Outdoor Gear Lab
Mad Rock has done a great job with the UltraLight. Small but not too small, light and strong, and all at a reasonable price. Our Best Buy award winner is a great choice for someone new to climbing and facing the hundreds of dollars it takes to build their rack, or for anyone who would rather spend their money on gas to get to the crag rather than their gear.go to full review
Due to the keylock gate design, the Black Diamond Positron is one of the easiest carabiners to unclip from bolt hangers on steep routes. Also, the keylock makes this a great carabiner to rack nuts and gear on (it won't get hung up as easily on a sling). Other than that, this is just a great work horse biner. It's not light but it works in a variety of situations, is easy to clip and handle, and gets the job done...." go to full review
The Black Diamond Oval Wire earned high scores in our rope pull smoothness metric. They are ideal for top-rope anchors because it has a wider rope-bearing surface that reduces friction. In fact, it had some of the lowest friction of any other non-locking carabiner. They are also great if you are setting up a carabiner break rappel. This product is also good for racking slings and pitons because the gear can slide around easily. Some aid climbers also like to use them for their aiders and..." go to full review
The bottom line is that, based on our testing experience, if a friend asked us what to buy, we would not recommend they purchase of the CAMP Photon Wire at this time. We'd suggest spending a bit more and looking at the Wild Country Helium Carabiner instead...." go to full review
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, this biner is easy to hold both because it is a reasonable size and has an 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 carabiners.go to full review
The Black Diamond Hotwire scored well in most categories. It scores above average for ease of clipping. It held three figure eight knots very well (it's roomy). As with all biners with the wire-gate design the gate is less likely to get frozen shut on alpine routes and the slightly hooded nose helps protect gate from getting inadvertently rubbed/pushed opened...." go to full review
Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the goal for lighter and lighter gear, and forget that the gear does not just sit on a scale looking smug but will actually get out onto a climb and need to be functional. The "keychain" carabiners seem like a good party trick ("Yes these really are full-strength…") but when it comes to something you'd actually want to climb with, weight isn't the sole consideration. Black Diamond seems to have found the right mix of..." go to full review
Petzl is notoriously frugal in its non-locking carabiner department. Though they produce 10 different kinds of locking biners, up until they added the Djinn they had only three other non-lockers available. Of course, when one of those is the Spirit, you might not really need a large line of options. Really, Petzl has just created competition for itself with the new Djinn. It's heavier than the Spirit, but burlier and less expensive, and both are excellent carabiners for sport climbing..." go to full review
The Nitro uses a slightly bent wire gate that is one of the easiest to clip. It was a solid performer in five out of our six metrics. It is one of the easier carabiners to handle due to it's friendly size and grippable spine. Yet despite its generous size, it is still pretty light...." go to full review
The Petzl Spirit continues to dominate in the sport climbing world, and the latest version of its Express quickdraw won our Editors' Choice award. However, the carabiner itself might not be your best choice for most types of climbing for which you'd be buying individual carabiners. Even with its recent weight loss, it is still much heavier than the lightweight options out there. If you're looking to build or update your trad rack and want the best biner available, the Wild..." go to full review