Ultralight Ice Screws: BD vs. Petzl

Looking for real-world, first-hand experience with turning the new BD UL screws, vs the Petzl Laser Speed Lights. Pricing out of the mix, how would compare the two? Looking for specifics like initial bite, ease of turning in different ice temps/hardnesses, general durability (BD wire handles would be my primary concern), "clipability" of the one large hole, vs two smaller holes.

Cheers!

I have,  I've got a handful of the BD screws that I got from somebody who was testing them for BD.  He apparently wasn't supposed to sell them as BD messaged me about it..  Anyway mine are pre production so they may have slightly changed them.  IMO the wire handle it a bit floppy, it has never bent on me but I don't love the handle.   They start about as well as the current BD screws but as you mentioned can be harder to finish because of ice conditions.  I experienced this with a BD and a petzl aluminum screw on rainier they placed fine in the alpine ice but a few placements in the liberty cap shrund and they literally wouldn't go in.  I got one in maybe 1/3 of the way using my tool to turn the hangar...  Fine when standing in steep snow, wouldn't be ok on a steep lead.  Granted this was in bullet hard glacial ice... In CO and UT I never had any problems in WI.

I've only got longs one so they are typically my anchor screws and I stick with steel petzl or bd screws on lead.   All that being said I'd buy petzl. They start like butter if you're so inclined to aluminum screws and are aware of the limitations.

If you've got a BD prodeal you're going to buy BD. End of discussion.

Keenan Waeschle wrote: If you've got a BD prodeal you're going to buy BD. End of discussion.

I mean, yeah that's what is so tempting, but if they're shit compared to the Petzls, I'd pay more once and get something I'm psyched on, rather than dealing with selling used BDs and buying Petzls down the road anyway. I get a deal on their tools too, but I'm still swinging X-Dreams and Quarks...

I think a major difference in BD's favor is that there's more steel at the tip; this will let them be re-sharpened more times than Petzls.

EDIT - per the comment later in this thread, this is NOT true. There's very little steel in the BD tips. A couple good rock encounters and they're done.

How do climbing gear manufacturers, and more so retailers, make any money to stay in business at all when you can skip a rock and hit 3 people who have pro deals they are sharing with their friends? 

NateC wrote: How do climbing gear manufacturers, and more so retailers, make any money to stay in business at all when you can skip a rock and hit 3 people who have pro deals they are sharing with their friends? 

Sam Sala wrote:

How did this become about your assumption I'm milking someone else's prodeal or sharing mine with anyone? Thanks, MP...

I wasn't addressing you specifically, though your edit to the original post didn't sound like it was your own deal. It seems to be an industry wide thing. I hear the argument that the manufacturers will make some money either way. Without retailers though, their volume of sales would be reduced and the wholesale margins are often times higher than pro deal margins so it would seem to be affecting them negatively to be doing so much business through pro channels. 

Sam just change your post so it stays as a place for people to compare the differences. Some people who are spending full retail might want to know the subtle in use difference. Hell even people who have prodeals for both might want to know the subtle in use differences.

NateC wrote:How do climbing gear manufacturers, and more so retailers, make any money to stay in business at all when you can skip a rock and hit 3 people who have pro deals they are sharing with their friends?

NateC wrote:

I wasn't addressing you specifically, though your edit to the original post didn't sound like it was your own deal. It seems to be an industry wide thing. I hear the argument that the manufacturers will make some money either way. Without retailers though, their volume of sales would be reduced and the wholesale margins are often times higher than pro deal margins so it would seem to be affecting them negatively to be doing so much business through pro channels. 

Sorry for the misunderstanding. When I posted, I was aware of a prodeal through BD, then was made aware of a corporate deal with Petzl through a guiding service I work for, this morning. I'll edit the OP to keep it for screw to screw comparison, taking price out of the mix.

Gunkiemike wrote: I think a major difference in BD's favor is that there's more steel at the tip; this will let them be re-sharpened more times than Petzls.

thank you for  supporting the company that innovates (petzl) vs. the company that copies (BD)

NorCalNomad wrote: Sam just change your post so it stays as a place for people to compare the differences. Some people who are spending full retail might want to know the subtle in use difference. Hell even people who have prodeals for both might want to know the subtle in use differences.

Gear shops, and industry folk are the original "influencers." Would you rather take the advice of someone who uses the gear every weekend and says it's bomber, or the person who just reads the spec sheet?
 

To be clear, I wasn't talking about people who work in shops and use the product regularly. I'm talking specifically about how often "pro deals" get extended to that person's friends thereby eliminating potential retail sales. It's something you see frequently. I mean technically, people with pro deals are usually instructed not to discuss them publicly at all but look at how often they are discussed in threads on here.

I really wasn't taking a shot at Sam. I want to be clear about that. I was simply just putting a thought out there that was inspired by this thread. 

I was talking to a guy out in cham, he loved the new BD UL screws and is selling off all his petzl speed lights, after playing with both and placing both in ice multiple times being a complete newb, I shared his sentiment in that BD are nicer. To those saying BD are copying Petzl, aluminum screws have been around long before petzl bought them to market.

that guy named seb wrote:To those saying BD are copying Petzl, aluminum screws have been around long before petzl bought them to market.

Are you saying that all-aluminum screws are an old invention,  or that steel-tipped aluminum screws are an old invention? 

mpech wrote:

Are you saying that all-aluminum screws are an old invention,  or that steel-tipped aluminum screws are an old invention? 

i stand corrected, thanks xam. It seems like the petzl aluminum/steel hybrid screws are the first of the genre to gain any real acceptance, though? 

Xam wrote: Cassin Thunder Light - circa 2004

cassin also used dyneema as their center bar in crampons long before petzl did too, petzl a true innovator.

mpech wrote: i stand corrected, thanks xam. It seems like the petzl aluminum/steel hybrid screws are the first of the genre to gain any real acceptance, though? 

There have been many variation of aluminium screws through out the ages, just check out weigh my rack they're all on there.

Well E-climb alu screws with replaceable tips where before the Petzl alu's, weren't they? (not sure)

mpech wrote:

Are you saying that all-aluminum screws are an old invention,  or that steel-tipped aluminum screws are an old invention? 

Lowe made RATS (ratcheting aluminum tubular screw) in the early 90's, maybe even the late 80's.