Wild Country Astro Quickdraw Review

Likes
The Wild Country Astro is just a great size and weight. It is not the lightest, but is pretty darn light. Unlike the mega light biners like the Metolius FS Mini Quickdraw, this biner is easy to hold both because it is a reasonable size and has a feature I-beam spine that is easy to grip. The hooded nose helps to protect the carabiner from getting opened by getting rubbed across the rock. It was on of the easiest to clip of all the small and light quickdraws. It was also one of the smoothest to pull rope through (tied with Black Diamond Oz). It has a gate design that while not bent, accepts the rope almost as easy as a bent gate carabiner.

Dislikes
The rubber piece that attaches the biner to the sling is not very durable. We had some last months and other break in a matter of weeks. Once they break, it is not a big deal as the quickdraw still works, but the biner is then more likely to not be oriented correctly when you go to clip it.

There were no other major dislikes other than the standard two things:

• this wiregate design with the notch where the gate closes gets hung up when cleaning from steep sport climbs. That said, almost every wiregate biner except for the Wild Country Helium Quickdraw has this problem

• Because it is pretty small it did not do great in our 3 figure eight test or multiple slings (it did about the same as the comparable to SuperFly and the Oz).

Best Application
On-sight climbing, trad climbing where light weight and size matter.

Value
One of the best deals out there on light wiregate biners. Less expensive than the Oz and SuperFly. Only the Mad Rock Ultra-Light costs less. However, if you buy the Astro Quickdraw Pack it is only $68 for five draws which makes it even cheaper than the Mad Rock (the Mad Rock does not come in a discount pack).