Was looking for some plastic gear carabiners for water stuff and bumped into the below product.
Temu (like Wish) is selling snapgates with a 12kn rating. Pretty concerning, surely this is illegal to sell to the UK/EU as it isnt certified? I wouldnt mind buying some to for someone to test them with a tensile pulling machines if anyones got one.
In the text it might say not for climbing, safety etc.. their legal get out.
Its only illegal if it claims to meet a standard that it doesn't meet. If it says rated to 12kn and it is that strong, whats the issue (no idea if it is that strong or not). Tje due diligence is on the buyer to make sure they are choosing a product that is suitable for their intended use. If you need something to hang up your tent in your garage to dry, these are probably more than strong enough. If you're looking for something for climbing these aren't suitable.
If you think these on sale from Temu should be illegal, then you should have the same issue with these products
https://dmmwales.com/products/xsre
https://www.petzl.com/GB/en/Professional/Harnesses/MINO
And any other key carabiner that is on sale at almost every outdoor shop till in the country
Neither the DMM nor Petzl are marked with a rating, AFAICS. The Petzl is clearly marked 'non-PPE'.
Adding a rating implies some testing method, so a standard. It's a bit questionable.
Then again, the only Temu ads I seem to see are for skimpy ladies' clothing. And no, that's not in my search history...
Drop like a billionaire
> Adding a rating implies some testing method, so a standard. It's a bit questionable.
12kN isn't strong enough to meet the requirements of EN-12275 so can't really see what the problem is.
I believe the minimum rating for a lot of climbing specific carabiners is 20kN (some UIAA standard?)
Just had a quick looks at some of the listings on Tumu. Whilst I certainly didn't look at them all as there were dozens the few I did look at showed no pictures of climbing, stated that the product was ideal for "the hanging of small items" and in big bold letters "not suitable for climbing". I really can't see a problem with it.
It would be interesting to test them to see how strong they really are, my bet is they would be around the stated rating but wouldn't have the quality control of climbing gear.
Ok I might have jumped the gun here on these snapgates.
They do have some carabiners that are stated for climbing and rated at 25kn. But look more decent than those snapgates at £1.50
https://www.temu.com/uk/1pc-9-98cm-locking-carabiner-25kn-non-locking-strai...
> Neither the DMM nor Petzl are marked with a rating, AFAICS
The XSREs are marked with a rating showing 4kn strength, but not EN 12275 (which of course they don't claim to meet anyway).
And you can be damn sure that any DMM kit will meet (exceed) whatever strength rating they give.
The XSRE krabs are just as beautiful and well made as any other DMM krab, but (probably due to their size) with strength rating that doesn't meet the CE requirements for climbing PPE.
In comparison many other accessory krabs can barely hold the weight of a set of keys, and the gate can be broken just by twisting at the wrong angle when clipping a belt loop.
There is a video on the "how not to highline" YouTube channel of similar carabiners being tested. They all reached or in some cases exceeded the stated loads, even the ones that didn't claim to be UIAA rated. Personally I'd rather spend a small amount extra and buy gear from a more reputable retailer though.
I think "how not to highline" are just "HowNot2", now – and they're brilliant, and cover everything including caving, slacklining, climbing, sailing and paragliding. They test a bunch of stuff: go and watch them.
Their mission is to break gear-fear.
On topic: I rather like the Mammut 'NOT FOR CLIMBING' utility-'biners, myself, for purposes such as attaching the bag for my skins to a fixed point on my backpack so that it doesn't blow away while I'm ripping those and faffing about with their nets on an Alpine summit. (Thanks, Dynafit, for inventing the *white* skiing skin-bag, of all innovations …)
… but I particularly like them because, although the cardboard ticket suggested that they might hold 4 KN, the only printing on them is a big, bold font declaring 'NOT FOR CLIMBING'.