UKC

Hi all,

We recently bought two new DMM Shadow quickdraws, (purely on a whim really, my wife has a soft spot for anything purple) to add to our workhorse rack of Alphas.

We took them to Margalef for a week and noticed after a few days that the bolt end had been gouged significantly on both, causing sharp burrs to appear.
We emailed DMM and they quite condescendingly explained that steel is harder than aluminium and some wear is to be expected, what that doesn't explain is how our 4 year old Alphas have never had any sharp burrs form whilst being subjected to exactly the same use, whereas these Shadows got torn up in less than a week.

They suggested we send them one to be tested but didn't mention whether they would refund us for the draw (I assume not).

I just want a refund due them not being fit for purpose, does that seem like a fair request? I've not tried to go through the retailer yet (Go Outdoors), do people think i'm being reasonable and can anyone suggest my best course of action?

So why are they not fit for purpose? 

All alu biners wear on steel. Burs are pretty normal; sand them down with some wet-dry sandpaper. 

The shadow is a lighter option than the alphas so they are expected to be less durable.

I'd send them back

FWIW my alphas have many burrs on the bolt end from many years of dogging. To be expected really.

tjin is right in all respects (and DMM is not being patronising in telling you the fact that steel being harder than aluminium is a key fact). DMM Alphas are beasts, with more metal than Shadows at the wear point on the bolt hanger but still get burrs. If you use a lightweight krab for heavyweight work, expect more burrs.

DMM told you the truth. Standard bolt hangers are a very unfriendly design wrt to how they interact with a karabiner. The recent redesign of Petzl hangers makes them a bit nicer, basically it's a slightly thicker plate with a softer radius, but gouging of the metal of the krab is totally normal.

Why are your Alphas in better shape? Hard to say really, the alloy and heat treatment used for both should be either the same or very close. Most likely it's just one of those things, maybe you climbed more often on glue-ins than you remembered with the Alphas (these are much friendlier on krabs) or didn't dog/fall as much (Margalef is quite tough, no?) It is very unlikely (but possible) is that there is a fault with the heat treatment causing the krab to be too soft. Easily found out by doing a hardness test but this will render the krab unusable.

If you want piece of mind, take the worst one and send it to DMM for testing, but expect it to be fine and just a result of standard sport climbing usage.

Your contract is with Go Outdoors, take them back to them, let them see the burrs and ask for your money back. They will then send back to DMM for testing.

I hadn't considered this, probably because i've never had to do it before, but it's certainly an option

Which seems werid as it has the same chunky tape, big rubber retainer, it felt the same as an alpha to me. The section may be different utthe actual contact face on the hanger looks almost identical, it still seems strange that they should wear so much more easily.

The Alphas have been to Margalef 5 times before without issue, true they spend most of the rest of the year on glue-ins, (Portland) but they have certainly seen their share of Petzl hangers.

Maybe i'll give that a try, make it their problem, and read the description of the product more carefully next time before I say 'Ooh, shiny!' and reach for my wallet.

I wouldn't worry about it. You have straight gate and bent gates for a reason, in part so you keep your rope end krabs free of burrs. If you climb on old school bolts, and you fall, you get gouges, it's just what it is.

The Shadows are superb krabs, I'm still using the ones I got to review for UKC 10 years ago! https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/climbing/quickdraws/dmm_shadow_quickdraws-1... But post some pictures if you think you've managed to get some particularly impressive burrs!

If you want to completely avoid the burrs your only option is Edelrids Bulletproof biners with the steel inlay.

The Alphas might be from a slightly different alloy with slightly different heat and surface treatment.

I don't think you have a base for a refund. If your retailer is super nice he will give you one anyway.

Maybe just take up trad climbing instead? None of my biners have burrs! ;p