My ancient 1.5 HB Quadcam gave up the ghost today. It's been a very long time since I bought any cams. What's the best thing to replace it with? Cheers
You won’t go far wrong with any of the popular ones on the market, roughly all performing similar. I prefer to have a thumb loop so BD Camelot’s and Wild Country Friends are the two that are most obvious, DMM Dragons also immensely popular. Dragons and Friends both have extendable slings so can help save quickdraws for higher up the pitch or if needed to reduce drag, less of a problem climbing outcrops and more for mountain routes I’d say.
WC Zeros have been a good buy for me to supplement my existing set when I replaced my Totems, not quite as nice but they fit a range of places like pockets and shallower cracks where a normal size won’t do.
Going off https://www.clydesoles.com/Front/Camsbrand.html, it seems like green [camalot|dragon|new friend|totem] is the closest to the same range as a quadcam 1.5. As Nathan says any of those four are great - if i was in the same position i would either get a totem, which are probably the best on the market, or whatever you can find cheapest of the big 3
Totems win 🏆
Dual overhead...
We’ve used dmm dragons for years and have always been happy. However have recently acquired a set of totems and am completely converted. They just go in placement other cams don’t. And even slightly rubbish looking placements feel bomber with a totem. We’ve also had a few occasions where only a totem would go, and the equivalent colour dragon wouldn’t fit in.
we’ve not found racking them to be a problem (some moan) and the lack of extender isn’t a problem either. They just seem to bite well in the rock and feel really solid, got a very narrow head and a really good range. It’s hard to say why they feel so good, but it might be to do with the way the cam is designed in that each lobe/pair of lobes gets individually loaded instead of the whole unit being loaded through a stem.
the dragonflies compliment totems and we always rack both. Black totem is like blue/gold dragonfly. Worth bearing in mind totems only go up to gold so you might need to buy big blue dragon.
Absolutely agree. I got the three smallest totems a while back and was so impressed that I now have the next two up as well. They are incredibly reassuring in poorer placements: I trust then in spots that I don't quite trust my dragons.
Totems if you have the money, camalots if you don't.
Dragons are nice too but camalots come out on top because:
You can usually find them a bit cheaper
Thumb loops are nice
Dragons are a bit shorter so could have a tendency to walk a bit more
Extendable slings are a right faff
Wild country friends are fine too but their aftercare doesn't rank as highly as black diamond or dmm. The zeros are the best micros I've used though.
Another +1 for Totems. I got the black initially to go with my full set of Dragons.... and now have nearly a full set of Totems... Mostly acquired when they're on sale or appear second-hand. Totally re-assuring, even the smallest, its amazing how many narrow little slots there are where the black totem sits in perfectly on grit!
Do consider that if you get dragons, you can get them serviced by DMM in the UK and you are also supporting the British gear industry!
This, plus the extendable slings (which are not a faff after practice) keep me away from the totems for now.
Thanks all for the suggestions
I loved my Totems but they don't last as well as a more robust model. Granted the lobes must be of a softer metal which bites well but also wears down faster and then wears the wires on the smaller sizes so always worth keeping an eye to see if any wires have been frayed either through use or through a big fall, my four (purple to black) all fell victim to the same issue. Once the wires are frayed they aren't structurally sound anymore and need rewired but can't be done the same way you can with a conventional cam. Totem can rewire them at least but they need to go back to Spain for it.
To the OP; I'd quite happily climb on a set of Totems alone but also worth bearing in mind they're single axel and there's been incidents of them completely inverting when placed tipped out and fallen on so not quite as versatile as a more traditional double axel design. This is user error and not really a fault of the cams but worth keeping in mind when buying.
Aftercare???
Yes, the way it's taken them 2 years to begrudgingly set up an inconvenient and expensive repair/reslinging service. Dmm and BD are both much better at this.
I love the DMMs but as others have said don’t go with WIld Country due to the lack of repair/refurbishment service
Well I apologise if you feel that way but the reslinging service is there. BD you still have to ship to America so, yes, it exists if you're ok with a 2 month round trip.
I don't believe you appreciate the effort and persistence it has taken to get to this point and perhaps I take your remake more personally than I should but it still strikes a nerve.
I'm still in the process of trying to set up a service in the UK but these things take time.
And the awkwardness of getting Friends back to Italy is entirely our own fault due to Brexit. We are looking at a new shipping option for the UK which will allow us to return goods to Italy (up to this point it has been impossible, hence why the web shop hasn't been open)
Don't be too offended personally as it will be great if WC can repair cams. Had some technical friends re slung years ago but I believe the work was actually done by DMM. Now using Dragons, good cams but major factor was DMM capability to repair.
Will the new service have age limits on repairing cams? I still have couple of rigid friends and technical friends.
I'm sure it's a lot of work on your part and you're having to convince them to do it. That doesn't change the fact that other companies are better at it.
And it took 3 weeks from me posting my cams to having them arrive at my door, freshly reslung by Black Diamond for the cost of under £30 (11 cams).
> Well I apologise if you feel that way but the reslinging service is there. BD you still have to ship to America so, yes, it exists if you're ok with a 2 month round trip.
I think you’d be unlucky to wait that long. They did mine from posting out to receiving back in under 6 weeks. Cost was about £20 to send 3 cams to BD; servicing, replacement slings and post back was free.
How much and what’s the turn around time for WC? Thanks.
> My ancient 1.5 HB Quadcam gave up the ghost today. It's been a very long time since I bought any cams.
It has indeed ! I used to love the narrow head on the quadcams for pocket placements, but all mine died years ago.
I certainly shouldn't take it personally, after all it's not you who pulled the service in the first place. It's no secret that I feel Oberalp just fundamentally didn't understand what they were getting rid of when their sold the sewing machines and removed that service. Their model of manufacture and sales is just not that compatible with customer service of that type, and I know from speaking to lots of ex-employees that it is like moving heaven and earth to get certain things done there. Well done for convincing them, and you're right, Brexit is not doing anything to help you and the brand in the UK. Its kind of ionic that having been bought out by an Italian company, they never expected one of the main market for their product to then be forcibly removed from the EU, and that their technical hardware market which is where their reputation and fan base lies, would essentially become entirely outside the EU.
As someone who was vocal in the past about the lack of re-slinging from WC, I am very appreciative of the effort you've gone to in order to get the service set up. It's deeply frustrating that brexit is now getting in the way...
I also ought to say that, despite my love of Totems, if you need really small cams, then I think the WC Zeroes are the best on the market.
So having used the BD re-slinging service I can say its good, but annoying to have to lose sight of your cams for 2 months and I got stung for some customs charges when they sent them back to me.
I've just replaced a set of camalots with a set of friends. I chose friends this time as I like the thumb loop AND the extendable sling so they are the only option. I did hestistate because of the current cost of re-slinging but I bought them anyway in the hope WC will have sorted it out by the time I need it.
I also have a full set of zeros - they go in pockets and cracks the full width ones just won't.
So to the OP - green wild country in a standard or zero format. Shop around there are deals to be had. Rock and Run had them on sale with an additional 30% off last week.
> And the awkwardness of getting Friends back to Italy is entirely our own fault due to Brexit.
BD aren't in the EU and they seem to manage OK, I've bought 5 WC cams over the past 2 years and it's interesting to hear the company's attitude towards UK customers..