New BD Cobras field report

[Fromage]

I spent three days swinging the new BD Cobras up in Lillooet over MLK weekend, and here are my observations on how they work. It's only fair to start with the background that I didn't like the original Cobras and that I am a diehard Charlet fan, having owned the succession of Pulsars, Quasars, Quarks, and Quark Ergos.

 

My gripes with the original Cobras (used 6-7 days) were

1. grip was too big (and I can palm a basketball)

2. tool balance was too topheavy

3. swing speed was kind of slow and the tool felt clunky (see previous)

4. the tool shattered ice like a Russian nuclear icebreaker. I don't think it was just my technique, because I don't have this problem with my Charlet tools.

 

The new Cobras have considerable improvements over the originals. The grip is very comfortable, both for my giant hams and my partner's petite paws. The swing is completely different, it feels more natural and is easier to control. The way the tool rotates feels better balanced, and the swings were snappier and quicker.

 

On steep terrain, the added clearance was great. I was able to hook and swing around features in a way that is comparable to my Quarks. Placements felt secure, and I was getting solid sticks on the first swing much more frequently than I did with the old Cobras.

 

The threaded leash insert was a refined touch. Attaching the Androids to the shaft was a 30-second process with an allen wrench, and anchoring them to the shaft is much more elegant than the old hoseclamp solution of the first gen Cobras. Even when climbing leashed, the Strike attachment was a useful thing to have to get a little more mileage out of my placements.

 

Even though the picks are the same as on the earlier version of the tool, I found that I wasn't shattering the ice as much. Granted, I was climbing soft, sticky, Lillo plastic and not Canmore Steel, but the amount of ice I displaced was still fairly low. I was still knocking down more ice than I do with my Quarks, but not much more.

 

The only thing about the new Cobras that I wasn't totally jazzed about was the placement feedback. My placements felt kind of "dead," as in I didn't get a good sense from the tool about how solidly it was placed. By contrast, when I get a solid stick with my Quarks, I feel a certain pitch of vibration through the tool that tells me "this placement is great, you don't need to swing again." I can tell a lot about the quality of my placements by the way the tool vibrates, and I like that. I guess that is really a matter of personal preference. Some people like the damp feel of the carbon, some people like the lively feel of aluminum. Neither is superior, they just give you a different connection to the ice.

 

Overall, I had a lot of fun climbing on the new Cobras, and I now have a warm place in my heart for that tool. I was frustrated with the old ones, and the new ones have a totally different personality. If you measure how good a tool is by how secure it feels, how confident you feel using them, and how much fun you have using them, then these rank pretty high. I think that if I owned a pair I would want to climb on them a lot, but they still can't take the top spot away from my Quarks. I think the new Cobras are the most expensive tools on the market. $600 gets you a pair without leashes. They are great tools, and the amount of work that has gone into the redesign is impressive, but someone would need to have a very good reason to pony up that kind of money for these, like replacing a very old pair of tools.

[Alex]

I've owned the old Cobra for years, old Viper for 2 years, Quarks for years, and other tools on and off (Quark Ergo, Prophets, etc)

 

I now own the new BD Cobra, and have been using it for the last few outings with a Quark in one hand and a new Cobra in the other. All leashless, all the time. For both mixed and ice, the Cobra beats the Quark.

 

It's hard to actually describe why, though. The balance is just...different. The curve of the shaft is ... different. The stick is ...different. Climbing mixed, the pick and shaft "lock in" better than a Quark.

 

Climbing mixed is nice with the cobra, until you have to drive a pin. Then, when you miss, you whack the CF shaft and cringe. I am using the Quark to drive pins, for the forseeable future.

 

Climbing mushrooms with the tool is comparable to climbing them with a Quark, and better than an old Viper or old Cobra.

 

Climbing hard ice, **VERY SURPRISING!** was dead EASY, despite the weight of the tool, which is light. I am used to the old school of thought that you need weight to drive them into hard ice better. Not so. The new cobra places in hard ice like a friggin DREAM. Better than a Quark.

 

I've been climbing only leashless, and the grip on the new Cobra is better than a Quark for my hands (large). They are a quantum leap up from the old Viper (which is why I sold my vipers and went with the new Cobra).

 

I think that the Quark is still one of the abs best tools out there today. It's very difficult to beat. So, if you are already a Quark-wielding savage, the improvements you will find are only small and only in certain areas with the new Cobra. Any other tool, you'll feel a marked difference

 

By the way, if you shop around you can get a discount on pairs of tools. I've seen them for 539$ the pair. I was lucky and got mine even cheaper. If you wait til next season, you may even see the price come down, or some used pairs start to float around

[kurthicks]

I'd also like to add that these drytool quite well. The disconcerting placement feedback that Fromage referred to does become more familiar and comfortable after getting more pitches on them.