X4 specs

OK, so the new BD X4s are out.

This question is about hard specs, not about 'how they place' or whatever.

Since for many the relevant comparison will be vs. Aliens, I noticed that the smaller sizes are like Aliens but lighter, and the larger sizes are like Aliens/C4s in weight. Anyway, my question is about their strength, which overall seems diminished. Here is an example:

Purple 0.5 C4 camalot:
Range 19.6-33.5mm 97 grams, 12 kN

Red 1" Alien from Fixe (i.e. hopefully real-world on-the-market #s):
Range 19.8-33.8mm 88 grams, 12 kN

Purple 0.5 X4:
Range 19.6-33.5mm 91 grams, 9 kN

Any thoughts? Anybody care? Why would it be weaker? Is it just a removal of unneeded strength? Would an anchor of two bomber purple X4s be considered 'sufficient' for, say, taking newbies climbing?

(similar numbers for, say, purple C3 vs black Alien vs X4 - X4 is 5kN vs 8kN for the Alien - so saith Fixe)

tradjunkie wrote:OK, so the new BD X4s are out. This question is about hard specs, not about 'how they place' or whatever. Since for many the relevant comparison will be vs. Aliens, I noticed that the smaller sizes are like Aliens but lighter, and the larger sizes are like Aliens/C4s in weight. Anyway, my question is about their strength, which overall seems diminished. Here is an example: Purple 0.75 C4 camalot: Range 19.6-33.5mm 97 grams, 12 kN Red 1" Alien from Fixe (i.e. hopefully real-world on-the-market #s): Range 19.8-33.8mm 88 grams, 12 kN Purple 0.75 X4: Range 19.6-33.5mm 91 grams, 9 kN Any thoughts? Anybody care? Why would it be weaker? Is it just a removal of unneeded strength? Would an anchor of two bomber purple X4s be considered 'sufficient' for, say, taking newbies climbing? (similar numbers for, say, purple C3 vs black Alien vs X4 - X4 is 5kN vs 8kN for the Alien - so saith Fixe)

BD purple is a #0.5 not 0.75 so I don't know what to do with the comparison until you have the correct size /color/ specs up

You're not going to break them. Only when stuff goes under 4kn do you have to worry about aid only stuff.

Good question. At first I think the reduced strength might be partially because of the hollowed out lobes (for the internal springs), but at the same time, I think the wires usually break before anything else. I'm personally fine with the strength rating -- it's actually not that much less than master cams.

Aliens and C4's use the same gauge cable for all sizes, BD uses smaller gauge cables on the smaller X4's, hence the lower strength rating.

Doesn't matter anyway, you're not gonna break them.

tradjunkie wrote:Would an anchor of two bomber purple X4s be considered 'sufficient' for, say, taking newbies climbing?

Are newbie's lives more important than those of your experienced partners?

Do you regularly build two piece traditional anchors?

DrApnea wrote: BD purple is a #0.5 not 0.75 so I don't know what to do with the comparison until you have the correct size /color/ specs up

Spurious 7s deleted.

Marc H wrote: Are newbie's lives more important than those of your experienced partners? Do you regularly build two piece traditional anchors?

FTW

Marc H wrote: Are newbie's lives more important than those of your experienced partners? Do you regularly build two piece traditional anchors?

No.
Yes.

Aww, crap - I always get these confused - yes and no? Wait, does traditional involve bolts? F#ck. Yes and yes?

Wait, got it:

False and True!

On a somewhat unrelated note, does anyone know how they were able to achieve the smaller head widths in the top 3 sizes compared to the C4's?

Contrary to the idea that "you won't break them" cams can and do break. All sorts of things can cause the cam to be loaded in "less than ideal" ways (ie NOT LAB conditions) resulting in forces that exceed a cams holding abilities. There's a whole thread (if not more) with pictures of mangled cams.

I'm with John, I think manufactures are being more conservative with their ratings. Sure it might pull to 12kN in a LAB test jig but real-world ratings (less) are likely the more prudent measurement. I think the Totem guys mentioned this in another thread asking why they spec'd out lower than an old CCH. I believe it was because they (Totem) were testing at 75% open vs CCH at 25% open.

I used ems sale + member reward or whatever it's called to buy a green (.75) and am pretty impressed. I held the new one next to my standard c4 and it's noticeably smaller and lighter. I think that the remark online about it being "one lobe smaller" is about right - it it much more narrow than the green c4. The one big/obviously/huge difference obviously, is that this is a downright FLOPPY cam. It's not quite as "spaghetti" as my aliens, but it's like night and day compared to c4s.

I'm excited to try it this weekend in the gunks, and am pretty psyched to have another good flexible stem cam that is roughly one size bigger than my red alien.

My climbing partner is currently considering purchasing a full run of x4s ("eventually"), but we are using this one as our test for the bigger sizes. Both of us like the c3's in the smaller sizes, but I can see him buying the smaller ones in the future.

(my non-serious climber girlfriend looked at the x4 next to my c4 and said "this is like the jetsons, and that, well, that's like the flinstones."

John Wilder wrote: If I had to guess, I would say that BD rated them lower because they believe the swage as a point of weakness compared to the C4 construction. As to whether they pull significantly weaker than a C4, I'd tend to doubt it. As for an anchor of 2 bomber purple X4s vs bomber C4s of the same size- I would want a third piece for both anchors- purple C4 is right on the border for a 2 piece anchor, imho. I would totally be fine with a bomber green C4 and a bomber green X4 for an anchor.

Thanks John!

on another note- Metolius will not rate any of their cams higher than 10kn, even though the big ones will pull in excess of 18-20kn in the jig. Doug has this policy because you cannot account for rock strength in the lab./quote>

This is the kind of stuff behind the curtain that explains much....did anybody ever really want to take a 16kN fall on a Big Bro? :) [hey, at least it has no swages...]

I have to say, I picked up a full set and while I haven't put them through rigorous testing, I did have a chance to take them out in Eldo the other day and in short, I think they are awesome. The flexible stem is rigid enough that placing cams is easy, yet the cams almost never walk due to that flexible stem. The wide expansion range allows them to fit well in spots where no other cams can. Also, one thing I was surprised about is how well the cams "sit". That is, when I place them, they seem to find the ideal location and give me great confidence that I have found a bomber placement. I bounce tested both the biggest and the smallest size and both performed admirably.

My one complaint is the thin dyneema sling. I just have concerns about the durability of the sling. Other than that, these are a great compliment to any rack that I think vastly outperforms the Mastercams.

half-pad-mini-jug wrote:Aliens and C4's use the same gauge cable for all sizes

Aliens DO NOT use the same gauge cable for all sizes. At least the original CCH design (which FIXE bought) didn't.

So I climbed with mine yesterday, and twice there were placements where the narrower width of the x4 fit, where the c4 wouldn't. Gunks horizontals and pebbles make x4 pretty wonderful. One of the placements was a very bad runout with a real chance of decking and it was either a sketchy tri-cam placement, or a pretty wonderful x4 placement that the c4 was slightly too wide to fit in.

Rob Davis wrote:So I climbed with mine yesterday, and twice there were placements where the narrower width of the x4 fit, where the c4 wouldn't. Gunks horizontals and pebbles make x4 pretty wonderful. One of the placements was a very bad runout with a real chance of decking and it was either a sketchy tri-cam placement, or a pretty wonderful x4 placement that the c4 was slightly too wide to fit in.

I have the X4 yellow, nice cam. To be honest, Metolius TCU performs a lot better at the Gunks than X4.

Impressions, pretty but $$. I love BD gear don't get me wrong but at a premium are they better than the competition- Metolius Master, Fixe Alien, Totem Basic.

One question- with respect to the .50 purple and .75 Green does anyone find them floppy? I had this issue with the Aliens and its exactly why I got rid of my Aliens larger than red.

squiddo wrote:Impressions, pretty but $$. I love BD gear don't get me wrong but at a premium are they better than the competition- Metolius Master, Fixe Alien, Totem Basic. One question- with respect to the .50 purple and .75 Green does anyone find them floppy? I had this issue with the Aliens and its exactly why I got rid of my Aliens larger than red.

I didn't think it was anymore floppy than the red/yellow alien. I'm a fan of flexible stems though, and would be perfectly happy climbing with nothing but aliens, tri-cams, and nuts.

divnamite wrote: I have the X4 yellow, nice cam. To be honest, Metolius TCU performs a lot better at the Gunks than X4.

I climb aliens and c3's for my smaller gunks sizes. I like the flexibility/stickiness of the aliens, and the c3's are more narrow than metolius tcu, so I like them for small pockets.

edit: I bought a green x4 specifically to supplement above red alien and am pleased. I don't know if I'll ever feel like I need the smaller x4's, and for the price I might just buy more aliens.

I like X4 better than C3, althought C3 has its value. So far, I like X4 better than the mastercam, whether it's worth the premium, I'm not sure.