Carabiners and Quickdraws

Recent Carabiner/Quickdraw Reviews

Metolius Gatekeeper Locking Carabiner

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… Full review

Edelrid Pure Slider

It's an easy to use and lightweight autolocker, perfect for a more secure alpine sling or to use in anchoring. I bought four of these mainly to use for anchoring and having secure carabiners for whatever I need them for. I can easily open them with one hand by putting the spine in my palm, and using my middle finger to push the slider down and open the gate. There could potentially be a scenario where a rope or rock can do this as well, but you'd have to pretty much purposefully place it in a situation… Full review

DMM Belay Master 2

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… Full review

CAMP Photon Wire Straight Gate

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. Full review

Black Diamond Oz

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… Full review

Black Diamond Oval Wire Carabiner

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… Full review

Black Diamond Posiwire Quickdraw

Easy clipping and an extremely reliable draw. What more is there to say? The fact that draws have very minimal moving parts makes for a reliable piece of equipment, but a piece of equipment that is so important that it must be made well enough to not fail on you. I can say that I have yet to have a problem with these draws. I used to use Petzl Spirits but saw a set of these for a sweet price and decided to go for it. I do not regret that decision. The Posiwires are now my go to draw! Black Diamond… Full review

Black Diamond RockLock Magnetron

Large auto locking carabiner. Not worth this girl's money. I purchased this biner because of its size and the magnetic catch. I like a larger biner for a double line munter (as a backup plan in case something goes wrong with my Reverso). I thought it may pose a problem for ice but that was not the issue. The magnetic catch is not an ergonomic fit for me. I have small to medium woman's hands and when I reach for release it is just out of my grasp. Only by millimetres! What a pain in the butt! I then… Full review

Simond Spider Screwgate

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… Full review