Help me ID my Aliens

With all this talk about the exploding Aliens, I started to gaze upon my beloved cams with suspect. I pieced this set together a while back and have yet to have issues with any of them, but none have had to catch me plummeting through the air either.

I believe the ones that say ALIEN are the original issue CCH and the ones that do not are the Fixe re-boot. I mn almost certain none of them are Totem. No dimples on any.

Can anyone clarify what make I have hear and what I need to be concerned about with each?

Mixed Aliens

Check trigger bar for manufacture date code, 3 or 4 digits. For example, 1103 is November 2003

Recall window is 1104 to 1205 and cams in window are suspect. Many cams from this era (and many from outside the window) were sent back for testing and have TESTED or TENSILE TESTED stamped somewhere on them and are good to go.

recalled :'(
TENSILE TESTED

And this stamp? (There's no digits at all)

Alien logi

JRZane wrote:And this stamp? (There's no digits at all)

FIXE Alien. No recalls as far as I know.

I'm super interested in what others have to say.

Those look like nearly unused CCH aliens from the mid 2000's, post recall and pre-Fixe.

I've never seen that logo on an Alien.

It stirs something deep in my memory banks that I can't put a finger on though. Did CCH change to a logo stamp? Is this a logo from some third party proof tester? I have no idea but I'm curious.

I'm replying to get a notification when someone else replies.

Black: only digits (0402) with no other markings on trigger. no CE tag (purple sling on black cam, assuming its been reslung but could prob use another)

Blue: only digits (0704), no other markings on trigger, no CE tag, looks unused with only a few scratches which i assume are from me

Green: no digits! has "Alien Cams" on one side of trigger and the overlapping tear drops stamp (as seen in previous post) on other side. Sheldon mentioned this was a Fixe logo. CE tag on sling that says Alien on one side and EN12276 0082 on other

Yellow: only digits (0502), nothing else on trigger. sling looks a bit used and has minimal scratches

Gray and Red- I bought these new online 6 months ago. have all the markings of Fixe.

aside from the older slings, do i have anything to worry about with these guys?

JRZane wrote: aside from the older slings, do i have anything to worry about with these guys?

Your blue and yellow Aliens have CCH's distinctive pin-microswage-cable type of trigger wires. This was IMO one of the worst elements of the original Aliens. In most cases, the cable fits very snugly in the holes of the cross bar, and it inhibits independent motion of the cams i.e. if one set if held closed, the other set doesn't open up. Hard to explain but you'll see a difference compared to the Fixe units.

Try this - pull the trigger as you normally would to compress the cam. Hold one pair of lobes tightly together (as they would in a snug placement). Release trigger. Do the other cams open up to 100%? If not, you effectively have a 2-lobe camming unit.

Hi Mike-

Nice point. Two out of the six have the cables running through the crossbar instead of being independent. So if I hold two lobes and release the trigger and that loop doesn't back out, then like you've said, I effectively have a....Totem??? (Joke, I know tons of people will scream in their defense).

Here's a pic of what the cable looks like. So there's basically two cables, one on each side running through the plate and connected to the same side lobes.

Two cable alien

When pinching two lobes, simulating an offset placement, the following pic shows how the cable must back out in order for the opposing lobes to expand fully:
Alien wire loop
But because they are old and the design flaw, friction prevents that from happening easily and consistently.

The other design looks like this: and allows for opposing lobes to fully expand:
Four cable alien

I wonder if lubing the looped wire design would let it slide easier?

JRZane wrote: I wonder if lubing the looped wire design would let it slide easier?

I had good results putting some Metolius cam lube back there; it did help the cable "pop out", at least until it got dirty/stiff again. But ultimately I upgraded to newer Aliens, and the problem re. cam non-independence was 99% of my reason for doing so.

Note - if you're crafty and bold, you can replace the trigger wires with 4 independent wires or nylon string trimmer-type cord. Problem solved. Photo:

Retrofit trigger