Lightweight Biners: Nano 22, Photon Lock, Nineteen G

I’ll start by saying that ATM I recommend all 3 of These carabiners. I shaved off 1.5lbs by recently switching my rack to lightweight biners. Using the Camp Photon Locks, Camp Nano 22, and the Edelrid Nineteen G. All 3 of these biners have about the same sized gate opening.I weighed 24 Nano 22 biners from 4 rack packs, and they all weighed around 23g, most of them over; only one of them weighed less than 22.6g and as you can see the heaviest was closer to 24g mark. Besides the weight difference, I noticed that the gates are inconsistent as well, some of them open nice and smooth, some are stiff and rough. They work well with gloves, and they’re easy to clip, I’m currently using them on alpine draws. The biggest flaw is that there’s a thin section between the basket and nose, even though it’s improbable, if the rope were to catch a big fall there instead of the basket, i think it would surely cause rope damage. These are the best, lightweight, bang for your buck, biners.

Out of 5 Camp Photon Locks, 4 consistently weighed 45.1-45.4g and one of them weighed 44g, the only reason I can think of for this is that some lockers come with a grease/oil and one of them was dry. These are amazing lightweight lockers, excellent with gloves, but they also have an even thiner section between the basket and key. 

And out of 12 Nineteen Gs they all weighed 19.5-19.9. They all have smooth crisp gates, and seem to be way more rope friendly, but they’re so small that I don’t think they make a good rope end unless you have real tiny hands. They do take some getting used to, I’m using them to rack my cams. These are the lightest and there is some serious quality control here, it definitely reflects in their price.

Travis Bieber wrote: Although lighter,do you see any problem from using such small carabiners for all applications 

They shouldn't be used in all applications, every carabiner has a special purpose. The NineteenG are great for racking,  I wouldn't use them for anything else. The Nano 22 are good for racking and so far alpine draws too.  The Photon Locks are great for anchors and the basket is big enough for a clove but not a munter. 

Josh Landis wrote:

They shouldn't be used in all applications, every carabiner has a special purpose. The NineteenG are great for racking,  I wouldn't use them for anything else. The Nano 22 are good for racking and so far alpine draws too.  The Photon Locks are great for anchors and the basket is big enough for a clove but not a munter. 

I would have to agree with this. The 19 is sooooo small, I could never clip it with any kind of a pump on. Actually I find the Mad Rock Ultralight to be the smallest carabiner I can comfortable clip all the time. The Mad Rock has a gate opening of 23mm and the BD Neutrino has a 22mm gate opening, which is my other racking carabiner, and I find that to be about the minimum opening for comfortable clipping. I think also the depth of the basket has something to do with how the carabiner feels, and how easy it is to clip. 

The Nano 22 is another racking carabiner I can clip if necessary. But I am not inspired by the rope bearing surface, it is pretty thin.

I've noticed differences in how various lightweight biners deal with rope movement. Some biner designs are much better at avoiding crossloading. For example, the discontinued DMM Shield (admittedly not lightweight by today's standards) is very hard to crossload and has a natural tendency to flip into a long axis orientation. Lightweight biners are more susceptible to rope movement from clipping or climbing than heavier biners, and then it is up to the design to prevent the lightweights from getting hung up on a sling in a weak-axis loading position. Another difference between designs is how well two biners mate when opposite and opposed.

Have you seen a difference between the 19G and the Nano21 in their likelihood to get hung up on a skinny sling in a crossload position?

Crotch Robbins wrote:Have you seen a difference between the 19G and the Nano21 in their likelihood to get hung up on a skinny sling in a crossload position?

I’m only using the Nineteen g’s for racking but I haven’t noticed any of the nanos changing orientation while using. But a few times, while extending, I’ve gotten a couple snags on the ends of the wires. I might take some 1000 grit sandpaper to smooth those edges a little. The nano 22 are thinner in the middle and have a little belly in the spine, I think this gives them good balance and helps prevent crossloading

 

Crotch Robbins wrote: I've noticed differences in how various lightweight biners deal with rope movement. Some biner designs are much better at avoiding crossloading. For example, the discontinued DMM Shield (admittedly not lightweight by today's standards) is very hard to crossload and has a natural tendency to flip into a long axis orientation. Lightweight biners are more susceptible to rope movement from clipping or climbing than heavier biners, and then it is up to the design to prevent the lightweights from getting hung up on a sling in a weak-axis loading position. Another difference between designs is how well two biners mate when opposite and opposed.

Have you seen a difference between the 19G and the Nano21 in their likelihood to get hung up on a skinny sling in a crossload position?

The cross loading deal is why I switched all of my wires out to either the BD hood-wire or my favorite, right now, the DMM Alpha wire. There is no notch to snag on a bolt or on the wire of a nut. That worries me more than just crossloading actually. An biner can break under a very small load when levered like a nose hook / gate open situation.

I use both the non-lockers you like up there and love them as well.  I've been using the Grivel Plume Nut locking biner for a bit. At 37 grams, it's superlight. Clipping a pair of shoes, a waterbottle or using it on the end of a daisy are excellent uses for it. https://www.grivel.com/products/full_product_list/fpl_carabiners.php

Natch the opening is smaller than a normal locker. To be expected.

I have a bunch of the 22s. Been using them since became available here. I use them on gear end of draws and slings. To me they operate better than other micro biners. I have some 19s that have seen some "action" but they are not easy to operate for me. The gates get sticky on the 22s. I find I have to lube them more than any other biner. I have retired some photon wire gates for this reason. I like the 22s enough to put up with it.

Anyone have thoughts on the Edelrid Mission? 25g with a large gate opening.

Can you comment on the durability of the Photon lockers? I have a handful of Trango Superfly screwgates, which are supposed to be 45g and are nice to use, but I noticed last night that one has a significant groove worn in the basket after no more than a day or so as part of a toprope anchor. Like 1-1.5mm of material lost. 

Jared Chrysostom wrote: Can you comment on the durability of the Photon lockers? I have a handful of Trango Superfly screwgates, which are supposed to be 45g and are nice to use, but I noticed last night that one has a significant groove worn in the basket after no more than a day or so as part of a toprope anchor. Like 1-1.5mm of material lost. 

I wouldn't choose to use a photon as a TR anchor. That's one place where a more robust biner is warranted. 

Señor Arroz wrote:

I wouldn't choose to use a photon as a TR anchor. That's one place where a more robust biner is warranted. 

I should probably just use one of the round-stock Petzl ovals I snagged for $4 at REI a few weeks ago.

Yes, that's a perfect TR biner. 

To reduce wear on TR lockers, put a small non-locking biner in between the two. Then it’s cheaper to replace a little wiregate. That is, if you don’t feel like buying more robust lockers, but a good tenchique nonetheless

Why have a lightweight TR biner? Just use one of the old heavy screws in your collection. (unless you are new to climbing, then just buy a cheap big biner)

Look no further than the Wild Country Helium for a light biner. Too steep? CAMP Photon non-wire.

Avoid those "snag nose" biners at all costs.

Buck Rio wrote:

The cross loading deal is why I switched all of my wires out to either the BD hood-wire or my favorite, right now, the DMM Alpha wire. There is no notch to snag on a bolt or on the wire of a nut. That worries me more than just crossloading actually. An biner can break under a very small load when levered like a nose hook / gate open situation.

We just switched all of our lightweight biners out to hood-wires also. Exactly what you described happened to my husband and the biner broke. Turned what should have been a nothing fall into a 25-30 footer from above a roof into a slab. He inverted and hit head first - thank god he had a helmet on. 6 pitches up with 2 left to go. It could have been a bad situation. Mammut biners (the model is escaping me). But yes, we think the notch caught on the bolt and it was on a skinny sling. 

FWIW I have settled on the Nano 22s as striking the sweet spot between light and still functional. I end up fumbling the 19Gs and the additional weight is therefore not worth it. I have a bunch of BD OZ  as well which are in the 28g range, but I don't find them any easier to handle with than the Nanos, although the hood is nice.

The Mammut Wall Light is similar size and weight at 23g or so, and I have a couple on my rack but I find them just slightly smaller and not as easy to handle as the Nanos.

And another vote for the Grivel Plume locker. 

I picked up some of the 19s to check out, and as others mentioned found them too small to use for the rope end of anything.  I have pretty large hands and they become hard to orient or just get a hold of.  I have put them to use for racking and for the gear side of alpine draws.  As a recent experiment I have swapped them out for the gear side of a few ultralight quickdraws I have.  I've found that especially on bolts they are not as difficult to manage clipping gear as they are grabbing to clip the rope.

Another vote for the Nano 22 as the everything else non-locker.

Pretty curious to check out the Grivel Plume now, too.  

My ultralight/small biner experiment is over after my trip to Colorado. I don't care how much weight they save me, they suck.
I have Nano 22 and the Edelrid 19. They will be used as accessory biners from now on....for stuff like holding a water bottle or shoes. They just are too small for my meat hooks, and made me fumble around like a spaz trying to get gear and the rope clipped/unclipped. They also have a notch for the wire that can catch on bolts/wires, especially since they are so small.
 
The smallest biner I will entertain now is a BD Neutrino.

For all of my cams (C4/Dragon/Metolius UL) I am using full sized snag free wire gates like CAMP Dyon, DMM Alpha Trad and WC Helium. I just match the cam color to the biner.

All of my alpine draws are getting new biners, I have a whole slew of Petzl Spirits and DMM Shadows just sitting around....heavier but also easy to clip. I guess they won't be "Alpine light", but I don't really care.

I also carry eight or so 12 inch draws that are floppy, but still capture one biner. Not stiff like a sport draw. All full sized biners (Petzl Spirit and BD Hoodwire.

I have a bunch of neutrinos I can use as spares.

Buck, I'm a big fan of the Photons for that reason. Not much heavier than the nanos but so much easier to handle.