Lightest Locking Carabiners

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Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby ndonaldj » Apr 4, 2012 10:38 am

I have been working on this list of the lightest locking carabiners available. I'm only including lockers that are 60 grams or less. I am going off of the manufacturers listed weight. There really isn't a reason I'm doing this, just for fun. Does anyone know of any that should be added to the list?

(KL = Keylock)

Trango Superfly - 41g - 24Kn
DMM Phantom KL - 41.5g - 23kN
CAMP Photon KL - 42g - 21kN
Kong Argon KL - 42g - 22kN
Austrialpin Micro Magic Screwlock - 42g - 22kN
Wild Country Neon KL - 42.5g - 24kN
Mad Rock SuperTech KL - 43g - 24kN
Edelrid Pure KL - 43g - 23kN
Metolius Bravo KL - 43.5g - 24kN
ClimbTech Superlight KL - 44g - 24kN
Trango NeoClassic - 44g - 24kN
Faders Compact - 45g - 20kN
Simond Rocky Screwgate KL - 46g - 23kN
Climbing Technology CT Lime KL - 46g - 23kN
Climbing Technology Passion KL - 46g - 26kN
Trango Smooth KL - 48g - 23kN
Wild Country Ion KL - 49g - 24kN
CAMP Orbit Screwlock KL - 49g - 22kN
CAMP Orbit Twist Lock KL - 51g - 22kN
Black Diamond Vaporlock KL - 52g - 21kN
Singing Rock Extasy KL - 52g - 25kN
Mad Rock Oval Tech KL - 53g - 24kN
DMM Sentinal KL - 54g - 24kN
Kong Trapper KL - 55g - 23kN
Grivel Alpha KL - 55g - 27kN
Black Diamond Nitron KL - 56g - 24kN
Black Diamond Positron KL - 56g - 25kN
Mad Rock Ultra Tech KL - 56g - 26kN
Petzl Attache 3D KL - 57g - 22kN
Simond Spider Screwgate KL - 57g - 25kN
Stubai HMS Pico KL - 58g - 21kN
Climb Tech Featherlight KL - 60g - 28kN

To see the list with pictures go to my blog post: http://neildjohnson.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... iners.html
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Re: Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby Scott McCrea » Apr 4, 2012 9:24 pm

Very good post, Neil! Great info in an easy to reference and understand format. Thanks!

I have been carabiner shopping lately. Weight is only one of the qualities I look for in a good biner. I have used SMC aluminum locking D's for years. They are bombproof, always work, and are very predictable. Excellent qualities for a biner. However, they are big and somewhat heavy, 74g. I like them because they always work. Some others I have tried don't.

Mad Rock SuperTech is light, small and cheap. However, I found the quality to be lacking. The gate gets stuck a lot, even tho I clean and lube them. And the finish wears quickly, imo.

The Keylock screw gate is a must. If a biner doesn't have it, I don't look at it. That said, I like the Petzl AM'D, 74g. Good quality that is worth the weight.

I like to carry a mixture of biners, some SMC, some Petzl and usually a pear shaped, sometimes an oval.
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Re: Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby PaulSiegel86 » Apr 4, 2012 10:15 pm

Scott, you make an excellent point, in that it's not just weight, but also variety. I have taken to always carrying a pear, or HMS, biner when on rope. It recently came in handy in Ellison's when my Petzl Simple wouldn't fit the rigged rope on the nuisance drop. A quick munter on the HMS biner and I was on the move again.

Neil, thanks for this list. It'll come in handy when I have to spend my REI dividend.
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Re: Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby PeterFJohnson » Apr 4, 2012 11:46 pm

Mammut Element Twistlock KL - 46g

I know many people don't like twistlocks in caves, but I have been moving towards using lockers on my cowstails for safety and these make for a good choice. They have a key lock gate and are about the size of a non-locking biner. If you are a diehard screw lock person, they make the same biner but with a screwlock.

I too think that spending a little extra is often a better value. I'd rather spend a bit more for that will last more than a handful of trips, especially if you do any wet or muddy caving.
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Re: Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby ndonaldj » Apr 6, 2012 4:30 pm

A comment made on my blog informed me of these:

Cypher Echo SG-46g-25kN
Cypher Vesat SG-48g-25kN
Cypher Firefly 2 SG-42g-22kN
Cypher Dragonfly SG-48g-23kN
Cypher Electrolite SG-45g-23kN
Omega Pacific Classic SG-60g-24kN
Omega Lite D SG-57g-24kN
Grivel Beta SG-49g-27kN
Grivel Plume SG-37g-22kN
Kong Argon SG-42g-24kN
Kong Ultratop SG-56g-26kN
Stubia HMS Pico-58g-21kN

The most impressive being the Grivel Plume Nut K3N. Although I can't find any online retailer that sells them.
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Re: Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby gdstorrick » Apr 11, 2012 5:11 pm

Post deleted.
Last edited by gdstorrick on Jul 7, 2012 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lightest Locking Carabiners

Postby Extremeophile » Apr 16, 2012 10:57 am

PeterFJohnson wrote:Mammut Element Twistlock KL - 46g

I know many people don't like twistlocks in caves, but I have been moving towards using lockers on my cowstails for safety and these make for a good choice. They have a key lock gate and are about the size of a non-locking biner. If you are a diehard screw lock person, they make the same biner but with a screwlock.

I too think that spending a little extra is often a better value. I'd rather spend a bit more for that will last more than a handful of trips, especially if you do any wet or muddy caving.

Agree with Pete. This is nearly the perfect cowstail biner for non-muddy caving. I favor using lockers on my cowstails for safety, and I like autolockers for speed. The Mammut is a keylock so it doesn't catch on rope, hangers or webbing. The autolock mechanism is a simple twist and open so it's easy to do with one hand. It's also very small and lightweight. This combination of features can't be found in any other biner I've seen. BD makes a screwlock that's has all these advantages but without being an autolock it's slower locking and unlocking when crossing rebelays, clipping traverse lines, etc.
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