Small Cams or Double up?

I'm just getting into trad, mostly going to be climbing in the Northeast and North Carolina. Right now my rack consists of a single set of camalots from .4 to 3, a set of stoppers, and a set of tricams white to blue (before you say anything: it was a gift!) Question is: do I double up on certain sizes of cams (I've heard .75, 1, and 2 are the best for the Northeast) or do I start getting small cams?

Also, I've been thinking about X4s despite all the forum posts, just so that I have a consistent numbering system. Any opinions about which small cams are best?

Climb with a partner who also has a rack and then see what you end up using. I would be inclined to say Mastercams size 1-3

I grew up climbing from NY to NC, and I'd say you should double on the .5 to 2 sizes. That being said, it depends on what grade you're climbing, and what crag you're at. The eyebrows on Looking Glass eat tri cams, Seneca swallows small to mid size cams and stoppers, and Stone Mountain mostly requires thin seam gear or a few quick draws(with the exception of the Great Arch which is cam heaven). So it's a very subjective thing. The Gunk's swallow tri cams too. I've always been more partial to C3's for smaller sizes as they're invaluable due to their narrower head profile, but that's just me....opinions vary greatly.

I'm just did exactly what you're doing. I took advantage of Backcountry.com's 25% sale. I bought another .3, .4 2,3 and my first number 4. I would say climb on what you got plus share racks with your partner to see what doubles you need. When you notice that you need doubles of something buy it. Just remember your partner has a rack too.

Totem Cams, Totem Cams, Totem Cams....

They are the bomb. Get the whole set and then you have good overlap with .75, 1, and 2.

Master cams are great too. So if you want micros the 2 smallest master cams are great.

For NC, get some blue through gray aliens (love Totem Basic) or blue through orange mastercams. Next step would be doubling up BD 0.5 through 2.

It's important to double up on the most used sizes before pursuing a super wide range, but a single set of smaller cams is pretty frequently used.

If you don't plan on climbing 5.11 or harder for a bit, doubles will do you way more good around here than small cams.

I'm a big fan of these and for $170...

backcountry.com/metolius-ul…

Theyre equivalent to the largest black diamond C3 - C4 0.4 so it overlaps perfectly.

If you navigate through active junky to backcountry you will get an additional 10% cash back on top of backcountry's 25%. Metolius and camalots are both on sale.

Wilson On The Drums wrote:I'm a big fan of these and for $170... backcountry.com/metolius-ul… Theyre equivalent to the largest black diamond C3 - C4 0.4 so it overlaps perfectly.

At least in the small cams, I see absolutely no advantage of the 2-stem style Metolius 4cu's over their Mastercams, or pretty much any other single stem cam for that matter. I'm honestly not sure why anyone bothers to buy them anymore. They're less flexible, the stems get kinked more easily (a real consideration for SE rock, where there are a lot of horizontals), and the head is wider. What's the appeal, other than maybe the price/weight (47 g or 1.66 oz in the range you posted) is a little less?

My 2 cents: i find myself placing the bd .3 constantly in the gunks. If you plan to do a significant amount of climbing there, even on moderates, get one (or the equivalent)

I have wild country zeros for my microcams and they are awesome. And don't discount your tricams, a bomber tricam is an awesome feeling and you will honestly use them more than you think. I would say pick up a few smaller cams and double up .5-2

As a northeast climber I would add .2 and .3, then eventually double everything from .3 to 2. In what order you do that really won't have a huge effect what you can and cannot climb

Highly dependent on what you climb. Talk to people who climb where you want to climb.

I would encourage you to climb more with what you have now, and learn what you like. For example personally the smaller the placement the more I prefer stoppers. So instead of buying smaller cams or doubling up cams, I bought a variety of smaller nuts.

i climbed a fair amount of trad in chattanooga, which i have heard is similar in features to NC and the 2 cams i used most frequently were the yellow and orange master cams (#2 & #3). i would suggest getting Purple (0) or Blue (1) to orange (3) or red (4). then get doubles of camalots in the most used sizes. also, consider getting DMM dragons for doubles of camalots to have a wider variety of options. they are the same color scheme so don't worry about that. i've heard too many cases of weird shit happening to the X4s to touch them. if you're into aliens go with totem basics

csproul wrote: At least in the small cams, I see absolutely no advantage of the 2-stem style Metolius 4cu's over their Mastercams, or pretty much any other single stem cam for that matter. I'm honestly not sure why anyone bothers to buy them anymore. They're less flexible, the stems get kinked more easily (a real consideration for SE rock, where there are a lot of horizontals), and the head is wider. What's the appeal, other than maybe the price/weight (47 g or 1.66 oz in the range you posted) is a little less?

They place better and stay put better than mastercams, in horizontals. When I would climb at the gunks, I would rack TCU's, and more vertical cracked venues I rack master cams...then tcu's as doubles.

TCU's are also lighter than mastercams...slightly.

Im not making a comparison to other single stems units, just master cams.

I agree with Eli, get some DMM Dragons, I have them and I love them. Tcu's and powercams are recommended for horizontals by metolius instead of master cams in horizontals. Potentially the trigger on the master cam can lever against the rock in a fall while in horizontal placement and pull. Not sure of the likely hood but that is metolius' recommendation and the reason they still make the u-stemmed cams.