UKC

Hi all.
I've just started climbing and I am currently in the process of putting together a rack for when I'm competent to climb outside.
Which nut could be considered the best. Wild Country Rockcentric or DMM Torque Nuts.
I have seen WC Rocks in a sale for nearly half the price of DMM's but I don't want to buy the wrong or inferior product on the weight of price.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts.
Thanks.

In reply to Ant Stanley:
Rocks v Wallnuts = Both brilliant just marginally different profiles, fave down to personal choice. I have 1-11 rocks and 1-6 wallnuts on my rack.

Rockcentric v Torque nuts = Torques have extendable slings which is a great feature in my mind but both are good.

In reply to Ant Stanley: Have a read of the following UKC Torque Nut review and excellent blog post explaining the reasoning behind their design:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=2112
http://rockclimbingcompany.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/dmm-torque-nuts-why-they-...

The Torque Nuts are a better design, but the doubled sling is a bit fiddly and although useful, it's not amazing, especially on harder routes and in Winter. I found the size 4 not amazingly useful to carry and a Torque Nut 1 overlaps with a DMM Wallnut 11. Therefore I would normally just carry sizes 2 & 3 on the limited occasions I don't just carry cams.

Equally, when it comes to Rockcentrics I think sizes 3,4 & 9 are generally pointless. I'd even go as far as to say that size 5 isn't particularly useful with 6,7 & 8 being the only ones I would generally choose to carry. For several years I routinely carried sizes 6 & 8 in Winter and found that worked extremely well.

I wouldn't go for a 'SET' of either, despite the fact there are good prices on Rockcentrics 5-8 (£30 including a Wildwire krab). I'd look at just buying Torque Nuts 2 & 3 separately at the bargain sale price of £11 each from Field and Trek - http://www.fieldandtrek.com/dmm-torque-nut-773023

In reply to Ant Stanley: I'd say take your time and wait until you know you really want to climb outdoors seriously. Don't splash out on a full rack at this stage.

There's no harm in using your friends' racks and seeing what you like before you commit. Unless you feel you really want your own rack before you step outdoors.

I use neither rockcentrics nor torque nuts, for example. For single pitch I have a set of WC nuts, a set of DMM offsets and a full set of cams (for grit).

For multi-pitch, I have an additional second set of nuts and my offsets and cams. But on MP, you're often mixing and matching with someone else's rack anyway.

In reply to Ant Stanley:

Echo some of The Ex-Engineer's thoughts - I've got Torque nuts and I love them, but the biggest (no. 4) hardly ever gets used. I tend to use 1&2 a lot, to the extent that I've bought doubles of them, but I tend to do most of my climbing on limestone. I don't have no.11 nuts as I prefer the versatility of the no 1 Torque nut (3 placement options and 2 lengths from one bit of gear!).

I also use cams very little - but that's probably another limestone thing!

Dom.

In reply to Landy_Dom: Torque nuts 1, 2 and 3 for me too. Fantastic placements on N Wales and Lakes rock, but then that's hardly surprising given the DMM heritage. TN4 is useful for putting a big chock in a hole but I tend to leave it at home like others. Doubling up on a couple of 1,2 or 3 is more efficient.

In reply to Ant Stanley:

I'm not as experienced as the other people who have replied, however when getting my rack together I also had the same question as you. I went for a pack of rockcentrics (3-9) as they were a bit of a bargain. I climbed mainly on limestone, but now climb mostly grit and i find them equally useful on both (i dont have many cams yet), though i must admit i dont tend to take the smaller ones up these days as i now have some large nuts which overlap in size, and are a bit easier to place... but they were used in the early days of my limited rack.

I have also used my mates torque nuts, which are also very good - apart from the extendable slings, i havent really noticed much of a difference.

Moral of the story - I certainly haven't regretted buying the cheaper Rockcentrics.

In reply to Ant Stanley:

Honestly? I think they are much of a muchness, though I'm sure the manufacturers will disagree. i.e. Lumps of metal that you stick in gaps in the rock.

However I rarely use the larger sizes. In fact more or less anything above rock 5 I use a cam. However I've got a lot of cams.

In reply to Ant Stanley: If you find them on a good deal, just get the Rockcentrics. They work fantastically, they're cheaper, super established British company if that floats your boat and what's more, you can instantly spend the saved cash on a much coveted (because they are so sexy) cam. Then, you'll sit at home, look at your winnings and thank me. Which cam? Well now... That's an entirely new post! (Red bd one for me).

Seriously, when it comes to building a rack, things can get so expensive, it's worth trying to get the savings where you can. I would never ever consider the WC's as an inferior product... unless the sponsorship dude from DMM was standing next to me!

Welcome to the world of "where the hell has all my money gone"

In reply to Bloodfire:

I wish people would stay up to date.

FWIW Wild Country are actually an Italian company now. In this case it is not as anyone has any excuse for not being aware as it was prominently covered on UKC - Wild Country Bought by Salewa http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=4420

In reply to Ant Stanley: thanks for all your responses, food for thought and very helpful. They have plenty of common sense and some good tips as well.
Cheers everyone.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

Perhaps I am a bit weird but I place my No4 torque nut all the time and also my No11 camp carvex (proper cowbell) gets regular use too!

Maybe it's because I like thrutchy cracks or because I was climbing quite a while before I got any cams,

To OP: Your first set of nuts dosent need to be anything fancy, you will be buying some more along the way by which time you will have had a go with various partners kit and have a good idea what you like/need to add to your rack. FWIW a full set of WC rocks is a good start torque nuts are by far the best hexes I have used though

In reply to Ant Stanley:

I think I'd stick with Pero's advice and wait until you've done some stuff outside with your partner's kit and then you'll be able go on what you feel works best for you.