Recommend me a QD

Camp Orbit Wire’s are dirt cheap, decently and easy to clip. but half my binders are sticky after only a year...

Marc-Olivier Chabotwrote:

Sorry to self promote my store but we are selling the WC Helium 2 at 30% off. Price are in CAD and with the high USD its even cheaper for you. Free shipping and tax-free. The Helium 2 is lighter, stronger and overall better than the Helium 3. WC make the third edition to save on production, not to make a better biner. The 15cm Green will also be back in stock soon. This is one of the best draws ever. 

https://www.verticallstore.com/WILD_COUNTRY_Helium_20_Quickdraw/p4546831_17165917.aspx

OMG!

If I can pre-order 6 of them then SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY RIGHT NOW!!!

I bought 6 of the 10cm ones, 6 of the 20cm ones, and a whole bunch of Helium 2 biners in every colour and a belay device from Verti-Call last month. I have nothing but good things to say about the experience. One of their guys while packing up my order noticed that one of the green Helium 2 biners I was buying was a different shade of green from the others. He called me to explain why that was the case (different production runs with varying results in anodization) and if I was OK with it. Since I've been working for the [formerly...] largest retailer of climbing gear in Canada for over a decade I was aware of that variation, but I was impressed that Marc-Olivier's staff were that detail oriented and went to that much trouble to ensure that I would be satisfied.

Djinns are great.  A couple of the edelrid draws are nice to preserve your others. First bolt/ anchors.  

I started carrying my shoes on a bulletproof biner and then throw it on the back of my harness.  Put the weight of the rope on that when sport/trad climbing so I don't burn through my lightweight trad draws.  

If you can find them in the US, Climbing Technology makes good affordable draws. The Climbing Technology Lime Set NY Pro is a great sport draw. 

Otherwise just get djinns or spirits. The dmm sport draws are great but expensive.

I don't understand the need for the bulletproof draws. But maybe that's because I almost never toprope except to work a sequence again briefly, and neither do the people I climb with. On most draws I've shredded the dogbones twice before the rope carabiner shows enough wear that it needs replacing.

I'll put in another vote for Djinns plus two bulletproof biners for your anchor draws. If you wait for sales you can often find Djinns for less than $10 a draw.

Pino Pepinowrote:

I don't understand the need for the bulletproof draws. But maybe that's because I almost never toprope except to work a sequence again briefly, and neither do the people I climb with.

Me either buddy ;)

greggryllswrote:

Me either buddy ;)

Rope is aid. I don't need qd's anymore.

greggryllswrote:

Me either buddy ;)

Point taken ;) But OP says he's climbing sport exclusively, so maybe he also doesn't toprope that much. It might be different if you climb a lot in very sandy places, but for me durability of dog bones has been more an issue than durability of carabiners.

Anyways, the Climbing Technology draws are seriously great, here you can often find the 5-packs on sale for $50, and they're cheaper than BD or Petzl even when not on sale. Their fixing rubber solution for the dogbone als works better than the Petzl variant. The only issue is that they might a bit difficult to find in the US.

Here is a pic I took of some different biners for comparison, top left to right: Petzl Spirit, BD Positron, DMM Shadow, BD Oval, Kong oval, DMM Shadow bent, Djinn, BD Livewire, BD Hotwire, CAMP Photon, CAMP Dyon (my fave), BD Positron, DMM Chimera, DMM Spectre, Camp Nano, Edelrid 19 G.

Figure out what size you want and then look for the best deal. I prefer a solid gate on the bolt side, wire on the clipping side. So most of my sport draws have a BD Positron/ BD Livewire sized combo. 

Half of my quick draws are made from old disassembled BD Hotwire draws. I hated the wiregate on the bolt side so I took those off, replaced with booty biners I found on routes, and used the wire gates for more alpine draws. I have like 4 frakendraws consisting of old style BD solid gates, a random spirit I found in the Red, and a DMM solid gate. If you can find bail biners, you dont even really have to buy quickdraws, just dogbones!

Buy spirits if you want to burn money, buy djinns for a great draw. 

that guy named sebwrote:

Buy spirits if you want to burn money, buy djinns for a great draw. 

I've never cared for the dogbone on the Djinn's...I love the spirit dogbone though. Much nicer when forced to grab the draw. 

Buck Riowrote:

I've never cared for the dogbone on the Djinn's...I love the spirit dogbone though. Much nicer when forced to grab the draw. 

The djinn dogbone is "fine" I do wish it had a varied width dog bone like a spirit or dmm draw, but I have hauled up very steep routes on djinns and had no issues. The durability improvements for the biner are totally worth the trade of anyway, if you're lucky/unlucky you will be bale to replace the dogbone before the rope side biner.

Buck Riowrote:

I've never cared for the dogbone on the Djinn's...I love the spirit dogbone though. Much nicer when forced to grab the draw. 

Do what I told a friend of mine: buy Petzl Djinn biners and Petzl Spirit dogbones - they come in 3 lengths: 11cm, 17cm, and 25cm

“The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after a good price is forgotten.”

If asking for recommendations, I assume one would like recommendations for good gear at a fair price point. But If you need cheep, just lurk across the discount sites. There are SO many more QD on the market these days. Most will work just fine. Snag free is a nice feature for the gear end. Outside of they you’re typically paying for a combination of weight and longevity.

Khoiwrote:

Do what I told a friend of mine: buy Petzl Djinn biners and Petzl Spirit dogbones - they come in 3 lengths: 11cm, 17cm, and 25cm

Exactly what I did...I gifted my young nephew all of my old gear, and bought new stuff for me. I sure miss all of my Spirit colored draws and biners though.