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Gear Review
Black Diamond Camalot C3
Head too wide, lobe shape poor
By Jacon Mayer
Ranked #42 - Big Wall Climbing
September 30, 2009
These are seriously inferior to Metolios Master Cams, and obviously even more inferior to Aliens.
Why? Because the head is suuuper wide. That means it won't fit in those tiny pockets it is designed for.
Also, the lobe shape is poor - not nearly bulbous enough (Master cams do this better, Aliens do it far better). So what, you say? It reduces the range of each cam, and makes the fit worse. I've seen these pop twice, which is scary. Never seen an Alien or a Master cam do that, and I've used the latter a lot more.
I love C4s but these kinda suck.
View Details: Black Diamond Camalot C3
Helpful Votes: 1 Yes
Change me.
2 Comments Last Reply: August 15, 2011 By: yum3893065
Alex's info is misleading, violated from the truth. Lots of cams have different camming angle. I'm a mechanist and I know this pretty well. BD has a wider range given they have the aggressive camming angle, but it has smaller effective angle and it generates bigger force to rock.
Helpful Votes: 0 Yes
I have to respectfully disagree with this comment, on a factual basis: Re: Head width. C3s have the NARROWEST heads of the major microcams, significantly narrower than aliens or mastercams or TCUs. Personally I find this usual since they're easier to slot into small pods in thin seams that are too small for other microcams. Re: Lobe shape. All cams have the same lobe shape, a logarithmic spiral. The only difference between brands is the angle of expansion (how quickly the spiral gets bigger). C3s are intermediate in expansion angle. Metolius cams (TCUs and Mastercams) use a smaller angle and have a smaller range. Aliens use a larger angle and have a greater range. There is nothing "wrong" with the shape of the lobes, they simply offer a different trade-off between range and holding power than other brands, and this difference may be disconcerting to users who are used to a different brand with a different cam angle. Obviously Jacon doesn't like the C3s; that's fine, and he's certainly not alone in that judgement. I like them, but that's irrelevant. I just wanted to correct some factual errors in the above comment.
Helpful Votes: 12 Yes