Metolius Colossus Crash Pad - 2009 BCS

Same deal as many others have said...material is crap. its just not tough enough. Took er out on a five day trip and have three inch long rips in the fabric at the end. Had to take it back and get a new one. If they improve the fabric, it will be the best pad on the market in my opinion...so big, amazing foam, so quick to pack up. i was always just standing there waiting for everyone to get their shit together when it was in use. Listen up Metolius......1000d all the way!

I guess it depends on what kind of rocks you throw it down on. Mine seems to be soaking up the abuse with nary a rip, tear or gouge. This uses the same ground-side fabric Metolius uses on almost all their pads, and I've never had real issues with the fabric on any of them: tough as you need it to be. There are three things to love about the Colossus:
1) The tri-fold design, makes this 6 foot long pad carry "small." I don't notice too much of a difference between the Colossus and my old Cheap Bastard -- until I unfold them.
2)The pockets integrated into the closure flap are awesome, as is the fact that that they well designed to double as protection for the shoulder harness.
3) It is a bed. I'm 6 foot and have never been able to sleep comfortably with my legs hanging off my 4 inch high and 4 foot long Cheap Bastard. I've already had some great nights of sleep on the Colossus. And there is room for your significant other, too.
Bomb-er.

I should start by saying I really wanted to like this pad. It is huge when laid out below a problem, but folds up into a pretty impressively small package for getting to the boulders. Having the one buckle closure can be seen as a plus or minus depending. It is quick, but if you are in the habit of stuffing shoes and other items in your pad when you move from one boulder to the next, stuff tends to fall out. And yes there is a pocket in the top flap, but it quickly gets annoying if you pack up and move more than a couple times in a session.

And then we get to the not so good part of this thing. If you read the description on the Metolius site http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/colossus.html you'll see the bottom of this thing is made of 420D ripstop. While this might be a good material for making light packs and ditty bags, my first day out on the Colossus I had multiple rips already showing up. If you dig bouldering (and why spend $200+ if you don't?) you will destroy this thing. The day they make it out of Ballistic nylon, like there older design (eg. Behemoth) this thing will get 5 outa 5. I sure hope Metolious listens to some of the reviews coming out about this pad, because with a simple materials change they would have a pretty sweet pad here, otherwise it is simply not worth it (unless you use it inside??).

With all that said, Backcountry has been awesome, and helped me out huge getting a replacement for this thing. I can't thank the guys at BC.com enough for getting me fixed up with another pad (different brand). You guys rock.