Camp 22 Nanos (the best small carabiner?)

Hey, I just wanted to know what everyone thinks of the Camp 22 Nano carabiners. I have been using BD neutrinos for awhile now and just started switching to the 22s. To me, they seem incredible. They are light as a feather and seem easy to clip a couple of times I have had them out. Considering they weigh one-third less than a neutrino using them can cut around a pound off rack weight. They also tend to be cheaper than most other lightweight biners.

My question is, what's the catch? Are there other carabiners you prefer and for what reason/reasons?

(sorry if this belongs in the gear review page, but I was curious what everyone thought about them.)

I too bought a bunch of these at the beginning of this summer I liked them at first but the gates on a few of them have begun to get sticky won't close all the way or the won't snap back right. I have since replaced almost all of my biners for petzl ange smalls better quality all around and just a touch heavier.

I like their weight, but they just seem to small for my hands so I started switching out to the Camp Orbit. I have some gold color 22s if you would like to buy them? I probably have 15 or more. Let me know and maybe we can work out a deal. Thanks.

I love the for bolt/gear side on my quickdraws and alpine draws because they're super light and have a decent gate opening. I find them a bit difficult to clip the rope to and I doubt they're really durable, but for use on the bolt/gear side that doesn't really matter. All in all, they're great for anything you are clipping the rope to.

Phenomenal biner---bit small for ice (when wearing gloves), but I use the Photon (larger, 8g heavier) for winter stuff.

As for the gates--any 'biner will get sticky, especially in the desert etc....tiny drop of Triflow/bike lube on the gate where it enters the carabiner--solved. Way cheaper and less eco-destroyer than replacing them!

Love the Nano22!

Love them sooo much. All my cams are racked with them and on my alpine draws the gear side is all 22's as well. I have fairly large hands (usually XL in gloves) and no problem manipulating them in any way

I think they are too small for my hands, and when climbing Trad at my limit I think they make placing and clipping gear more fumbly and difficult. I prefer BD Oz biners for racking as they are a bit larger and don't snag on gear loops. I have a couple of partners who have fallen in love with the Oz too after climbing on my rack.

If you only want the nano 22s for light weight alpine stuff, or have tiny hands, then they are probably a good deal.

I've replaced almost every carabiner on my rack with Nano 22s or Photons, and have not had any issues so far. I love the Nano 22s as racking carabiners for cams as well as the gear end of alpine draws.

I have a few of the Edelrid Ninteen G biners which weigh only 19 grams. As long as you aren't using them with gloves they're reasonably clippable considering how tiny and lightweight they are. I have had zero regrets using them as colored racking biners for my smaller cams. I guess they're more expensive than the Camp 22 Nanos, which is a downside. On the other hand, I also use the BD Oz biners for my larger cams, and having the little wire hood over the wiregate notch is REALLY nice to prevent snagging.

I use them on alpine draws (Camp Mach Express) and for racking. I have large hands (XL gloves) and find the Nano 22s pretty easy to handle for the gear-end of draws.

My one gripe is that the riveted end of the gate often protrudes significantly from the biner (out of the box):

Several times when racking draws the dyneema sling has snagged on the riveted end and a few fibers tear. Yes, you can push the riveted end flush, but over time it protrudes again from normal use.

Anybody else experience this? My only comparison is to Petzl Spirit sport draws, which have the riveted end of the gates flush.

The rivet grabbing slings is another reason I don't like these as well. I have a lot of cams and every time a sling grabs that little rivet it makes me die a little inside. The only carabiner I have found that dose not have this problem is the petzl ange series. Most carabiners have this problem but petzl got it right.

Love the 22 for a lightweight biner. My rack is made of photon wires though. They aren't much heavier but they are much bigger! I like the trade-off of weight for usability.

Really guys? no-one telling me I am an idiot for even considering using nanos..... I expected more from an internet community. Maybe "nanos, psh try death rings". but thanks for all the discussion I haven't had any problem snagging the gate rivet yet, but I haven't been using these for very long.

I use both Nano 23 and 22's with no problems. I love how light and non-bulky they are and I have no problems clipping into them. They get used as racking carabiners, they are on my alpine draws and spare carabiners for making anchors and clipping slung hexes when not needing an extension.

I do prefer the 22's which is mostly all you can buy new at this point anyways. I think camp did a good job of correcting the sharp raised lettering on the spine that sometimes snags single threads of slings sometimes. I suppose it could be filled down a bit to correct it. I also like that they tweaked the shape of the carabiner with the 22 such that it probably helps keeps the rope and sling in the correct strongest area of the carabiner.

I have yet to have any problems of sticky gates or the gate ends catching threads on the sling after two seasons of use. A worth while carabiner to use if you want to shed some weight.

They are the best carabiner I've ever had to clip my keys to my belt loop.

Seriously, I have small hands and these are so small! How are they not annoying AF to clip?

Momoface wrote:They are the best carabiner I've ever had to clip my keys to my belt loop. Seriously, I have small hands and these are so small! How are they not annoying AF to clip?

They just are not annoying. They clip just like any other carabiner for me, with the exception of the Metolius FS Mini and the Edelrid Nineteen G which having played with them at the gear store seem too small for me to use easily.

ClimbBaja wrote: Bridger, That struck me as wildly off, so I did some fact-checking. The BD Neutrino specs show 36 grams. Your statement that A Camp Nano 22 weighs one-third as much is wrong. "One-third as much" = 12g. Your statement should have read, "about 1/3 less than a Neutrino." A rack of thirty Camp Nano 22's at 14g less weight per carabiner = 420g. Divide by 28.35 = 14.8 ounces You can shave slightly less than one pound off the rack of 30, not "pounds."

Thanks for this correction My wording was off. I re-edited the first post to reflect this. I also mistook grams for ounces in my lbs statement calculation.

Sorry folks.

They're a bit too small for me. I've even had trouble at times getting them off my harness when using them as a racking biner.

I use a lot of Photon Wires and love them. They're very light and thin but have large baskets. So they save weight and space but are really easy to use.

My favorite small biner is the BD Oz. Six grams heavier, but for me they're easier to clip between being slightly larger and a slightly different shape. But the big selling point for me is the non-snag nose.

That said, I do like the Nanos. Have a few. Use them for random stuff climbing multipitch.

Once Totem released a black Totemcam and an orange Totemcam I switched over to the Nano 22's for racking them.

I am surprised that no one has said anything about the weak ass gate "spring" (Yes! I know that there is no separate spring on a wiregate biner like there is on a solid gate biner, as the wiregate itself IS the spring) on the Nano 22's! The difference in gate springyness compared to the Nano 23's (BOTH generations) is like comparing a punch thrown by a heavyweight boxer vs a punch thrown by a kid.

If the gate action on my Nano 22's last as long as the gate action on any of my other wiregates, including the Nano 23's, then I would be very surprised.

Other than that, no complaints about them.

BD OZ all the way. Any non-hooded biner is out of my main kit now, a couple are used for bail biners. Hooked once on the sling while trying to get a cam when pumped and was done with snaggletooth biners.

Take a crap before you climb to shave that pound.