UKC

As my birthday approaches my daughters are asking what I want. I’m wondering about a dragon 7 but wonder if it will spend all its life nestling unused in my rucksack. What does the panel think? 

Not sure my 'sac is big enough for one of those ! Any routes in mind ?

I've used mine a couple of times but to be honest I've used the big green more often. If you're going big then go big! 

Depends what sort of stuff you're climbing. Lets say you live near some Limestone cliffs, I'd say spend the money on something else. On the other hand, if you're ticking a list of the 50 best crack climbs on Stanage then it will save you running it out on some routes. I've used mine quite a lot on low - mids grade grit cracks.

I'm a little bit disappointed that they don't go up to eleven...

Who cares if you never use it you'll have so much opportunity to show it to people. Remember in Crocodile Dundee when he says "nah mate, that's not a knife, this is a knife!" It'll be like that every time you go out climbing. (Plus it'll build up your legs)

Go for it! Make sure you get a photogenic shot of you trying to place it half way up Goliath (E4 6a) against an ominous sky, splatter it all over the social media, and you´ll be a hero!

On grit I use big purole a lot, big green more just for wide crack routes. 

I've used mine quite a bit on grit (at some quite low grades as well as higher ones) useful to have for 'goal routes' where the guide specifies large cams as useful.

I can recommend Fessura della Disperazione (but you'll need more than one dragon 7, and probably a couple of dragon 8 too)

I think I did it with one blue purple and one big green and wished I had more, but I believe you can borrow big cams from the campsite shop.

In reply to JimR:

Normally I love the DMM cams but I think in the very large sizes, the lobe latches on the Camalots make it worthwhile. I don't mind the lack of an extendable sling when they're this large either.

It's not at all worth having. Where will you use it? I can think of a couple of routes in the UK where it would come in handy but that's it. Get more useful things at that price like RPs, superlights, DMM offsets - far more meaningful. The guy who says you can apparently use it on Stanage to reduce the run out on classic routes is probably drunk. 

Got all the gear but no idea😀already got all you’ve mentioned albeit some getting on a bit. Reason I was asking was I replaced my trusty quadcams with totems and dragons recently. However climbing at Hen Cloud recently there was definitely scope for larger cams on several routes!

You still have Quadcams ? My last one wore out years ago !

 Are you sure you are thinking of the correct size? I've got the BD version of this and it would fit many routes on grit (whether you 'need' it is another matter). It's the weight that would discourage regular carrying on non-grit (mountain/sea cliffs) routes rather than likelihood of placement . 

For what it's worth I have the purple and green and use them loads. Once you've got them you start seeing placements everywhere and it starts making a lot more sense.