REVIEW: Mammut Climbax Review

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 UKC Gear 01 Oct 2021

The Climbax is a pair of wristbands linked to an app, which tracks your indoor climbing session and performance. It's the first time we've seen something like this, so Theo Moore endeavours to answer the two pressing questions: 'What does it do?' and 'Is it any good?'.

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1
 @ndyM@rsh@ll 01 Oct 2021
In reply to UKC Gear:

The Griptonite thing seems like a complete deal-breaker, especially given people might like to use this outdoors. 

 Theo Moore 01 Oct 2021
In reply to @ndyM@rsh@ll:

That’s an interesting point, I hadn’t really considered using the Climbax outdoors. I feel like it’s currently more suited to indoors as it’s a more controlled environment with more regular patterns of behaviour. The Climbax is also certainly more suited to training which more often happens indoors than out. 

That said, how would it work outdoors? I can’t see the Griptonite tags being installed on sport routes and I can’t imagine how they’d be installed on trad routes or boulder problems. Would you even need them? Climbs outdoors are more significant and so, if it was possible, climbers may be more inclined to enter outdoors climbs in to the Climb app themselves than they would indoor climbs. Perhaps Griptonite wouldn’t be such a deal breaker here but I just can’t currently see myself wanting to track my outdoor climbing stats as much as my indoor ones - imagine potential climbing partners being able to see your climb:rest ratio, I’d never get a belayer again!
 

 Misha 01 Oct 2021
In reply to UKC Gear:

This thing just feels like an answer in search of a question. 

 Tojorae82 01 Oct 2021
In reply to UKC Gear: I am Rae from Gosport. Someone just said I was mentioned in the review 😂

1
 McHeath 01 Oct 2021
In reply to UKC Gear:

Me, I simply record each session on Notes on my phone - how many climbs at each grade and in what style. Any firsts (1st time lead/dog a grade instead of TR for instance) I mark with an asterisk. If I'm knackered after the session then it was a good one, whether I rested a hell of a lot between 3 lead attempts or whether I've been doing strength endurance on autobelay. If I want to compare September to March, I just scroll back. I honestly don't give a flying f**k about whether one hand has grabbed a few more holds than the other one, and I'm missing the bloodstream probe on this thing giving me my average dopamine, endorphine and adrenaline levels for each route. Without this last feature I have no way of knowing if I've had fun or not.

Don't think I'll be buying anything from Mammut again; this kind of technology, developed and pitched for average climbers, quite honestly makes me sick. It has nothing to do with what are, for this aging git, the most elemental aspects of my enjoyment of this activity. And especially: I don't see a single advantage over notes (for the climbing sessions) and Excel tables (if you're taking your hangboarding or whatever seriously). So £170? No thanks! 

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 @ndyM@rsh@ll 02 Oct 2021
In reply to Theo Moore:

I'm lucky enough to live close to quite a lot of outdoor bouldering, when the weather allows but there's not time for anything more interesting I'll often go to a familiar venue and see how many problems I've done before I can repeat, and how easily. Seems like the sort of thing the Climbax would be good for keeping track of if not for-

> That said, how would it work outdoors? I can’t see the Griptonite tags being installed on sport routes and I can’t imagine how they’d be installed on trad routes or boulder problems. 

>

Which is the point I was making. Or Indeed any climbing wall I've ever been to.

At the moment the method of comparing to previous performance is just memory, which is famously unreliable.

Post edited at 09:42
 Robert Durran 02 Oct 2021
In reply to McHeath:

> It has nothing to do with what are, for this aging git, the most elemental aspects of my enjoyment of this activity. And especially: I don't see a single advantage over Notes (for the climbing sessions) and Excel tables.

And I don't see any advantage over paper and pencil (not that I even bother with that).

 deacondeacon 02 Oct 2021
In reply to McHeath:

Seriously  what's with the negativity? I don't like licorice or synchronised swimming  but don't feel the urge to tell everyone on a public forum that I don't give a fu*k about them. If you don't think the product will be beneficial to you  get over it  and forget about it.it will have absolutely no bearing or consequence on your life. Those barcode scanning things in the other thread are exactly the same. It's not for you ( or any of the other old duffers on here) to decide how others enjoy there hobbies or pasttimes.

7
 tehmarks 02 Oct 2021
In reply to deacondeacon:

Because pointless products and mindless consumerism are not good things for the planet. Liquorice and synchronised swimming don't directly require mining of rare metals in third world countries to facilitate them. In my personal opinion.

Before you come back with "you're a hypocrite with a smartphone and a laptop and countless other devices", the world is a full spectrum of colour; it's not black and white and there are degrees. Does this device really add anything that working on one's self-awareness doesn't?

At the end of the day, if people didn't contribute their opinions to this online forum, the online forum wouldn't exist. It's what forums are for. The negativity seems to be widespread, which I think is enlightening.

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 Robert Durran 02 Oct 2021
In reply to tehmarks:

> The negativity seems to be widespread, which I think is enlightening.

And uplifting.

4
 McHeath 02 Oct 2021
In reply to deacondeacon:

So only the fan boys or girls should write replies? It'd make for an interesting forum. 

Post edited at 16:38
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 wbo2 02 Oct 2021
In reply to tehmarks:

> Before you come back with "you're a hypocrite with a smartphone and a laptop and countless other devices", the world is a full spectrum of colour; it's not black and white and there are degrees. Does this device really add anything that working on one's self-awareness doesn't?

I don't believe it was he who said 'quite honestly makes me sick.'.  That's not very black and white is it.   And yes, from the description of the use of the phone, or even the pencil and paper.. it looks like fairly silly posturing - 'Look at me - look how cool and trad I am me me me '

I don't plan using it, but I don't use Strava either - any of the zealot haters use that ? Damn you haha

 tehmarks 02 Oct 2021
In reply to wbo2:

But a phone at least has obvious utility. In my humble estimation, this is utterly pointless. It's the thing for the climber that has everything else and has ran out of space to store their 5T of mostly shiny gear. And I can't really get onboard with that attitude.

I don't like the attitude that leads people to buy the latest new phone or MacBook the instant it's released, either, but a phone is at least useful — if not essential in the modern world.

But, that's just my opinion.

Post edited at 20:34
1
 Garethza 02 Oct 2021
In reply to UKC Gear:

It seems this thread is turning into somewhat of an anti-climbax.. 

In reply to Theo Moore:

> I can’t see the Griptonite tags being installed on sport routes and I can’t imagine how they’d be installed on trad routes

If only there were a book of routes published that could include such a device...

Rockfax: please don't...

 CantClimbTom 03 Oct 2021
In reply to UKC Gear:

First time I saw this I knew it was a cynical joke, no... surely this isn't actually serious?

How many times can April 1st happen in one year?

Maybe they can launch a themed range of products called tugmaster to record falls. There's a whole line of cheap double entendres to use

Post edited at 10:15
Message Removed 03 Oct 2021
Reason: inappropriate content
 planetmarshall 03 Oct 2021
In reply to Misha:

> This thing just feels like an answer in search of a question. 

That's my overwhelming impression here. It just feels like a case of "Here's something we can do, how do we persuade people to buy it?" Rather than, "X, Y and Z are the metrics most useful for climbers interested in training, how do we go about measuring them in an automated and reliable fashion?"

 planetmarshall 03 Oct 2021
In reply to planetmarshall:

> ... "X, Y and Z are the metrics most useful for climbers interested in training, how do we go about measuring them in an automated and reliable fashion?"

I don't know if it's possible to do non-invasively, but something that could measure forearm pump/intensity in a similar fashion to an optical heart rate monitor would have been a really useful product.

 Theo Moore 04 Oct 2021
In reply to planetmarshall:

I do dream of a product that could measure your dietary intake and required nutrients for performance etc. That way it could tell you that you should eat 10g more protein following your work-out to get the most benefit or that you'll need 20gs of carbs before your endurance session tonight. That would make the whole food intake thing for maximising climbing performance much simpler!

1
 Theo Moore 04 Oct 2021
In reply to Tojorae82:

Haha hi Rae! Thanks for the follow on the Climb app - you were my one and only until I got my second follower...

 chris_r 04 Oct 2021
In reply to Theo Moore:

> I do dream of a product that could measure your dietary intake and required nutrients for performance etc. 

I use Untappd (the beer tracker). Does this count?


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