UKC

As part of its 150-year anniversary collection, German climbing brand EDELRID has just released their latest range of karabiners and quickdraws into the UK market. Dubbed 'Nineteen G' the major advantage – the weight – is hinted at in the name itself...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=5530

In reply to UKC Gear:

"An entire rack of 19G quickdraws weighs in at roughly half the weight of the nearest competitor"

A Edelrid 19G quickdraw weighs 45 grams. A Camp Nano 23 quickdraw weighs 53 grams. That requires a pretty loose definition of "roughly" to make the statement above correct.


"The lengthwise breaking load is an impressive 20kN"

20kN is the minimum required breaking load allowed by the UIAA standard. Passing the standard by the smallest possible margin is hardly impressive, is it?


Edelrid: I'm sure you've got a great product here. You shouldn't need this kind of marketing drivel. Stop treating your potential customer as idiots incapable of independent thought - that's just not a very good marketing strategy. Thank you. Rant over.

In reply to supos: Yep - impressively light but I guess there has to be design consequences in both size (small) and strengths. The main axis strength has never seemed too important to me compared to gate open. Here the 19G is the same as the CAMP Nano (7KNs), the DMM Phantom - positively fat in comparison at 26 grams! - has a burly gate open of 9 KNs, which I think is reassuring.

I touched on these issues when I reviewed the Nanos vs the Phantoms a few years ago http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=1155

I bet a rack of 19Gs would be fantastic for certain situations where lightness is the main consideration but I suspect I wouldn't favour them as my 'everyday cragging' QDs. It will be interesting to see them in the shops though!

In reply to UKC Gear:

have had a play in the shops (theyve been out here a couple of months now), very nice as objects. very small - they actually looke fake or like something that should be sold with sigg bottles and sunglasses straps.

not for me tho. tried them with some gloves in the store - not a chance in hell.

In reply to UKC Gear: I've bought one (for a specific purpose) but I think they are just too small for general use.

Even for ultra-light applications I'd think twice before picking them over Phantoms, however there will no doubt be others who rate the weight saving as more important than usability.

Had a brief try seconding a route/gassing. Definitely small, almost swallowed one of them. They do look like keyring krabs from a few feet. Will screw my Yosemite racking habit up too.
Possibly too small for gear/cam krabs... thats my view.

Not sure how much of them would be left after 10years weekly use, but I'd entertain them when I loose/drop existing rack.

In reply to ice.solo:

How do they compare in size and handling to the camp nanos? I've been using a set for trad for a while and I love them, although I can see you might not want them for climbing with gloves on either.

In reply to UKC Gear:

Hi,
I tried these in V12 at the weekend. No good for me I'm afraid, and I've been clipping gear for 40+ years. There was no way I could hold these and open them reliably every time, they regularly spun or slipped out of my hand. I'd hate to think what would happen if I was pumped or gripped! In addition, there are lots of times when it's neccessary to pull on a krab e.g. when stripping a route, and that was just painful as you can't get a 'decent handful'. Finally I think a scale should have been included on the picture really! When I saw them I thought I had accidentally popped into Mothercare! Shame as light (strong) gear is a welcome advance.

In reply to UKC Gear: Another boo. Tried handling them in a shop - these are WAY too small to be nice to use. Light they might be, but horrible to hold. Even the shopkeepers were turning their noses up...

In reply to mike kann:
I prefer to stick to the phantoms, considering there is no nose shroud - having the biner opened from contact with the rock during a fall is a real concern and I think gate open 7kn is a bit low, the phantoms are 9kn gate open.

To be fair, they are aimed at alpine routes - not everyday cragging or our normal winter conditions. I can see they would be attractive for an alpine rack, just as phantoms were a leap forward.

In reply to Ciro:

ive not used either besides standing in the shop. nanos feel too small (for gloved use) but i think could still be coped with. for summer stuff i think theyd be ok (and no doubt many like them).

the edelrids tho, are 'f*ck me is that real?' small. as said above, if strung out they might be a nightmare.

In reply to Skyfall:

To be fair, they would be OK for easy alpine routes in the warm where you aren't wearing gloves and can clip while standing in balance.

In reply to UKC Gear: A few years I back I got some 'Golden Gate' screwgates by Edeldrid, they were the lightest full strength screwgates you could get at the tiem and yes they were small but very light and had uses - alps, stripped down racks etc. Good crabs, wish I'd looked after em, only have 2 left now. It worked out that 5 of these weighed the same as 4 standard screws. You'd struggle to get 2 cloves on them but they were good crabs. Certainly a big market for ultra light gear but of limited use with most of UK climbing I spose.

In reply to Skyfall: these arent a leap forwards, they're just small. Anything will be light if you make it small.

In reply to mike kann:

Er, read it again - I said the phantoms were the leap forwards!

In reply to UKC Gear: i read it that you were implying that like the phantoms were, these are a leap forwards. Sorry if i read something into it that wasn't there...

In reply to UKC Gear:

Any hint as to who actually makes them? ie I doubt that Edelrid, a leading rope manufacturer, has actually set up a karabiner production line; they have the clout and the brand to approach any of several (ok, one or two) karabiner manufacturers and have them made to their own specs under their own brand label. I would think the same applies to shoes. Maybe also to Mammut; although they - I think - own Raichle.

In reply to mike kann: I believe I'm getting a few to try out so I'll let you know what I think. Indeed I'm in the UK all next month and if I have them by then and you fancy a cragging day somewhere Mike, you can try for yourself!

In reply to UKC Gear: I've thought of a potential use. Does anybody that has held them reckon they are small enough to fit onto the Grivel double spring leash for leashless tools?

http://www.grivel.com/products/ice/accessories/41-double_spring

In reply to TobyA: that would depend on when next month... I leave for italy on about the 12th to go and renovate a property in the Dolomites to run as a business! But yeah... If you were to be in the area around then....

In reply to UKC Gear:

should be great for the punter crowd wobbling up VS's.