Reviews by User: Scott Gilliam (26)

Trashed these shoes in short order in the Tetons. The rubber and the fit are great, but the construction is crap. Not worth any price if you're really going to use them.

A nut is not a nut. These have a very different shape from Stoppersm, and so they make a nice complement for stoppers. The sizing the two profiles are closer than Stoppers. Sometimes you can just rotate the nut for the perfect fit. Plus these have a new flare-friendly shape. I usually carry 1-8.

I got a 0 and 00. I like having 4 lobes in such a narrow head, as well as Metolius quality. Ooutstanding fit and finish. I choose these smallest units over my black and blue Aliens. And they make a great complement to the smallest C3s. Beyond these sizes, however, I'll stick with TCUs and Aliens. The trigger mechanism is a bit over engineered and has too little slop. A bit more extra trigger cord would allow the lobes to function more independently, creating safer placements. And the cable to the trigger bar is poorly placed. It will kink when loaded over a sharp edge, at least in the blue and yellow sizes.

These cams are great. Super reliable and lightweight, they make a nice base for any active rack. And for vertical cracks, I believe there is no better cam. I almost always have the 2, 3 and 4 in the gear bag; they are perfect compliments to my Forged Friends. I do have one complaint. The longer stem, because of the loop, makes it nearly impossible to palm the end of the stem, pull the trigger at the same time. With the previous Camalots this occasionally made it easier to slap the cam into a crack in the back of a dihedral. Instead, one has to use a thumb in the loop and place the cam with your palm facing away.

They're not great. Thery're not Chrome Knicks. They fit weird and the material is tough, but not sweat friendly. Get Chrome Knickers instead.

Fit and rubber are great, but the seams down the sides ripped out in less than two weeks. Plus the insoles are thin and useless.

Crap pedal. Lightweight, simple, and reasonably price, but not worth even that cost. Smack a rock with the bottom of the pedal and the springs release. The design clears mud, but, over time, the grip on the cleat grows weaker and weaker. My advice, simply don't buy 'em.

These are fine, but I'd rather have a Yates Shorty Screamer instead. Although slightly less bulky than Screamers, the Mammut Shock Absorbers have a higher activation force. I'd rather subject the placement to as little force as possible if the placement, pin or screw is sketchy.

I fell on the #3. It was in a shallow flared seam. The ball rotated in the groove of the nut and held fast. The piece was hard to clean, but held the fall like a champ. The 2 and 3 stay on the racking biner with my small stoppers, rocks and microstoppers. Even the larger ones will go places that cams will not. I do not consider the smallest size worthy of lead falls of any size, however.

Carry most of these regularly on the gear rack, blue, yellow, orange. I've substituted the yellow C3 for the TCU as the C3 is a bit smaller and fits nicely between the blue TCU and the yellow Alien. Occasionally TCUs fit in places no other cam will. The smallest sizes are still handsome, well-made units, but I prefer a 4-cam unit when I can get one.

Love these. Work great in a multitude of placements. Tri-cam placements give me a special pleasure. Great for adding a little something to your warm-up, keeping the multi-pitch rack light, or for building belays. Have taken a few falls on these and tough they can be hard to clean, they hold great.

In smooth, parallel cracks these function great, both going in and coming out. In irregular crack sthey can be a pain in both directions. The noodle-ish stem can cause problems, and the doubled sling is not that useful. I'd rather just have a beefier single sling. These have a nice range, and definitely outshine the tech friends. But I would chose Aliens, C3s, Master Cams, and TCUs over these.

These make fantastic craggin' packs. Indestructible and pretty much waterproof, they stand up to a lot abuse. And they carry surprisingly well, but only up to a point. With a big rack, a rope and too much water my shoulders start to complain and the hip belt won't take much weight off. That is my only complaint. Just keep the size of your load in check and this pack will work great. Overload and you'll be hurting. If you tend to carry a lot, I'd get the smallest haul bag instead.

Great chocks. Occasionally, these work better than any other nut. Occasionally, they are REALLY hard to clean. I keep a select few on the rack.

These beefy slings are great for emergency ascending and those horrifying sharp edges. I keep a couple of two-footers on the rack just for such cases. They don't triple very well, but, hey, they sling over the shoulder just fine.

More durable than the Mammut runners and almost as light. I have much more confidence in these than the Mammut product. And no complaints whatsoever. Easy to triple, light over the shoulder, great for ice and alpine, as well as cragging. BD did it right.

The price is high, but no other dogbone compares. The nylon is strong and durable, lasting longer than those skinny spectra and dyneema runners. And who cares about weight, hell it is only sport climbing. If weight is an issue, you'll probably be pink-pointing anyway. And that rubber string works great and is plenty durable. I've never had a single problem with those or the dogbone itself. I use a few of these with BD biners, but my friends' Spirit draws are awesome, as well.

As rope end biners, the Inferno is great. It's big and light with a nice rope bearing surface. In fact, I swapped out the bolt end biners on these draws, using those Infrenos on my open runners as their rope end biners. My only complaint is that the rope side biners are not as secure in the dogbone as I would like. Occasionally they still get a little turned in my pack or on my harness. No big deal though.

Fantastic bike stand. Easy to adjust, even loaded with the bike. Plus the seat post clamp works way easier than my buddy's cheaper stand. Easy to set up and then put away. I got mine on sale and have been thrilled thus far.

Nothing to complain about. Almost everything is perfect. The only thing I wish they'd done differently is put two zippers on the bottom compartment. Other than that, perfection.

IMO, these are not great pedals. Light and cheap, yes, but not durable. Mine have loosened up to the point that my cleat feels really loose in the pedal, and this is after less than a year of use. Also, if you smack a rock with the bottom of the pedal, it will often release your foot. I just replaced these with my heavier, but tried and true set Time A.T.A.C. Alium pedal with individual springs for each side.

Tied 'em off through one of the holes in the stem, these stuff nicely horizontals. Just clip the tie-off, and climb above without fear of kinking the stem when you take that big whip. These are super durable. In fact, I dropped a 1.75 about 120 feet into a scree field. It had two scratches and that was it. Back on the rack it went -- perhaps this is not recommended, but.... The stem of the 1.0 can get stuck because it is so close to the size of the camming range, but up to 2.5 or 3.0, Forged Friends can't be beat for horizontal placements.

These shoes are super stiff and that's great for putting the power down. That said, the fit is narrow for my foot. I sized up a bit to make them work and they're doing okay. Sadly, I broke off one of the screw-in teeth/cleats a few days ago.

These are the first Anasazis that I've felt satisfied with. The heel, the rubber, and the overall fit are fantastic. They are great for face and steep climbing. On their second day out, however, the black cloth detailing started coming off, but I didn't mind losing it. I down-sized pretty significantly, 8.5 for a street-size 10 foot, but can wear the shoes for quite a while without too much pain.

Perfect shoe, except for the heel. My heel feels overly loose and pulling hard with my heel in these shoes is not an option. Already great for face and thin cracks, after these loosened up and were resoled with Stealth, these shoes made great slab shoes as well. I sized down significantly, size 40 on a street-size 10 foot.

I have the 180cm version. I use it once in a while as a REEEEEALLY long sling, but more often as a lightweight cord substitute. It knots/unknots easily and is less bulky than cord. It's not ideal for adventure climbing where you might need to cut up your cord in an emergency, but is perfect for cragging.