UKC

I'm in the market for a new pair of ice tools to replace my Flys , ideally for Alpine mountaineering and easy ice routes. I have my options down to the Singing Rock Bandit, or the new Vipers. I like the feel of the Viper, but have not held the Bandit. It's intriguing at half the price however I am a little suspicious as to why it is so cheap.

Has anyone used both tools? How do they compare?

In reply to echo34:

I've not tried the Bandit, but have stuck with the Viper. I had one Viper that was stolen before I had even used it, whilst staying at an Alpine hut. I like the balance of the Viper and the positioning of the hand positions. It is fairly flexible in its usage, but it is not much use heading down easy ground. I sometimes still carry a light long walking axe.
The Vipers were on a good deal when they first came out, if you bought a pair. I don't know if there is a similar deal just now. I have a single previous version of the Viper, which I could sell if you wanted, but I wasn't originally thinking of selling it.(spare if I got another stolen or "lost" axe: I dropped and subsequently did not get back a Cobra in/from Observatory gully one year when staying at the CIC hut). You could then have a Bandit in one hand and a Viper in the other!

In reply to veteye:
The bandit is almost identical to a petzl quark. I've not climbed with them but they swing well and seem as good (if not slightly better) than the quark.

That said i own a pair of last gen quarks and the last gen vipers and my preference would be the vipers.

Overall the performance isn't hugely better with the vipers, also i prefer the older gen viper to the new one. For the cost the bandit is amazing value and pick replacements are much cheaper.

If it was me I would buy the bandits and treat myself to some ice screws/cam's/a belay jacket with the difference.

In reply to echo34:

I've not used both but I'd second Alex Riley's comments.
I've had a pair of Bandits for a year or so now and they perform really well on ice (caveat: I've only climbed up to WI4 with them)
They are superb value and spare picks are very cheap. The build quality seems pretty decent too though I have done very little mixed climbing with them. I have bought the mixed picks and the head blanks (to climb without the hammer and adze) in case I do manage to get on some decent mixed routes.
The fact you can strip a lot off the handle to make them more "alpine" might appeal too.
The approximate £100 saved over similar tools when i bought them was spent on three shiny new turbo express ice screws from decathlon which I certainly appreciated on continental ice.

In reply to echo34:
Yup the Bandits are brilliant value. I have a pair and have also tried the new Quarks and Vipers. There's very little difference beyond the price, colour (Bandits have the best colour by far ) and the lack of a movable upper grip rest, but I've never seen anyone use that function anyway. And as mentioned spare picks cost 1/4 as much as the others! I have done some mixed on them and they were fine, including when I used them for indoor dry-tooling where they were used in a Stein pull without issue (with the axes that is: my dry tooling skills are another story!).