The Mad Rock Ultra-Light Straight is the best deal for a lightweight carabiner we found. Its hard to find any cheaper carabiner, let alone a really light one. Its forged I-beam construction makes it pretty easy to hold and overall it was a solid but not exceptional performer.
For the low price of $6 this is one of the least expensive, lightest and strongest small to medium sized carabiners on the market. It is very similar to the Wild Country Astro except it is just a gram heavier (30g vs 29g for the Astro). However, it is $2 cheaper than the Astro and $2-3 cheaper than the other top biners in its category: Black Diamond Oz and Trango Superfly. Overall, unless you want the absolute lightest carabiners (which are also tiny) like the Metolius FS Mini or CAMP Nano 23, it's hard to go wrong with loading up on Mad Rock Ultra-Light. It's the best wiregate carabiner for the money.
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Street Price:
$6 | Compare prices at 1 resellers
Pros: Great value, easy to handle, light Cons: Gate hang up Best Uses: All around climbing from sport climbing to traditional routes
Manufacturer: Mad Rock
Overview
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 OutdoorGearLab Editors' Hands-on Review
Likes
This carabiner performed well in most tests. The rope ran fairly smooth through it for the smoothness test. It is just big enough to clip 3 figure eights and still open the gate. It's a nice size: not too small - not too big. This makes it more easily usable with gloves unlike really small carabiners like the Metolius FS Mini. The spine design makes it easy to grip. As with all carabiners with the wire-gate design the gate is less likely to get frozen shut on alpine routes. Dislikes There were no major dislikes with this carabiner. As for minor ones: as with almost all with the wire-gate design, the notch gets caught up on the bolt hanger when cleaning steep routes. Also, the spine not as easy to grip as Wild Country Astro (not a really big deal). Unfortunately, this carabiner is a little hard to find: not a ton of retailers carry it. Best Application This is an all around really good carabiner. We would use it on our trad rack as well as a quick draw carabiner. This straight biner is best paired on a quickdraw with the Mad Rock Ultra-Light Bent Value This is the best value in a lightweight wiregate carabiner. Actually, it is one of the best values for any carabiner. Other Versions Mad Rock Ultra-light Bent - Bent Gate Version Mad Rock Ultralight Quickdraw - Dyneema Dogbone with One ultralight Straight and one Ultralight bent ($14) — Chris McNamara and Chris Summit Compare this product side-by-side to top competitors >
OutdoorGearLab Member ReviewsMost recent review: November 25, 2011
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 Mad Rock Ultra-Light Straight Credit: madrockclimbing.com
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