UKC

Thinking of buying some alien cams for free climbing, so wondered what sizes people commonly use. Are the smaller units too small to hold a lead fall? Thanks in advance
Jim

In reply to Hephaestus:

i have the blue and yellow totem basics - very useful & fall rated

In reply to Hephaestus:

Which sizes do you feel you're missing from your current rack?
jk

In reply to Hephaestus:

Depends a bit on what you already have, but i find myself using the small blue alien by far the most. Still have a reasonable amount of confidence falling on it and is smaller than the smallest camalot/dragon, so will fit in places other cams wont. The sizes green and above to some extent duplicate what you get with camalot/dragon, albeit with a far smaller head size.

In reply to Hephaestus:

red and black were the ones I always heard most commonly useful.

black isn't available yet from Totem but it is from fixe.

stronger than small C3s and i've fallen on them, but of course it depends on the fall, the rope and what other gear you have between you and the ground.

In reply to Hephaestus:

Thanks y'all. Much appreciated
Jim

In reply to yodadave:

I should add that the black totem (not totem basic) is coming in October - this will fit 11.3-18.4mm (approximately same size as blue totem basic). Yet another option to think about.

In reply to SenzuBean:
Green, yellow, yellow and red. I use them all a lot. Yellow in particular.
As for holding power. Very good. I took a 50ft fall onto the red one. Its a bit mangled now but still works well.

In reply to Hephaestus:

The smallest Totem (yellow---and not a Totem Basic) is the size of a green Alien and is a more useful cam. The larger Totems are better than the larger Aliens, so I wouldn't go to any larger Alien sizes. There's a bit of a gap in Totem sizing between the yellow and the next size up, which is blue. I don't recall for sure but maybe a yellow or grey Alien would fill that gap if anyone is making those sizes. Below the yellow Totem are only two Alien sizes, blue and black. The blue is very useful. The black is going to be marginal but has definitely held short low fall-factor falls. I think the three smallest C3's are worth considering if you want microcams and have to deal with irregular placements, as their narrow head width allows them to fit where no other similarly-sized cam will go.

In reply to rgold:

I made a chromatic mistake. The smallest Totem is blue, not yellow as I said above. The gap I mentioned is between blue (smaller) and yellow (larger).

In reply to rgold:

Also there's the new black totem (not basic) coming out in October that will be sized smaller than the small blue totem - this should make choosing the totems a lot easier

In reply to yodadave:

Although it doesn't indicate which are more likely to rip the c3s are actually rated stronger for their minimum size than any of the aliens currently manufactured. That said the new black alien if it's out already will be 1 kn stronger than the smallest c3 and nearly as small.

In reply to Hephaestus:

I belayed a 10m fall onto a blue alien (second smallest) this week. They hold fine, luckily.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Black aliens are in stock at needlesports: http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Camming-Devic...

Is that the one you meant?

In reply to SenzuBean:
Yup only that one is stronger for its minimum size.