http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/master_cam.htm
I looked at them last afternoon while at Metolius shop. They look kick ass, first units are being shipped to REI and other outfitters in the next couple of days. I hope once and for all they will finally put a nail in a coffin for CMH and their garage production of Aliens.

well said...you know if it came from Metolius its heavy duty...shoot half of their "test" stuff outperforms all the others...

while i agree that the new cams look good, they have their flaws. for one, the heads of the lobes are significantly thinner than the original tcu's and CCH for that matter. they also don't have a good trigger as it's hard to grab the small metal handle. IMHO, i think they should at least have a better trigger and thicker lobes.

as for putting CCH out of business; i doubt it.

Yep, they're doing a pretty good job of that on their own.


Personally can't wait to test drive a couple of the new springy twitchy's. Metolius stuff and if they're the quality level of the TCU's with more placement flexibility they'll be stellar.

not really. we sell more aliens than tcu's at the shop i work at by a significant amount.

i have used the new metolius cams and i agree they're good, i just don't think they're a finished product that should be on the market yet.

IMHO, metolius has been going down hill at a rapid pace since they discontinued their original tcu and put out the ultralights.

They look like aliens.

Mark- as far as I know REI, MG and MEC- 2 of them the biggest outdoor/climbing gear retailers in North America discontinued selling Aliens some time ago. And for a good reason. After yet another accident, where under force of a small fall it basically fell apart REI and MG conducted independent testing. The results were down right frightening. Some of the units tested at random fell apart between 800-900lbs. The most serious problem was inconsistency of the numbers. These things were discussed on rockclimbing.com for a while. Also astonishing was the initial response of CMH, which treated the reports of accidents as a bunch of people kicking shit up on internet without merit.
I know I am partial to Metolius gear, but let's have some objectivity!
"i have used the new metolius cams and i agree there good, i just don't think they're a finished product yet that should be on the market."- oh, give me a brake! like Aliens are finished product??!! And let's mention the triggers! like the one on Aliens are that great? Most definitely CMH and their death-toy Aliens should not be on a market. I don't think they still implemented ISO 9000. I know there is a reason why they are not UAII certified.

maybe you didn't notice "IMHO" before i made the comments about the cams. it is my opinion that the new metolius cams are not a finished product and i stand behind it! i use metolius cams as well, just the old school ones.

this isn't about if CCH or metolius is better, it's about how good the new metolius cams are. i didn't make the original comparison between the two; just responded to it. i don't care which cam people think is better. but as a side note: don't you think it's a little interesting that the new metolius cams look almost identical to aliens?

I think most people agree the alien design was a great success. Implementation is a different story.

Mark, thank you for the heads up. I spent some time climbing with one of the folks who helped design the thing in the valley last year, and that person has huge cred. in my eyes. I trust your thoughts on this more than most of the folks on this site, so I'll do a wait and see on the new Master Cams, that and I already need to sell some Aliens cause I have too many.

I wonder how much of your shops Alien sales would have formerly been REI and MGEAR purchases, 2 large company's of many who no longer sell the CCH Alien product. I've raged on the failures of the post-recall "tested" Aliens before so I'll spare everyone that rant, but it still pisses me off.

don't get me wrong bill, i think the new master cams are designed well. it appears a cam has finally been manufactured that can compete with the alien design. the cam has a very narrow profile head and with the single stem down the middle it allows the cam to fit into placements nicely that might have been hard with another cam. i imagine these will become very popular and rightfully so. my only complaints, so far, is i believe they shouldn't sacrifice lobe width and the trigger would be nicer if it had something covering the metal with a little more size.

IMHO, i think metolius should stop making the offset ultralights and start making master cam offsets.

[2cents]With the exception of a few routes and the occasional aid climb C3s have replaced aliens for me. I wished they made a size bigger than #2 but the besides that great product IMO. I took them out this winter also and never had one freeze on me... aliens were never an option in the winter.[/2cents]

I heard from the Metolius rep himself that that new Master Cams aren't that good. I checked them out myself and agree with Mark, the trigger needs to be fixed, just kinda weird to get a hold of in tight placements.

Agreed, they're a decent cam, but not as good as aliens. I've whipped hard on my aliens, held just fine. I just don't feel comfy buying any new ones.

I'm just trying to figure out if GlassgowKiss actually used one yet or is just puking at the mouth again.

JL

How is the trigger different than aliens? It looks the same.

It's not a coincidence the Master Cams look a lot like Aliens, Metolius is trying to provide another [safe] option to them. As for the trigger mechanism, I haven't yet played with one, but I believe that was one aspect of the Aliens which had to be designed around due to patents (maybe one on the sleeve and another on the internal springs [I'm guessing here...]).

Mark, I'm still on the older Metolius cams as well and I tend to get settled into to things so I haven't made the switch to the Ultralights, either. But, I don't believe the Ultralights in any way represent Metolius going "down hill" - just them responding to the demands of the market relative to 'ligher / faster'.

Speaking of CCH. Has anyone seen this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH1N1c8fbeQ

I have to wonder how CCH can afford to sponsor anyone when they appear to be a breath away from going out of business. On a side note, going for big runouts over a black alien is brave.

"I heard from the Metolius rep himself that that new Master Cams aren't that good..."

hmmm, not the best sales strategy....

I think the "Sponsored by Alien Cams" statement was meant to underscore the seriousness of a fall and provide an "X" rating for the climb. Using quality gear would have put "The Path" at a mere 5.3R.

There was a spray filled discussion of The Path in the Gripped forums that even prompted Sonnie to respond to the criticism on his blog (you'll have to search through to find the relevant posts).

I think the "Sponsored by Alien Cams" statement was meant to underscore the seriousness of a fall and provide an "X" rating for the climb. Using quality gear would have put "The Path" at a mere 5.3R.

Metolius just sent me a couple of these new Master Cams to check out. They look like really nice, I'd have to say comparing to them to aliens they look great. I'll write some details and post some pictures side by side with some aliens soon. I like the design, I think they look like a great new option for an alien sized cam. Of course once people get to using them informed opinions might develop, but first look they seem really nicely designed.




Also Integral Designs sent me a bivy sack design they are trying out, so I'll share what thats all about here soon.

so how does one get in on all this free "test" gear?
You probably actually have to climb every now and again, huh.

oh, hows the weight?

it helps if you own a busy climbing board

i'm fat, the cams are pretty light. i'll post the wieghts (the cams, not me) in the write up.

and i'm looking forward to getting outside climbing for the first time since breaking my leg to try these bad boys out!

the shop here in salt lake has a run of thest babies! they look pretty awesome and feel great. i got home and looked at my aliens and it is taking everything i've got to not got back and get the metoliusesees.

one thing i liked was that the trigger wires were not wires at all.. but string-like. it allowed the lobes to rebound more easily independent of each other. aliens, if you hold two lobe closed w/ your fingers, the others don't open very much. (read: met's could be more solid in an offset-like placement)