Gear you wish you never bought

• A PAS. I just use the rope, or slings if I'm rappelling.
• Headlamps from climbing companies. In my experience they're way inferior to purpose-made caving headlamps, which are way more durable, waterproof, brighter, longer lasting, and only marginally heavier. The slight weight increase from getting even a lower end caving headlamp like a Zebralight or Fenix light is way worth it for the extra functionality you get if you really need your headlamp to get up/down safely.
• Petzl Torse chest harness for ascending rope/TR soloing. It is inferior in every possible way to any old elastic headlamp band you have lying around.
• Any BD ice gear. Their crampons have totally ineffective secondary points. I also had Cobras and found their swing to be inferior to that of any other ice tools I tried.
• Edelrid Sendero harness. It has a 5th rear gear loop, but it overlaps both of the side rear gear loops which makes it effectively useless. Also the ~1in gap between the front and rear gear loops takes away valuable space and makes the rear gear loops too far away to comfortably use. Lots of things I could nitpick about this harness.

Metolius presewn prusik loops are terrible.  The knot at the bottom is too big and wrapped plastic and the tails are sewn on so it's awkward to offset the knot.  It's also way longer of a loop than it needs to be for 3 wraps.  HATED using it every time.  6 or 7 mil cord from REI is cheaper and works so much better.

Peter Ywrote:

Black diamond headlamps. The old versions of the spot were so easy to turn on by accident and completely drain your battery. Then the revolt with the redesigned button design somehow had the batteries drain. I've had my BD headlamps rendered useless the majority of the time I've needed them

BD headlamps blow. I've had more than one fail me in critical situations, and I'm now a petzl guy. never looked back...

Peter Ywrote:

Black diamond headlamps. The old versions of the spot were so easy to turn on by accident and completely drain your battery. Then the revolt with the redesigned button design somehow had the batteries drain. I've had my BD headlamps rendered useless the majority of the time I've needed them

Sorry, was not going to post here anymore because the reading is too much fun. But... I second the above. As much as I adore BD, I have never EVER been happy with one of their headlamps. Wanted them to work... but they always got returned after 30 days. (big sigh....)

Climbing gear.

Should've just invested in golf clubs. 

All of my +40 climbing friends are broken, going to therapy, arguing with their SO's about trips, etc. while my golf friends are drinking white-claws and swinging happily. 

I picked the wrong sport.  

Alex Fischerwrote:

• Headlamps from climbing companies. In my experience they're way inferior to purpose-made caving headlamps, which are way more durable, waterproof, brighter, longer lasting, and only marginally heavier. 

I finally just upgraded from cheap petzl headlamps to a zebralight. Makes a world of difference. Plus using the rechargeable 18650s is wayy better than AAAs or the crappy petzl rechargeable pack 

Fixed leg loop harnesses. Either I haven’t found the perfect one or it’s just me but they always ride up on me and crush my friends. Plus adjustable ones allow me to use the harness for everything (ice and mountaineering).

I also have had no issues with my bd storm and I think it’s pretty neat for how bright/ long lasting/ and little it is. I’m curious as to what issues people have run into and whether it’s the newer or older ones. 

Lol. I just bought a BD headlamp. Where were you all a week ago?

John Mwrote:

Things I don't regret but I wish some annoying people would refrain from commenting on when they see it:

• PAS.
• a large BD cam.
• the single Hex on my rack of mix-n-match stoppers.
• shoes and helmet clipped on the outside of my pack, so they dry out, and so everything inside my pack doesn't smell like foot.

Preach!!!!

I’ve avoided most dumb stuff by trying before  I bought e.g. OP link cams and Metolius supercams.

Some people love them but I got a full set of tri cams early on and used the small ones a handful of times and that’s it. If i climbed at places with horizontal cracks more like the gunks it may be different.

I also got a set of hexes and only used the large ones to supplement cams here and there.  

BD C4 cams that are smaller than a .4. I wish I had bought X4's or Aliens at the time, the .4 and .3 C4 cams always feel large and clunky in the majority of placements, mostly due to the head width.

I still have them, but they're only brought out for aid days.

Non-climbing related purchase:
a new 2017 Tacoma. It was a good truck and I did put on 80,000+ Km (50,000 miles) in a year. But it does suck having ~$500 a month payments, a large fuel bill, and having to set up a tent each night to sleep. I sold it after less than 2 years and bought a Japanese Mitsubishi Delica. Now I get to sleep inside, Cook inside, and have a more beastly 4x4 than the taco ever was... Somewhat due to the fact I don't care if I dent it. 

Double rack of C4s. Ended up selling off one of them after getting a set of totems, and I also wish I got flexible stem/narrow head cams in the <0.75 range. 

tobias bundlewrote:

Lol. I just bought a BD headlamp. Where were you all a week ago?

Don't worry. It'll be dead soon and you can buy a better one. 

Cairn War Machinewrote:

Non-climbing related purchase:
a new 2017 Tacoma. It was a good truck and I did put on 80,000+ Km (50,000 miles) in a year. But it does suck having ~$500 a month payments, a large fuel bill, and having to set up a tent each night to sleep. I sold it after less than 2 years and bought a Japanese Mitsubishi Delica. Now I get to sleep inside, Cook inside, and have a more beastly 4x4 than the taco ever was... Somewhat due to the fact I don't care if I dent it. 

Do you live in Japan or are you driving an imported one in the USA? There's a lifeguard who works the beach near my house who has one. They're really cool. Not sure I could deal with RH drive in the USA, though. 

Andrew Ricewrote:

Do you live in Japan or are you driving an imported one in the USA? There's a lifeguard who works the beach near my house who has one. They're really cool. Not sure I could deal with RH drive in the USA, though. 

I'm on the west coast of Canada, I believe the US import ban is 25 years, while Canada is 15 and we have been importing them since 2009. I picked mine up roughly 3 years ago. The RHD didn't bother me too much for the first few months, a little bit of unintentional drifting left, and left turns are a little blind depending on the intersection. But after 6 months I loved it and still do! If your curious about them I highly recommend taking one for a test drive. 

tobias bundlewrote:

Lol. I just bought a BD headlamp. Where were you all a week ago?

For what it’s worth, I’ve used bd headlamps for the last ~8 years, and have had no issues with them. The lock function has never failed to keep it from turning on in my pack, and I’ve been very happy with all the models that I’ve owned

Andrew Ricewrote:

Do you live in Japan or are you driving an imported one in the USA? There's a lifeguard who works the beach near my house who has one. They're really cool. Not sure I could deal with RH drive in the USA, though. 

I drove a RHD manual  Land Rover for 15 years.  I flew to San Francisco to buy it and drove it home.  By the time I left SF I was pretty comfortable with it and like anything it just became second nature.   I really miss driving it.

Emilio Sosawrote:

For what it’s worth, I’ve used bd headlamps for the last ~8 years, and have had no issues with them. The lock function has never failed to keep it from turning on in my pack, and I’ve been very happy with all the models that I’ve owned

anecdotally I’ve had 2 stop working on me but both they walked over and handed me a new one off the shelf.   (Perks of living in SLC I guess) 

I think they are decent for what they are and have gotten better in recent years as far as brightness.

If you’re looking for excellent performance and customer service I would reccomend coast.  

So much brighter than anything I have used.    

To contribute to the thread….

Petal attaches (I’ve had multiple get stuck)

Any nuts that aren’t Dmm….  

Black diamond vipers (promptly sold)

big MasterCams.  (Green and up I really dislike)

Matt Castelliwrote:

Wow - 30cm slings changed the game for me when I got them. Bummer you don’t like them. They are simpler/faster to rack, lighter, and I love using them as built in extensions on cams that also save you an extra biner’s weight. 

That’s what I was hoping for! But they’ve become more annoying than anything else, and usually my climbing partners hate them and ask to bring regular alpine draws or QuickDraws. Though the built in extension you mentioned is intriguing. I may try to rack them on the cams and see how it works out