Is DMM Vault worth it?

Title says it all.
The weight penalty seems huge, even more so if, like me, you use 3 ice clippers, some even use 4.
I m thinking about it since sometimes the plastic Petzl/BD ones are a litlle bit more flexible than I would like them to be.
Also, last season I dropped an ice axe that was clipped on my harness.
I was going thru thick bushes while rappelling and, with the torque, the axe uncliped itself and drop 30 meters below ...
Took me 20 minutes to find it....

So, worth it or not?

I lost a screw off my harness the same way while bush whacking between pitches.

I compromised and did plastic in the front and vaults in the back. If I have a ways to walk I’ll rack my screws on the vaults and axes in the front since I usually have teathers for my tools on multi pitch. 

Love the vaults. Any weight penalty is more then made up for by the ease of use, durability, and not randomly opening and losing screws. If you're doing crazy ultralight stuff maybe the weight difference would matter, but not for most of us..

I use the grivel clippers and they are great for tools and easy to climb with but lose screws like crazy. I have lost at least 3 screws and dropped four that I was able to find. .. if you don't teather your tools it's only a matter of time before you lose one...

I love the vaults. 10/10

Never had any issue with losing screws off the Grivel clippers. 

I have new Vaults (red, wire gate) I can sell for $35 plus shipping if anyone needs any? I have too many. 

$50 for an ice clipper????????????????

Ellen Swrote:

$50 for an ice clipper????????????????

I hear your reaction but this $50 clipper sometimes hold $500 worth of ice screws, so it may be worth considering, if it's doing a much better job than a $15 piece of plastic... hence my question...

Fabien Mwrote:

I hear your reaction but this $50 clipper sometimes hold $500 worth of ice screws, so it may be worth considering, if it's doing a much better job than a $15 piece of plastic... hence my question...

Dmm vault $50

Knowing your ice tool wont pop off your clipper and fall into oblivion when you need it most … priceless

Fabien, the answer requires another question: which do you value more, peace of mind or ease of use? If, like me, you are troubled by the prospect of losing half of your rack due to a sudden plastic failure, you'll buy a couple of Vaults. If, like me, you use Black Diamond screws, you'll find them to be a bit of a nuisance. As has been mentioned on previous threads in previous years, you'll have to take a file to the edges of the little keeper hook on the top of the Vault, because of the size and shape of the holes in the BD hangers. The Ultralights are a little friendlier because the hangers are forged, so they are radiused more than the stamped parts on other BD screws. Because of this problem, I moved my two Vaults to the rear positions on my harness. On some short, easy pitches I never need to reach back to them. On the other hand, with this system one only needs to wrestle a piece off of the Vault when the screws racked in front have already been placed, and one is run out, pumped, and scared. As Mark Twain put it, "You pays your money and you takes your choice."

Vaults are worth it for me.  I've never lost a screw or a tool from them, which is something I can't say about the BD clippers.  That said, for anything but top roping days I usually still use one of my BD clippers as a third, for extra capacity, and the other one I have makes a good clip for a water bottle when dog walking.

Never had a problem with BD screws in them as Paul Morrison describes.

I’ve never used them, but I have shared this story on here.

I once helped out a notable PNW climber who fell leading a spicy alpine route in the Canadian Rockies. When he smashed into the wall, his plastic ice clipper exploded and he lost almost his entire rack about 500m up the face. The party had to bail even though conditions were good enough to keep going. It’s a route that only comes in every few years, so the outcome was unfortunate (but he wasn’t hurt so not that bad).

I still use plastic ones, I like Petzl best, but mostly because I’m no longer getting out 60-80 days a year.

Shaniacwrote:

I have new Vaults (red, wire gate) I can sell for $35 plus shipping if anyone needs any? I have too many. 

Vaults sold. Thank you.

I went ahead and bough one Vault, to replace the one I use for stubbies, abalakov and clipping one tool. if I like it enough I will replace the other 2.
Thanks for sharing guys

This discussion seems to focus on the wire gate DMM Vaults.  Is there any meaningful application or benefit for the lock gate DMM Vault, for ice climbing specifically, mixed routes, or alpinism more broadly?  And how do any benefits stack up against relative cons (e.g., weight, ergonomics, functionality, etc.)?

Bluewrote:

This discussion seems to focus on the wire gate DMM Vaults.  Is there any meaningful application or benefit for the lock gate DMM Vault, for ice climbing specifically, mixed routes, or alpinism more broadly?  And how do any benefits stack up against relative cons (e.g., weight, ergonomics, functionality, etc.)?

Nobody specified wire gates, and I was specifically talking about the locking version.

The application and benefit is that it locks and you know you won’t lose what’s on it.

As far as I m concerned I would never buy the locking version for ice climbing, but that's just me.

John Sigmonwrote:

Nobody specified wire gates, and I was specifically talking about the locking version.

The application and benefit is that it locks and you know you won’t lose what’s on it.

If Shaniac and Dr. Illogical wrote but did not mean "wire gate" and "wiregate," respectively,  perhaps you're right.  My bad.  Where are the DMM Vault lock gates you speak of selling for $50 (well below MSRP and exactly that of the wire gate Vaults)?  Everywhere I look online the lock gates are like $70.  Thanks in advance.

Agree the wiregates are plenty secure and I rarely use my locking one.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I use the grivel clippers and they are great for tools and easy to climb with but lose screws like crazy. I have lost at least 3 screws and dropped four that I was able to find. .. if you don't teather your tools it's only a matter of time before you lose one...

Are you talking about Grivel Carryabiner? 

Been using a pair of Petzl Caritools, need another pair to accommodate more gear and was thinking of ordering the Grivels to try