Any one has used Grivel Plume Wire Lock K3L and care to provide a brief review on it ?

Any one has used it and care to provide a brief review on it? I have plans to get it and use it as my personal anchor's carabiner. 

my concern is that it would be too troublesome or the wire lock is too stiff to open it when I'm exhausted after completing the route.

I have it, and i like it very much. I plan to buy another. I mostly use it for my prussic. Its not stiff at all and easy and convenient to "unlock", it might be even easier to unlock than Edelrid Sliders.  A possible contra for some is maybe thats its small. Also grivel has a newer(?) version that should more specific for personal anchors, they include that one with their daisy chain PAS.

thanks for your kind feedback, that certainly give me more confidence in my purchase.

you might be referring to Tau Wire Lock K12L, from images the basket looks a bit thick compare to Plume.

do u have any experience with their twin gate as well? how does that compare to the wire lock?

I love these biners and have a couple on my rack. I'm in general a huge fan of all the twin gate biners that incorporate a wire gate in them. I have the Plume for stuff like guide mode, grigri's, and anywhere I might want a small autolocking biner. 

Both the Plume and the Tau are too small for a PAS really, depending on exactly what you use (I use a petzl adjust) the biner is just far too small. I'd recommend a edelrid slider as a suitable alternative. 

I used to use the K3L and I never got to the point where it was second nature opening it. Maybe I have clunky fingers but I would always create a little too much tension and have to reset the first gate and try again. Maybe I didn't give it enough time.

On the other hand I am a rabid fan of all the other grivel twin gates with opposed gates. I keep Lambdas and Plumes (the old red ones and the orange hms ones) on my harness and I use the Sigma as my PAS when not wearing winter gloves. The Sigma gate is sometimes too big to push through whatever I'm attaching too, but at the same time I'd expect to find issues of opening the Tau when it's a crowded anchor because you can't get your fingers in.

I use multiple Taus and love them. They're my standard for atc guide mode (on the eyelet, not the rope), cloving myself in, on the Grigri, and on quad anchors. New partners give weird looks and struggle at first but with enough use it's second nature. The trick is to just pull the wire gate and the solid gate will follow. Haven't tried the plume, but I find this style to be the most reliable UL auto locker. Sliders are notorious for the locking mechanism gunkeing up after a year. My oldest Tau (6+ yr old) recently lost some snap in the locking wire and needs a close eye to make sure it's closed, but once locked it's still bomber. I also use a twin gate Grivel Lambda for belaying. Love these!

I have one and think it’s a solid carabiner, but the learning curve for one-handed operation is steeper than with most other multi-action carabiners—especially if you have sausage fingers like me and using gloves.

that guy named sebwrote:

Both the Plume and the Tau are too small for a PAS really, depending on exactly what you use (I use a petzl adjust) the biner is just far too small. I'd recommend a edelrid slider as a suitable alternative. 

that is not a good news, indeed I'm using petzl adjust as my PAS. Edelrid slider is my initial choice but a quick online searching shows multiple results that it has issue on the slide does not close the gate completely which made me hesitated to purchase it.

IMO the SM'D TwistLock is the best choice (in current production) for the Petzl Connect Adjust.

(unless you already have a magnetron vaporlock, which might be a microscopic bit better but is not worth paying more than the original retail price for)

I'd broadly agree with mbk though I would say issues with the sliders appear to be mostly remedied with thr newer versions. My old stock slider locks less reliably than the newer model slider. I also haven't had issues with gunk, grit, or ejecting sliders. 

This has been covered in other threads but from my testing the Edelrid Pure performs the same as the SM'd when using small ropes in an adjust. If you are using the stock rope it doesn't matter much, big fan of the slider oval though it offers less braking power than the Pure or SM'd so is unsuitable for super skinny ropes. 

I echo the general consesus: the SM'D Twistlock is still the best option. I have several Grivel twin gates that I love, and they get used all the time, always at belays. Because even after a lot of use, it's easy to mess up the action. And that's the last thing I'd want to do if I'm pumped out and trying to clip in a PAS. With the twistlock it's second nature and I don't have to think.

I also switch to the smd twist when I have gloves. And obviously it works without gloves just as well. If you want just one for the year, or for routine, the smd twist is the winner.

I have one and really like it, even though I have fat sausage fingers. I initially hated it because I couldn't figure out a way to reliably open the gate with one hand, but I've since figured it out with a bit of practice. The trick that works for me is to slide my index finger in between the wire and solid gates to disengage the wire lock mechanism, then pull the solid gate back with my thumb, as I demonstrate in this video.

I prefer the Plume K3GH (the mini HMS version with twin wire gates) for most applications as it has a wider gate clearance and it's a bit easier for me to operate one-handed, but I like the idea of having at least one or two wire locks on my rack for use cases where the notch in the K3GH would be problematic, such as clipping into ice screws. The Edelrid sliders and various twist-lock carabiners are definitely easier for me to operate than either of the above, but I wouldn't trust them to not get gummed up with ice or snow in the alpine.

The one issue I've had with it is that it's pretty easy to accidentally press on the solid gate with my thumb as I'm trying to open it, which engages the wire lock mechanism and forces me to start over. I should also note that I've been able to easily open it with gloves on, but I haven't yet used it in the wild or while tired, hypothermic, dehydrated, bonked, numb-fingered, etc.

Edit: After further practice, I can now definitively say that I find the wire locks easier to operate than the Plume HMS K3GH.

that guy named sebwrote:

I love these biners and have a couple on my rack. I'm in general a huge fan of all the twin gate biners that incorporate a wire gate in them. I have the Plume for stuff like guide mode, grigri's, and anywhere I might want a small autolocking biner. 

Both the Plume and the Tau are too small for a PAS really, depending on exactly what you use (I use a petzl adjust) the biner is just far too small. I'd recommend a edelrid slider as a suitable alternative. 

are both Plume and Tau totally unusable for petzl adjust or it's just more trouble to use?
if its not too much to ask, appreciate if you could provide an image of petzl adjust along with Tau and Plume attached.

Odinwrote:

are both Plume and Tau totally unusable for petzl adjust or it's just more trouble to use?
if its not too much to ask, appreciate if you could provide an image of petzl adjust along with Tau and Plume attached.

I can get you a pic of the Plume but unfortunately I don't have any Tau's, only used my partners. I would say the Plume is totally unsuitable, just too narrow. The Tau can work and is what one of my partners used to have for her adjust, she has since moved to an oval slider after my suggestion and she prefers it.

I have to use a mission slider with my adjust as I reroped with pur line, it's pretty cramped and I miss my oval. If I had money to burn or was doing it over again I'd probably go for the petzl SM'd as its big enough, light enough, easy to use, and provides great clamping force on thinner cords.