell a partner "all my racking biners are sized for BD color scheme"

That's what I do also, simply for the sake of partners who normally have double racks of BD x4/c4. 

My C3s in 000 and 00 are on orange, only orange racking biner I have. Next up I have a .2 x4 and the 0 C3 on one yellow biner. Yellow biner on blue basic. Blue racking biners for #1 c3, .3 x4 and blue totem. Silver biners for .4 x4 and yellow totem. 

I prefer to use a matching colored biner on 90% of my cams, but randomly switch out the wrong color on the remaining ones. This maximizes entertainment when swinging leads.

Note: I am color blind.

shoo wrote:

I prefer to use a matching colored biner on 90% of my cams, but randomly switch out the wrong color on the remaining ones. This maximizes entertainment when swinging leads.

Note: I am color blind.

I paint all of mine black. Every size.

What Wyton and Marc801 said. Memorize them. I have metolius for small cams up to #4 red and BD C4s overlapping finger sizes on up.  I rack them with biners that match the specific cam.  

Metolius #3/orange is about equal with C4 .5/purple.  After enough reps it's automatic to reach for either purple or orange depending on what you have left. Personally I would neverput a purple biner on an orange metolius to match the size...just seems confusing. Especially if others are using my gear. Not saying it wouldn't work.

After a few dozen pitches you won't need comparative color coding. I've got a mix of c4, mc, and aliens and adding in partners gear or big gear may add in another 2 brands. You just learn the gear and your rack and you won't think about it.

Also, mixing colors like having a yellow biner on a purple cam can make locating it harder for partners when they have half a dozen cams on a gear loop.

Just rack them in size order and go climbing. These things can be over-thought.