#651
#652
|
|
#651 | #652 |
Yuan Hong Hing Co., Ltd. (元鴻興有限公司) is an ISO-certified Taiwanese firm. Their products' CE certifications are legitimate. The company did hot forging for Omega Pacific before Omega Pacific shut down. I Climb Safety is the brand name that Yuan Hong Hing Co. uses to appeal to Western markets.
[ Top | #652 | Return to Belay Tubes ]
|
|
|
Front | Rear | Top |
|
|
|
Left | Right | Bottom |
Kevin M. Mai ZhongJie helped me acquire this #651 belay tube from I Climb in 2023.
The I Climb #651 is a notched belay tube. It is drop forged from 6061 aluminum and soft anodized. Mine is 58 mm. long, 26 mm. wide, 114 mm. high, and weighs 55 g. The slots are 31 mm. long and 15 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 25 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The #651 has one slot with a ribbed V-groove at one end. It also has a stiff, plastic-covered cable keeper.
One side is printed with "iclimb®." The other side is printed with a rigging illustration and "Ø 8.9-11mm."
The I Climb #651 is a single-rope notched belay tube. I have these similar ones in my collection:
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Each of these is 58±1 mm. long, 25±1 mm. wide, and weigh 56±3 g.
The Rock Empire Gym's name implies that it is designed for gym climbing, and if you restrict the use of these three to use in gyms, they should work fine in the hands of a competent user. In the gym, most of my remaining comments become moot. If you should consider taking any of these into the "real world," read on:
These are all designed for single-rope belaying only. Although this saves a tiny amount of weight, it does not compensate for losing the ability to do double-rope rappels. Weight is not normally a factor when belaying "sport climbs," and the Wild Country VC Pro (for example) has two slots while only adding 6 g.
These each have a V-slots that provide additional friction for belaying or rappelling. Each side of the trailing groove has three V-shaped slots, giving the grooves "teeth" to grip the rope more effectively. The teeth do not have the narrow angle found on the Salewa Tubus, Singing Rock, or Trango Jaws, so they do not create the same wedging action. For this reason, their friction is lower and I find them less effective.
These are rigged rigged like the ATC, with the V-slots on the brake hand end of the rope. Alternately, they may be reversed to disable the V-slots, but the braking friction in a fall will be less.
All of these have thick walls and considerable depth, which helps them stay cooler than they would if they had been designed for minimum weight.
Although there is nothing "wrong" with any of these, they are too specialized for my taste. They are fine for the gym, but in the field I would rather carry a few more grams and have the capability to do double-rope rappels. I also prefer the additional grip provided by the Trango Jaws and its equivalents.
[ Top | #651 | Return to Belay Tubes ]
|
|
|
Front | Rear | Top |
|
|
|
Left | Right | Bottom |
Kevin M. Mai ZhongJie helped me acquire this #652 belay tube from I Climb in 2023.
The I Climb #652 is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 56 mm. long, 47 mm. wide, 98 mm. high, and weighs 51 g. The slots are 34 mm. long and 16 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 7 mm. below the ends of the slots. The #652 has a stiff, plastic-covered, cable keeper.
One side is printed with "iclimb®." The other side is printed with a rigging illustration and "Ø 8.9-11mm."
The following closely-related belay tubes include the I Climb #652 as an example:
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Each of these is 55±1 mm. long and 47±1 mm. wide, and has a weight in the 54±3 g. range. Their slots are all 35±1 mm. long and 16 mm. wide. The main differences are that most have cable keepers and U-shaped notches on both ends, but some have rod keepers and V-shaped notches on the high end.
These have several distinctive features, but overall, perform like most devices of this type. The rope slots are hour-glass shaped, but this does not appear to affect their performance. They are slightly asymmetrical with a high and a low end, giving two distinct riggings. One would expect a difference in friction for the two riggings, with more friction if the braking line runs over the shorter end; however, I do not notice much difference.
Most of these have shallow U-notches at both ends. The Clog Flyer, Ellis Brigham Climb and Unknown have V-notches at the high end, so I call these notched belay tubes. The V-notches are not as tall and acute as those on the Trango Jaws and its equivalents, so they do not provide as much braking. The U-notches on the others are are too shallow to noticeably amplify braking.
I prefer the ones with the rigid rod keeper. For the others, the plastic-coated cable keeper is moderately flexible, but stiff enough that it tends to stay out from under the rope.
For far more content, use a larger monitor and a full-width window.
Hundreds of cell phone users complained and asked me to for a simpler, mobile friendly site. In particular, they wanted me to limit each page to a small number of pictures and minimize my use of text. This new site provides what they asked for.