tcu/mastercam comparison....

recently i picked up a #2 mastercam, just because it seems like my #2 tcu was mostly commonly reached for, figured itd be good to have another cam of that exact size on my rack. now it seems like i prefer the mastercams over the tcus, which makes me kind of want to sell the tcus and go all mastercam for my small cams, therefore, my question here isssss

do tcus have any obvious advantages over the mastercams? performance wise, i know they're cheaper, and probably a little bit lighter. it just seems like the masters will fit in super funky little placements that i wouldnt even try to fidget a tcu in, as well as have a narrower head, even with a 4 lobe design. I was just wondering if there were any obvious reasons to not do the switch that im not seeing somehow

thanks in advance

I find that sometimes the stiffer TCUs can be easier to push around in cracks and get the best placement.

Ultralight TCUs are the lightest cams on the market. Ultralight powercams from 5-8 are also the lightest currently available.

I find the TCU's are more adept at flaring or uneven cracks. Sort of inbetween an offset and a 4 lobe.

My first set of cams were Metolius quadcam 4 lobe design. I recently picked up a few TCU’s for cheap at a gear sale earlier this year. I like both versions since I learned with the Metolius brand. In the past few months I have also picked up a few offset mastercams. These things make me ask the same question you are asking.
Since I have been using both kinds of cams I have not had any placements where I felt I “needed” a mastercam. Addressing your question; I feel that the U stem design allows for more fiddling around with smaller cams such as the white 00. It gives a little leverage that the mastercams don’t have. Will this stop me from using either style? No it will not. For me both work fine but I will always choose the lighter cam when going into alpine territory. The days of 75 lb packs are over for me.

Weight difference between tcu and mastercam, haha. Even weight weenie me doesn't care that much for usual racking amounts.

I have both and carry both if I need doubles. I find the sizes slightly different and the places they fit slightly different. Sometimes 3 lobe fits nicer, sometimes 4. Just my 0.02...

There are certain placements where only one or the other will work. One might think the Mastercams are more versatile, but I know of at least two critical placements (one on a 5.9, the other on a 12+) on Mount Lemmon that will -only- take a TCU and not a similar 4cam unit.