Anyone know what cams these are?

Hey all, I'm not a climber and I'm new to this forum, but i figure this is the place to ask. They belonged to my dad who passed away a while ago, and had to have been bought before 2004. My mom has recently tried to sell them, and I figured getting some info on them might help with that (and I'm also concerned if there's a best-before date we should be worried about). As far as I was able to tell there weren't any identifying markings on them other than what I think are size markings.

If anyone has an idea of their brand and year, and if possible how likely they'll be safe to use still? Many thanks   

They are all Metolius TCUs.  

The slings are the part that you worry about with safety and they’ve already been removed on yours.

You’re not going to get much for them unfortunately. The new ones on the market are ultralights and whoever buys them will have to get the slings replaced. 

Very safe to use. No need to worry and make sure to attach slings to the end of the cams.

They aren't Metolius.  Trigger bars suggest they are DMM or a clone thereof. I see no reason why they won't still work just fine. Yeah, a bit on the heavy side, and they need slings ($10 each), but a decent starter or backup set.

Agree, trigger is wrong and "Metolious plus the cam # would be on the finger bar.

They are however, essentially unused. Doesn't appear to be a scratch on them. And one doesn't have to sling them. Original Metolious didn't come with pre-slings either, iirc.

Not Metolius, not DMM. These are 1st gen Trango cams (‘95 to ‘97, or so) made in Korea, before Trango started sourcing FlexCams from the Czech Republic. Someone cut the slings off of these. These are good cams…I have a set and used them often. Now they live on my Creek rack. 

I stand corrected.  Not Metolius. 

The trouble with the older Trango cams was that when fully compressed, or near it, they seemed to get wider. Probably not in reality but it felt that way. Like the harder you pulled the trigger, it got more stuck. Had to be fished out with a nut tool.

I’ve spent too much time trying to dig out Trango and similar cams that would not have been stuck if BD, WC, or Metolius.

There was a time that if you ran across a stuck cam, the likelihood of it being a Trango rather than something else was pretty high.

I haven’t used a Trango cam since the early 00’s so I don’t know how long they sucked. 

Don't let these con men fool you. Those are a rare medical device used as constipation blockage removers. You just insert in the appropriate orifice (heh-heh he said orifice) and give a gentle tug. 

Lube optional. Works every time.

Wow I appreciate all this! Thank you guys so much!

They certainly don’t need slings to be sold. But given the age and the technical improvements in cam technology, the question is, how much would someone pay?  Someone is a beginner on a tight budget might buy them, or someone who climbs in a place like Indian Creek where you want multiples in many sizes.

I would guess $10-15 apiece?  Sold only for the complete set (do not sell individually). What do other people think?

phylp phylp wrote:

They certainly don’t need slings to be sold. But given the age and the technical improvements in cam technology, the question is, how much would someone pay?  Someone is a beginner on a tight budget might buy them, or someone who climbs in a place like Indian Creek where you want multiples in many sizes.

I would guess $10-15 apiece?  Sold only for the complete set (do not sell individually). What do other people think?

If my eyes aren't lying to me, there's TWO sets of cams there.  $50 per set of 4 cams would be fair.

Rob Dillon wrote:

If it was me, and I was looking to sell them, 

That would be a costly mistake. Why sell them?

edited.

I agree with Frank. Trangos.

$100 for all 8 cams shipped, my guess.

However, as others have said: Why sell? Will you climb? 

It’s worth pointing out that a TCU larger than a first knuckle crack kinda sucks. 

I can’t tell from the pic but I think some of those, maybe all, only have 3 lobes.

I have a few tcu’s. Aliens are better, but only the  tcu’s the size of a .4 Camalot or smaller are good. Nothing larger. Maybe .3 actually.