UKC

What are peoples thoughts, opinions and experiences of these two options. How do they perform against each other and what about using a Petzl product on a BD harness and vice versa?

In reply to iamaclimber:

Caritool, no question. Does the BD still have the rubber keeper? That was a faff and never held tight.

In reply to iamaclimber:

Ditto. Caritool far superior.

In reply to iamaclimber:

I had a couple of bad experiences with the BD Clippers. On two seperate occassions a screw managed to dislodge itself. I now use the Simond one:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=simond+clipper&start=10&sa=N&...

it's a lot better but could be improved further by flattening the spine on the biners.

In reply to iamaclimber:
Previously had the black diamond ones, I bought the simond clipper thing but found it a bit bulky and didn't like having all my screws on one side, so bought 2 caritools and they're much more better than the sh*tty BD ones!!

In reply to iamaclimber:

I've had a BD ice screw unclip itself from my BD Clipper and, thanks to this thread, will now be looking at getting Petzl ones. Cheers guys!

I suppose it depends what harness you use.
I understand Caritools fit best in Petzl harnesses and Clippers fit best in Black Diamond harnesses.
My harness is Black Diamond Alpine Bod. In my experience, Petzl Caritools unclipped by themselves (I mean, Caritools fell out of the harness) in more than one occasion, hence I never use Caritools nowadays.
If you use a Petzl harness I guess Caritools must be fine, and most likely better than Clippers, and vice versa.

CAMP Hub looks basically like the same thing.
Has any one used one? What are they like?
Masa

In reply to masa-alpin:

Does the Alpine Bod have slots to attach the Caritool/clipper though? If a harness has these then perhaps either device will fit okay in either harness.

Thanks all for the replies.

In reply to iamaclimber:

I've lost at least one ice screw using the BD clippers. A few occasions the gate has dislodged out of position whilst climbing, which means any screws shifted above the gate will potentially slide off. From learning the hard way, I've found them generally to be ok provided you don't put too many screws on the same clipper. 6 and upwards seems to get hard to manage.

In reply to Mr. Lee:

Yep. I held them side by side and though the biner is the same size for both, the wire gate on the Petzl is noticeably longer and seems less likely to stray from the notch.

In reply to iamaclimber:

I've got a Simond one, a home made one (double), some BD ones, some Petzl flutes and an old Charlet one.

Preferred solution is 5 flutes and the Simond thing

In reply to Mr. Lee:


Same thing's happened with my BD ice clipper, luckily I didn't lose a screw. Petzl caritool fits securely onto a BD couloir harness, I think it's far preferable.

In reply to iamaclimber:

Thanks all

In reply to iamaclimber:

Just to add to an already conclusive thread. Myself and partners have lost screws on more than one occasion when using a BD Clipper. The Caritool is definitely more 'secure' but there is still a risk of the wire bail popping over the carabiner. Best thing to do is not to over-rack the screws. Personally, I'd not go for more than 5 on a carabiner. Less if possible.

In reply to iamaclimber:
No, BD Alpine Bod does not have any slot to rack Clipper/Caritool. That is why Clipper is superior to Caritool, in the sense the latter can fall off, whereas the former never does.
I do take the point BD Clipper can rotate and hence there is a risk screws (or whatever) clipped into it can fall off.
Anyway in my experience it is risky to clip more than 3 screws to a single Clipper/Caritool, as a screw is more vulnerable to fall off. Whatever racking system I use, 3 screws are the absolute maximum per krab (Clipper, Caritool), and preferably less, I put.

By the way the best screw racking device I know and have used is Simond Rack.
Obviously it (as well as Clipper/Caritool) does not work well with Petzl Lasersonic or Grivel 360 screws, because of the design of the screw itself.
Masa

In reply to Si Withington:

Do you not find that BD screws don't come of the gate as easily with the Petzl Caritool due to the bigger over lap of the wire and the nose on this device? I find the small eye on the Turbo ice screw catches the wire and doesn't release as easily. Now the new Petzl Speed with the bigger eye works well on both.

In reply to iamaclimber:

My partner got some BD clippers in recent weeks. The plastic is a lot more flexible compared to the clippers I bought a few years ago. They torsion a lot more easily, which means the gates more readily pop out of position. I'd probably be looking at the Petzl equivalent on this basis.