REASONS TO BUY
Lightweight
Good handling
REASONS TO AVOID
Difficult for large hands
Small
Wild Country Astro Review
A lightweight decently easy to handle biner that finds a nice middle ground between ultralight and heavier offerings
Credit: REI Co-op
RELATED: Best Carabiners of 2024
Our Verdict
The Wild Country Astro fits nicely in-between larger biners and the ultralightweight, often too small to handle biners on the market. Weighing in at under one ounce and retaining decent performance, except for those among us with large mitts. Anyone looking to rack up with weight savings and functionality in mind will appreciate the Astro. Ultimately, this biner is a bit small and fiddly if you're intending to use it with gloves, but even our testers with larger hands could manage these biners without too much frustration. The omission of a wire hood does decrease the ease of unclipping, but there are certainly more frustrating options out there.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Wild Country Astro | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Carabiner |  Best Bang for the Buck |  Best Ultralight Carabiner | ||
| Price | $10.00 List | $7.95 at REI Compare at 3 sellers | $8.00 List $7.95 at REI | $7.95 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $6.95 at REI Compare at 2 sellers |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | The Astro finds a nice middle ground between large heavier biners and small, ultralight biners that can be difficult to handle | A very affordable carabiner that is also one of the easiest to use and won’t cost you anything on the scale | An affordable option for racking your camming devices | A versatile choice for any style of climbing, and one that almost anyone can afford, but lacking the top end performance | The ultralight climber’s dream carabiner: lightweight and tiny, yet full strength |
| Rating Categories | Wild Country Astro | CAMP Photon Wire | Trango Phase Carabiner | Black Diamond Hotwire | Black Diamond MiniWire |
| Clipping (25%) | |||||
| Unclipping (20%) | |||||
| Weight (20%) | |||||
| Gate Clearance (20%) | |||||
| Handling (15%) | |||||
| Specs | Wild Country Astro | CAMP Photon Wire | Trango Phase Carabiner | Black Diamond Hotwire | Black Diamond MiniWire |
| Manufacturer Weight (g) | 30g | 30g | 30g | 40g | 23g |
| Gate Closed (kN) | 24 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 |
| Sideways (kN) | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| Gate Open (kN) | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Gate Clearance (mm) | 24 | 26 | 23 | 27 | 21 |
| Forging Method | Hot | Cold | Not Specified | Hot | Hot |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
The Wild Country Astro is an extremely popular carabiner with the weight shaving alpine crowd, and we can see why. As one of the lightest biners in our review, it retains decent functionality, both clipping and unclipping, weighs in under an ounce, and despite its small size, still feels manageable in hand. The recessed tooth on the nose does help with the ease of unclipping but does cause some hangups when you're flailing.
Performance Comparison
While the Astro probably isn't light enough for the “cut the tags out of your underwear” crowd, it is highly functional for a biner that does cut grams.
Credit: Brian Martin
Clipping
When shaving grams and slammin' cams, sometimes you have to give up a bit of functionality to accomplish the mission. There are definitely carabiners that are a bit easier to manipulate in hand and clip than the Astro simply due to its smaller size. That being said, the Astro clips quite well. The bent wire gate creates a nice cradle against the nose of the carabiner, which helps the rope slot in. The gate itself is on the stiff side but has smooth action through the entire path of travel with no weird hangups.
Climbers with larger hands will be at a slight disadvantage when using the Astro compared to larger biners. While the ergonomics are decent for those with tiny paws, our main tester did struggle a bit.
Credit: Brian Martin
Unclipping
While Wild Country claims the Astro has a “hooded nose”, the reality is the tooth on the wire gate is simply recessed. Our testers experienced a generally pleasant unclipping experience when using larger ropes 9.5mm+ but a noticeable catch when going thinner. The omission of wire rails or a clean nose does necessitate careful unclipping. That being said, this design is worlds above biners with a fully exposed tooth and while the Astro wasn't ultra-smooth on the unclip it was generally pretty easy and snag-free.
After gaining some experience with the Astro our testers didn't have any issues with snags or other unpleasantness. The biner is noticeably more finicky than the buttery smooth options scoring at the top of this category.
Credit: Brian Martin
Weight
Now for the good stuff. The Astro is among the lightest options we've tested among all of the new additions to this review. Yes, there are absolutely lighter biners out there but we feel the Astro does a dang good job at offering excellent portability without too much sacrifice. The thin profile and decent handling enhance the portability. Racking up your arsenal of cams and draws with Astros would definitely shed some weight while keeping things functional and relatively frustration-free.
Credit: Brian Martin
Gate Clearance
The Astro has a gate clearance measured at 24mm. Even though the Astro is quite small, it allows for 3 strands of 9.8mm rope to fit with decent clearance and full gate opening. This proved to be more than adequate when out on alpine missions when we were using a much thinner rope. The bent wire gate provides significantly more clearance that you might think upon first glance.
Not too bad for a little guy. If you're looking at ultralight biners, you likely have applications in mind that wouldn't necessitate handling any more rope than this and likely would be using much thinner ropes.
Credit: brian martin
Handling
The ease of handling category is likely the most subjective and difficult to rate of all metrics in this test. Our main tester has hands on the larger-ish side of the spectrum making smaller carabiners generally more difficult to manipulate. That being said, the Astro has redeeming features that do enhance its overall ease of handling. For unclipping, the wire gate, which is wider than the nose, allows you to put your thumb right on the tip of the wire to open and unthread the rope. Other biners, even slightly larger biners that have a recessed wire gate can be a bit trickier to open for the unclip. This also translated to easier unclipping from our harness and clipping into a bolt or transferring to our mouth before re-gripping and placing a cam. Those with small hands would likely find the Astro to be pretty perfect.
The small cutout of the Astro does make handling generally more difficult than larger biners. That being said, the gate and slight bend in the spine make handling pretty good.
Credit: Brian Martin
Value
For a biner that rings in below ten bucks a pop, the Astro represents a solid value. While the stated weight is over one ounce, the tested biner we received tested .9oz on two scales. For something as functional and lightweight, we wouldn't be surprised to see it costing a bit more than its current price. As the Astro fits into a niche of midsize carabiners that keep weight to a minimum, there is an argument to be made that they are uniquely capable and hold significant value in that right no matter the price.
Conclusion
While the Astro is an excellent biner, the size can be a bit limiting and detract from the overall versatility when compared to the rest of the field. For those with hands on the small side, the Astro really could be an all-arounder. As it stands, we found this biner to be an excellent lightweight companion on alpine adventures for those who want to shave grams but not take it to the limit.
Credit: Brian Martin
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Brian Martin
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