Metolius Super Cam Review

The Metolius Super Cam was initially a favorite for us, but the more we used them their limitations became readily apparent. Our initial perception was one of a well crafted, super solid piece of gear that was easy to place and bomber once placed. They are beefy, and durable. The cam lobes are the widest of any that we tested and the u-stem is super burly. The sling is 19mm nylon webbing, adding to the overall durability of the unit. When placed, these cams are stable and bomber. Having only used traditional design cams, we were initially a little confused by the off-center style of placement with these cams, but found that Metolius’ Rangefinder was really helpful and after a bit of practice it is really easy to tell if the lobes are retracted to an appropriate extent for proper placement. The range on these cams is amazing. The design allows the middle lobes to invert around the axle and within the arc of the larger lobes giving the cams an amazing range around a single axle. While these are all promising design features, as we continued to use the units, we found that while the unique lobe retraction provides an awesome range, it also makes these cams not well suited for shallow placements. The cams are also just too beefy for tight and awkward fits. Where we could squeeze in a Camalot or Technical Friend, we could only fit in 3 lobes of a Super Cam. We also found that the U-stem was not quite as flexible as we’d like for horizontal placements. All that added beefiness added a bit of weight and these cams were among the heaviest that we tested. Overall, Super Cams are a well made, quality, durable piece of equipment. They do have somewhat limited applications so be sure that they will work for your climbing area/aspirations. With the wide cam lobes, and awesome range we recommend these cams for bottomless cracks in soft stone (thankfully these two factors tend to go hand-in-hand in sandstone climbing areas). To stick with Metolius' Design and shave some weight try Metolius Ultralight Powercam. If you want a cam with an even greater range check out Omega Pacific Link Cam, and for those shallow and awkward placements we recommend Black Diamond Camalot C4.