Carabiners and Quickdraws

Reviewed by Jon 4

Excellent product, vey well designed and made. it's perfect for the job (belaying/rappelling carabiner).

Bought the Master 2 exclusively for my tube-type belay device and love it. I've used it now for a few weeks and plan to get a second one soon (backup in case of loss or theft). The "pivoting catch" assures me that my 'biner is locked properly and will not cross load whether belaying or rappelling. It's foolproof because of that folding catch and thus provides visual peace-of-mind for me and the climber—I can lock it and forget about it. I've read elsewhere that the folding catch is a PITA, but I don't see that at all.

Read more: DMM Belay Master 2 review (1)

Reviewed by Snigjs

The Oz carabiner is a small carabiner that can be used in sport, trad, and alpine climbing. It's lightweight but has a decent gate opening making it more functional than other small carabiners.

Review The Oz carabiner is a good all-around biner. It’s not the lightest out there nor does it have the largest gate opening (22mm) but it works well and I’ve always found Black Diamond wire gates easy to clip. The new Oz has a wire hood design making it keylock like the Petzl Ange S but is the cheaper of the two. It also comes in multiple colors to match the Black Diamond Cams. Small Carabiner Overview There are a handful of small, full strength carabiners on the market from 19 grams to 28 grams.

Read more: Black Diamond Oz review (1)

Reviewed by Bill S

This carabiner, the Petzl William Ball-lock is the metal sleeve successor to the plastic-sleeved ball-lock. This is my primary locking carabiner, which I use with belay devices, with munters (it is an HMS, designed to take munters readily, even on double ropes), and many other situations. The action is quick and easy with one hand - just push the ball on the sleeve and twist, then release and it locks automatically (do a squeeze check to be sure, of course, as with all lockers). I did find in Antarctica that in the cold (-30 and below), it was sometimes a bit sluggish.

Read more: Petzl William Ball-Lock review (1)

Reviewed by G00se

The Petzl Delta Link provides a 25kN working load at a mere 5.29 oz. It serves for multiple connection points in a Frog Ascending System. Lightweight, tough, and reliable.

I use these for a number of applications—mostly climbing. They are an essential part of of a Frog Ascending system for rope climbing. One is used as the connection point between my Petzl Ascension ascender and the footloop. The other is used to attach my chest ascender (Petzl Croll) to the chest harness. With the triangular shape, there is no risk of crossloading. So you maintain the full working strength of the link at all time. I own several of these, and I find some of them screw open easily, while others are really frustrating. I actually carry a small crescent wrench on my gear loop in case I find myself in a bind. Other applications include using it to hang my hammock and store heavy gear in the rafters of my garage.

Read more: Petzl Delta review (1)

Reviewed by Dhgold

The Revolver deserves to be a lot more popular. Its ostensible exorbitant price is misleading as the 'biner will almost certainly pay for itself in extended rope life if you do much toproping and/or lowering.What it is: A carabiner with a rolling bearing in the basket. This bearing greatly reduces biner/rope friction.Advantageous uses:Top roping and lowering. I haven't seen any data on this issue, but my gut feeling is that regular use of the Revolver in this capacity would at least double the life of a rope which is subjected to a lot of this one-pitch action.Clip in point for directional pieces.

Read more: DMM Revolver review (1)

Reviewed by Snigjs

The Camp Photon wire gate carabiner is the lightest full size carabiner in the world and has an extremely large gate opening for easy clipping.

Review The Camp Photon carabiner is amazingly light weighing in at 29 grams. It also has a one of the largest gate openings at 28mm for the straight gate and 29mm for the bent gate. I currently have 12 Photon Wire Bent Gate carabiners on the rope end of my quickdraws and they are noticeably lighter than the hotwires I replaced while still being easy to clip. There have been reports of the Photons having sticky gates but I haven’t had any issues after year and a half of use.  Large Carabiner Overview Full size carabiners have also come down in weight in the last few years.

Read more: CAMP Photon Wire Straight Gate review (1)

Reviewed by Tommy G

Does well at keeping the carabiner from rotation while belaying. The spin lock is OK but doesn't turn as smoothly as others. The paint on the carabiner wears off almost immediately, and grooves from the rope appear faster than expected.

This is a nice design for preventing your carabiner from rotating while belaying. It attaches to the harness more easily than the other gatelock style carabiners I've tried. However, the green paint wears off from the rope almost immediately. Mine has no paint left where the ropes run after two days of use. Additionally, grooves wear into the carabiner from the rope faster than expected. I had to stop using this carabiner after two years of once or twice a week use due to the grooves from the rope getting deep enough that I was concerned about their edges against the rope and about the effect on the strength of the carabiner.

Read more: Metolius Gatekeeper Locking Carabiner review (1)

Reviewed by Malotrekker

Caution: I DON'T CLIMB. So if you're looking for a review of this product based on its use as a climbing accessory, you won't find it here. I bought these carabiners for use as an accessory biner. They only cost a couple dollars more than the cheap accessory biners, so I thought the extra $ was worth it to know that I'll probably never come up with a way to destroy them. I recommend these for use as a general use biner for attaching things to your pack or belt, and for making a simple pulley system to either hang a bear bag, or pull your canoe up a steep bank.

This biner weighs 45g. It's lighter than many, but not as light as some of the newer lightweight biners. But as usual, if you want to shave a few more grams off your pack, you're going to spend a little more. $6!!! I went in to the store to buy 1, but at this price, I bought 3. This will allow me to... rig up a basic pulley system to make hanging a bear bag a little more convenient or haul my canoe up a steep bank, hang a hammock, hang my coffee cup off my pack or belt loop when I'm not using it, but don't want to put it away just yet, clip my Pelican box or day pack to the thwart of my canoe, so that I know it's not going anywhere, clip my dog's leash to anything while I lock up my car, get her some food & water, look for something in...

Read more: Black Diamond Oval Wire Carabiner review (1)

Reviewed by Scott Dickie

Lightweight, excellent screwgate locker that has a perfectly shaped nose to make clipping extremely easy. The best locking beiner for personal anchor systems at the top of a long difficult route.

This carabiner is the best I have used to attach a personal anchor system at the top of a route. The nose is shaped in a way that it is quite open (bent out) compared to other screwgate lockers, so clipping is extremely easy. The diameter of the carabiner is around  a medium sized thickness. Since the body of the carabiner is round and not an I-beam construction you do lose some strength, but the diameter is great if you have to clip multiple pieces of gear onto a single anchor. The carabiner is fairly light for a screwgate locker so you barely even feel it on your harness.

Read more: Simond Spider Screwgate review (1)

Featured review by Brandon

Got these at backcountry.com with a 25% off coupon code. These are some pricey draws if you pay full retail. These babies are very very light, almost too light. They took some getting used to after years of old ABC and Stubai draws. The keyless notch on the red clip biner is great for not getting the rope snagged. The full size red clip biner also has a rubber o ring attached to the sling so it will not move. For sport climbing you barely notice they are on your harness, I also carry about 6 of these when I'm trad climbing for clipping nuts or using them as extenders.

Read more: Wild Country Helium Clean Wire Quickdraw reviews (2)