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Totem Bacterial Infection
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I'm posting this so people are more aware of this issue. It's hard to quantify the amount of time and environment that will cause this issue. Myself and my friends experienced these failures on the wall; the materials were degrading at random points, and I thought that abrasion in my bag or on the wall was the cause. The thumb loops on my rack of totems degraded to the point where they were mostly all unusable due to the bacterial resistance of the material used. This degradation was caused by storing them in a wet environment (my backpack) after a severe rainstorm and not drying them for a few days (my fault). I stored my rack of Wild Countries in the same bag, and they did not experience any issues. This is a known issue with Totem. "This seems related to a know issue: this part has limited bacterial resistance. If stored in a wet environment, a short storage time can lead to a part failure." Don't be like me; don't let your totems catch a cold. Totem did not offer a warranty for these; I did have to pay for the repair. Even though I'm salty right now, I still love my Totems. |
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Nothing worse than an infected totem. |
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Would love to see photos. This is a wild thread… |
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sepsis kills |
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What is your source demonstrating that bacteria are causing this problem, and what is the name of the organism responsible? |
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Without photo/video it did not happen. |
Optimisticwrote: I am going based off what Totem has told me. |
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I apologize to whoever would like a photo but I don't have any. I sent my cams to Totem in October of 2023 pretty much right after receiving this information from them because I wanted to use them ASAP. It just looked like the thumb loops were cracking in multiple spots until they broke and became unusable, 2 of these cams were almost brand new. If you would like more information or proof I suggest emailing them directly asking about the bacterial resistance of the material of the thumb loop. I would post the photos of the email chain but they have a disclosure policy at the bottom of each email. |
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Interesting, and obviously kind of concerning! I have some biology background, but hadn't heard of this phenomenon. Here's an article about something similar (no idea if this is in any way related to the organism affecting the Totems). https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/bacteria-degrades-plastic-scn-trnd/index.html |
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Dang, now there are pandemics for cams?? |
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Is anyone working on a vaccine? Is there a rapid test? |
Eric Engbergwrote: This infection variant is known as the TBD1. It started in a quality control lab at a Salt Lake City facility. BD is still claiming that nothing was released, but Totem is reporting that safety measures were compromised. I think that Metolius is working on a cure, but it could be a year out still.. |
Eric Engbergwrote: send me your cams if you want herd immunity |
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Well to his credit, it does sound like he was using protection. But using protection incorrectly? Were all the lobes engaged? You need full contact precautions when dealing with communicable diseases. |
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By definition, INFECTION can only occur in living tissue. When did your Totems animate? That sounds cool. |
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Seems pretty bogus to post this without pictures |
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i assume this was a spanish->english translation issue, and they meant mold not bacteria. |
Nick Hahawrote: Yes you are right this was just an elaborate scheme |
MPwrote: This could likely be the case. The bag had a slight mildew smell and mold can affect plastic additives. |
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https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/122036569/totem-thumb-loop-failure-check-your-gear Exact same failure happened to me. Wet cams that got left in a dark place for a day or two and then the trigger bars disintegrated. |
