Mooching

[Matt Peck]

hey Yall. Does anyone have a green alien I can borrow for a day, I wanna see if it is actually the size Im looking for.
thanks muchly,
Matt.

[martha]

yup.

no prob.

you'll have to get it from Fred though as I am leaving for Minnesota tomorrow am.

[Fred]

you can have. It sucks.

[martha]

You can't give that away you turkey..You gave me that cam for my Birthday...

MEN!! sheesh!!!!!

[Matt Peck]

Ha ha. Yeah, I'll take it.
Im hoping for some more super cheap cams in New Paltz. That was great last year. You don't usually get cheap aliens though, just cheaper brands, or crazy ones made in Kapablockadackistan. ("what country was this car made in again?" "it no longer exists......Put it in H!")

[thicks]

I will give ya a quarter for it. Then you could call someone that cares Martha, HAHAHAAAHAHAHAAAAAA! Oh.... ahahaHAHAHAHAHAAAAA.

[martha]

Hey tyler...you want a drive to the gunks still? or would you rather I drag you behind the car?

[Shawn B]

Same size as # 1 (blue) metolius tcu if that helps Matt. Maybe just a slight touch larger or my tcu is worn down. But basically the same size. Aliens rock!! Mucho cheaper in the US for some reason. Alpenglow in Bar Harbour has them in stock (all sizes as of last Saturday). $54 a piece. I'm guessing the shop in Bangor will also have them since BH does. If you can find them in NH though, no tax either. So unless MEC dropped their prices on them it is a big saving getting them down there. TCU's are good too though. Go with BD for any cam .5 (purple) and larger. The old style is so nice but the new....hard to believe but they are way nicer. Although the red Alien (same size as purple BD) fits nicer in some spots 'cause of the narrower head.

[thicks]

ha ha ha...... um.. haha... er ummm haha?
ok forgot i said anything, lets all look at the smoking monkey and laugh.....

[Fred]

I totaly laughed too when I looke at him. again!

[Andrew]

Fred,

Are you joking about the Green Alien sucking, or are you serious? I've found the Aliens to be very nice cams in the smaller sizes (blue,green,yellow,red). I've only ever experienced Aliens and Camalots (plus some forged friends) so I have little to compare them to.

you can have. It sucks.

[Fred]

I'm very serious. I wouldn't even want to give them to anyone because of the pain it would put them through. That flimsy stem gives me a real headach when pumped and locked off trying to shove a cam in a crack. I need to be able to push it in there and not frig around with it for too long. Metolius stems are much more rigid and I find it makes for easier placing on the fly. The nice thing I will say about the Aliens is they don't walk as bad. Otherwise they are garbage in my opinion.

[martha]

I like the alien, but not as much as the metolius. But I am glad to have it on my rack because of the narrower head..like shawn said...it fits where others don't.

I do find the stem pretty floppy though. it is hard to get into a place unless you can eyeball it the whole way.

[The Teth]

On the topic of cam stems...when climbing a route on Dove I had trouble with my 2.5 Wild Country when reaching back into a slightly flaring crack for a better placement at the back. The Wild Country has a single stem with a slider trigger which requires a finger on either side of the stem and a thumb on the end of the stem in order to compress the trigger. The problem was that this configuration would not allow me to flatten my hand enough to fit it far enough into the crack. I had to use a Rock Empire Robot Cam instead. It has a doubled over heavy cable as a stem with the trigger in the middle. I could hold the trigger with the edge of one finger and brace the end of the cam on the palm of my hand while keeping my hand flat enough to fit into the crack. Is this similar to the problem you have with the green Alien? Have others encountered this problem?

Teth

[Fred]

we aren't talking about getting your hands on the trigger. That's another can of worms.

We are saying you can push a little with more rigid stems like the metolius to get them in place

with the aliens the stem is too soft so it goes nowhere when you force it in place by pushing a little (i.e. pushing rope) So you have to be way more precise which can be difficult if you are placing slighlty blind or pumped

[Andrew]

Fred,

I see what you mean. I've never tried to put a cam in fast or without seeing the crack its going into, so that's never come up. I've always found the alien's extremely flexible stem to be a plus for anti-walking and such. It's like having a 60cm extender on a loosly-set nut - it keeps the hardware from moving around and possibly unseating.

I've recently tried using a friend's Splitter 2-cam unit. I found them to be rather unstable and VERY difficult to pull the trigger. You had to put a lot of force on the trigger to compress the lobes fully. It also hurt my fingers a little bit as the contact points are so thin where your fingers go. They looks neat and I'm sure they have their specific uses. I'm gonna stick to BD Camalots and CCH Aliens for now. I have what I need ATM.

Thanks for the insight.

I'm very serious. I wouldn't even want to give them to anyone because of the pain it would put them through. That flimsy stem gives me a real headach when pumped and locked off trying to shove a cam in a crack. I need to be able to push it in there and not frig around with it for too long. Metolius stems are much more rigid and I find it makes for easier placing on the fly. The nice thing I will say about the Aliens is they don't walk as bad. Otherwise they are garbage in my opinion.

[Fred]

yeah definitely if you have the time to stand on a good hold and see where you are placing the cam then the Aliens are better because there is less chance of walking. But if you are placing blind or pumped... have fun. in my opinion

[Shawn B]

So is the issue with the instrument or the musician?? They used to make Aliens with longer and stiffer cables...not sure if they still do. When I first got them I found the stem a bit too flexible too. But after using a few times and getting used to it, I'd reach for them first over the TCU. Sometimes a TCU will fit better depending on the placement but I find the Alien to be a better placement most of the time. True it is harder to just jam the cam in with the Alien. Use a smaller size instead of jamming it in over-cammed. Cams have the most strength over the middle 1/3 of its range anyway and they are much easier to remove. My only beef with the Alien is that the lobes are softer and do wear more. But on the other hand the softer lobes may bite better when it counts.

[Fred]

the 4 lobes vs 3 lobes combined with a weak stem make for very secure placements once they are in. No doubt. I know what you mean though Shawn with putting in a smaller cam but my comfort always tells me over camed is better than under camed with those little suckers. Jam em in there tight in my opinion.

On another similar note. Have you guys seen the power cam range finders? Man! What I thought was way over camed is actualy what they say is the sweet spot. Yes BD is different because of the double axle but still. Check them out when you get a chance. Also notice they have yellow for over camed and red for undercammed. Thus under-camed is worse than over-camed. Or so they suggest.

But don't listen to me. I've had more cams walk out on me this summer than ever before. It can only mean one of two things:

1) I have gotten worse at placing gear over the years.

2) I'm getting more mileage in so my odds increase.

[Matt Peck]

Or 3. Fred is going senile.