First set of Nuts

DMM offsets and a set of DMM Peenuts makes an almost continuous set. I'm also a huge fan. My climbing tends to be granite (Sierra) and monzogranite (J-tree). Can't speak to their utility elsewhere. 

It depends on what "type" of trad climber you will become. There's a group who praises DMM offsets above all else and I suspect their placements are more than 90% cams and only whenever they can't fiddle in a cam, that's when a nut goes in. For us who pick a nut first and use cams only when nuts don't go, we prefer something that is easy to remove, which means the standard Black Diamond (BD) or Wild Country (WC) shape.

Easy to place: (all are easy to place, but few are easy to place well, which means to maximize surface area contact with the rock)
1) BD/WC/OP Wedgie
2) DMM Wallnut
3) DMM peenut
4) DMM offset
5) Metolius curved

Easy to remove:
1) BD/WC/OP Wedgie
2) DMM Wallnut, DMM peenut
3) DMM offset
4) Metolius curved

Cost:
$10: BD/WC/OP/DMM Wallnut/Metolius curve/DMM peenut
$15: DMM Offset

As many suggest: Buy used, but check that the cable is not frayed (one strand is broken and will poke your skin).

My "qualifications" to give suggestions on nuts: I've bootied 100+ nuts over the last 20 years, more than half my placements at my local crag are nuts, and more than 95% of my nut placements can be taken out without a nut tool (which makes them nearly as quick to work with as cams). Among my 4 most reliable partners, we have 100+ years of climbing experience. Four of us have BD/WC, one of us has gone to a mix of WC and DMM offset/peenuts.

For my climbing style, the "Easy to remove" feature is as important as "Easy to place". If they are hard to remove, your follower will curse you and you'll just stop placing nuts. The testers in outdoorgearlab.com/topics/c… did not put as high importance on this aspect, so they got a different end result. They straightforwardly claim that they prefer to place cams instead. As a side note, I have occasionally followed "cam climbers" and their lack of seeing gorgeous nut placements have resulted in worse overall protection.  

Patrik, like it or not (I am ambivalent) it is a cam world out there. Most of the partners you meet will be cam first climbers, and using nuts will frustrate them unless you are really just barely setting them...most people yard on them when scared. So I heartily agree with getting standard nuts first, they are less likely to get fixed. DMM uses a softer metal on the offsets.

But the OP is looking for his first (and probably only) set of nuts.

I like your suggestions, get BD/DMM/WC standard nuts before going for the exotics(Peenuts/Offsets).

The whole "nuts first" ethos relative to cams  really came about when cams were scarce and expensive. Cams are ridiculously affordable, currently, and I see little reason to fiddle around with a bad nut placement just to "save" a cam for later. In the last year I've started just carrying more small cams and worrying less about nuts. I still love and trust a great nut placement, whether it's BD, or an offset or whatever, but small cams work great.

Patrik wrote: For my climbing style, the "Easy to remove" feature is as important as "Easy to place". If they are hard to remove, your follower will curse you and you'll just stop placing nuts. The testers in outdoorgearlab.com/topics/c… did not put as high importance on this aspect, so they got a different end result.

This is definitely not a unanimous opinion. For example, Andy Kirkpatrick says:

When I teach climbers to lead I often find that there is more concern about not wanting to make life hard for the second, rather than saving their own ass!  Learning to place solid gear goes hand in hand with learning how to get solid gear out, and so when you’re at the sharp end your number 1 concern is placing solid pro.  If you fall off and deck out, or take a longer fall and clip a ledge your partner is not going to thank you for all those crap and useless wires you left him!  And so to start with go with this mantra:

“My job is to make my wires as hard to get out as possible!”

This approach not only establishes a mindset that should lead to better wires, but also gives the second the opportunity to learn how to get solid wires out!

Maybe getting nuts out becomes a higher priority with more experience, but I'm much more concerned about not getting hurt than I am about getting all the gear out. Nuts are cheaper than hospital bills. And even with that attitude, I've left behind exactly 2 stuck nuts ever--because my follower didn't have a nut tool.

Get some DMM offsets or BD offsets like everyone’s said and then grab some wild country rocks for $16 off Sierra trading post. If you get a wild country rock stuck you have lost nothing in my opinion. Someone will booty it and have a bail nut in their rack.

bkozak wrote:

Only comes in a set of 5 

Thats why I got two sets!  Hehe  (I do use the smaller BD nuts)

Cory F wrote: DMM Offsets

Case Closed.

nah. maybe second set. learn on the basics first.

then you can appreciate having offsets as the only nuts you need.

I have BD and DMM nuts in my gear room but the only thing that goes into my pack or on my harness any more are the DMMs.  I'll rack up with a full set of Wallnuts and the bigger offsets (I think they have small brass offsets to fill out the size range) if the climb justifies it.  I climb most often in Squamish and can usually find great placements with the regular nuts but I have seen a few offset placements up there that have stopped me mid climb to let the leader know how good the placement was.  Nothing is as confidence inspiring as a well placed nut but nothing goes in as quickly from a desperate stance as a cam if you have a decent crack.

Jason4Too wrote: Nothing is as confidence inspiring as a well placed nut but nothing goes in as quickly from a desperate stance as a cam if you have a decent crack.

I've been lucky enough to climb with some good effing climbers, and the speed at which they identify a placement, select the right cam, slam it in and clip is astonishing. I am probably as quick with a nut as a cam, but I am not a good climber...I like climbing but I suck.

In my experience, ID'ing a good place for a nut is a skill more important than which nut is used. Cuz' c'mon, it is a tapered piece of metal, they all work.

David K wrote: Maybe getting nuts out becomes a higher priority with more experience, but I'm much more concerned about not getting hurt than I am about getting all the gear out. Nuts are cheaper than hospital bills. And even with that attitude, I've left behind exactly 2 stuck nuts ever--because my follower didn't have a nut tool.

After placing a few hundred nuts, you'll realize that "Easy to remove" is not the same as "more likely to pop out when falling on". Similarly, "hard to remove" does not equate to a great placement.

It depends on where you climb as the more wavy cracks of the Rockies and east coast make fans of offset users.

But I would never tell a newbie to start with offsets. You want to master text book nuts first. And offsets are sticky in a bad way for new users.  A classic bomber nut has more surface contact and will hold better. Ignore these chuffers that tell you it's a cam world. It simply is lighter and more efficient to know how to place nuts on your first trad leads that should eat them up.

For me:

1- BD standard curved nuts
2- DMM offsets, only because they compliment the BDs (LOL, Patrik loves my DMM offsets.)
3-DMM wallnuts as easy to place as BD, harder to remove.
4-WC rocks, I never got along with thier taper, prefer BD

99- Metolius curved nut, least favorite ever, just terrible for removal. Melt them down and recycle as beer cans.

This is for everywhere, from Eldo to JT to Squamish etc

I do mix in some various smaller brass, even old school RPs when appropriate.

Use that Kailas Climbing coupon and get a whole set of stoppers for like 45 bucks. 

I vote for dmm offsets. I just don't bring any others with me.  Anywhere a BD stopper fits it seems like an offset dmm fits twice as nice.  Climbing cali granite for the most part... 

Reading this thread validates what I've been finding with my DMM offsets. I'd place BD nuts that looked ABSOLUTELY BOMBER. Only to watch them fall out as I climbed away (okay, so maybe I still have something to learn). But the offsets! They lock in place! I giggle when I place them, like I giggle when I place a good tricam. 

Trenton Allmon wrote: Hey Y'all, I'm a college student looking to begin building my trad rack and was wondering what a good set of nuts would be. Priorities are 1) Safe and will hold 2) Easy to place 3) a reasonable cost. Let me know what you think.

Trenton, lots of opinions as you can see. Really, it's subjective but you will be good to start with any set of nuts. In my opinion the offsets can get stuck more easily in a noobs hands. 

Just buy a used set, I would only worry about if the wires are frayed, otherwise there's not much else than can go bad on a nut.

Frankly, I don't place many nuts anymore but I usually have a small set on my harness if need be.

Tradiban wrote:

Trenton, lots of opinions as you can see. Really, it's subjective but you will be good to start with any set of nuts. In my opinion the offsets can get stuck more easily in a noobs hands. 

Just buy a used set, I would only worry about if the wires are frayed, otherwise there's not much else than can go bad on a nut.

Frankly, I don't place many nuts anymore but I usually have a small set on my harness if need be.

  don’t you ever stop trolling?! To the hate list with ya!

Edit: I thought the above would be good for a laugh seeing as I seem to read this all the time now. But OK not funny it’s noted. 

DMM offsets and peanuts. I RARELY even carry my normal nuts anymore. 

Jaren Watson wrote: If the OP had asked about budget-friendly cams, would you DMM offset folks have suggested Totems?

Dragon II’s. Duh.