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How We Test
We took a selection of the top selling cams on the market and spent some good quality time with them. We climbed on all these cams…a lot. Each of them has seen thousands of vertical feet all over the state of California – soft Santa Barbara (yes there is climbing there) sandstone, Donner Summit Granite, Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, Josh’s Quartz Monzonite, and SLO Bishop Peak’s volcanic-something-or-other (Tom Slater…Help me out here) among others. Aside from climbing with (and falling on) these cams we judged them on a variety of standards, comparing them against one another to determine our favorite overall cam.
The bulk of our testing was climbing with the cams. We logged thousands of vertical feet all over the state of California on a variety of rock types constantly observing and noting each cam’s performance. We also performed some uniform tests on each cam so as to get a feel for the differences in performance when each cam is faced with the same situation. We climbed a lot of pitches with all these cams. Between Chris McNamara, Robert Beno, and Ian Nicholson, probably 100,000 feet have been climbed with most of these cams combined.
Next we took these cams to a number of cracks and put them in head-to-head tests. We placed each cam in the same placement to see what would fit and what would not. We choose as many types of placements as possible: straight in, pin scars, flared, horizontal, roofs, and more. We then bounce tested them all furiously to see what held and what got beat up the most.
Finally, we took all our own measurements, using our own scale and our own calipers to measure weight and sizes.
Testing cams is somewhat tricky business. There are a multitude of factors that one can consider, but ultimately the most important factor is whether or not that piece of equipment will keep you safe in the event of a fall. There are a number of ways that a cam can fail in this task and we observed the behavior of the cams in real world use, as well as in devised head-to-head testing, to see which cam does the best job in a variety of scenarios.
Flaring Placements
How well does the cam perform in flared placements? Is it easy to place and clean in these marginal placements?
Horizontal Placements
Are there any parts to the cam (trigger, trigger wires etc…) that could break or be damaged if the unit is loaded in a horizontal placement? Is the stem flexible enough to prevent the cam from torquing out of the crack?
Tight Placements
How easy is it to squeeze into those tight fits? How easy is it to clean from those tight fits?
Walking
How stable is the placement? Did the cam move at all from the rope movement? Did it invert? Did it walk back into a more difficult-to-clean position? Did it walk so much that the placement’s safety was compromised?
Durability
Are these cans going to last a season or a lifetime? How tough are the lobes? Does the stem deform easily? What’s the sling’s durability? How are the springs and the trigger wires?
Free Climbing Utility
Does this cam work well for free climbing? Does it have any special features that make it especially suited for free climbing?
Aid Climbing Utility
Does this cam work well for aid climbing? Does it have any special features that make it especially well suited for aid climbing?
Bulk and Weight
How heavy are these relative to other cams on the market? How bulky are they when racked?
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