Small Camming Device Review | Best-in-Class

Flared Cracks
Flared cracks usually come in the form of pin scars in Yosemite and Zion. However, they are found just about everywhere to some extent. By far the best cams for flared cracks are offset or hybrid cams. The CCH Hybrid Alien with its soft metal and narrow head width scored the highest. For pin scars, it is pretty awesome, especially because the flexible stem helps it get inside deep "boxed out" scars. A close second is the Metolius Offset Master Cam. It's harder aluminum was not quick as sticky in pin scars as the Hybrid Alien. However, it is also more durable and had a narrower head in the smaller sizes that made it sometimes more secure. For Yosemite routes we would bring a set of each. Most other cams did about the same with the TCU scoring the lowest because with only 3 cams they were not as stable in flares.

Horizontal Placements and awkward placements
Cams with the flexible stems and narrow stems did the best in horizontal cracks or weird pods. The Wild Country Zero had the most flexible stem and narrowest stem and did the best. It's the Gumby of cams: it cam bend to get in just about any orientation. The CCH Alien was a close second. The Master Cam was stiffer and had a piece of metal in the stem that held back it's performance just a little. Cams with stiffer stems caused the cam to be more levered out. They also got more battered when either weighted or fallen on. For example, when bounce testing TCU's, their cables got warped faster than other cams. All cams get a little worked when you bounce on them, but flexible stems did better.

Tight Placements
Cams with the narrowest heads got in tight placements the best. A clear standout is the Black Diamond Camalot C3 that was 10-40 percent narrower than the rest. In spots like The Nose's Great Roof, you can really show them up in tiny little spots and feel secure. Second place was was the Master Cam and Offset Master Cam that was just a little better than the Alien in the crucial small sizes. The TCU's were the widest and really didn't get in tight spots that well. The Wild Country Zero was one of the wider cams in bigger sizes. However, it was also the smallest cam in its smallest sizes. You really need to hold the smallest sizes to believe just how tiny they are.

Walking
The clear winner in this category is the Wild Country Zero. Not only does it have a very flexible stem, it has a sling that can be extended. Of course you can always attach a runner to any piece, but having this sling means it is much faster to make the piece safe (and you have to carry less draws and runner). Second best was the Alien with it flexible stem and longer sling. The other cams has either stiffer stems or shorter slings which meant they walked more. The C3 and TCU, with only three cams, stiff stems, and short slings walked the most.

Durability
All cams eventually get beat up, but the Aliens showed the most wear the fastest on the cams. Their soft metal caused the cams to lose there teeth and become difficult to open. Their stems, however, were well protected with a protective sheath and even after a ton of bounce testing, the stems usually stay in shape. The Wild Country Zero stems, on the other hand, are much more delicate with their exposed cables. We found you really had to take care of them. Most other cams were about the same for durability. The TCU was the most burly because it had a beefy cable and just lasted the longest. The Master Cams have a very durable stem and cams but their Kevlar cam "wires" are still of unknown durablility.

The Bottom Line
All the cams we tested had something they were best at:
Metolius Ultra TCU - lightest
Wild Country Zero - smallest cam and best for horizontal placements
Black Diamond Camalot C3 - best in tiny spots
CCH Alien - best in Yosemite and Zion pin scars

But overall, if we could only have one device it would be the Metolius Master Cam and its offset sibling the Metolius Offset Master Cam. They scored high in every category, were bomber, durable and also one of the cheapest cams. In fact, if it hadn't won our Editors Choice Award, we would have given it the Best Buy Award. It's tricky to decide how many offset pieces to carry versus regular models. We usually carry two sets of regular cams and one set of offsets in most applications. However, on a wall, we would bring two sets of offsets and two sets of regular, especially in the small sizes.

For aid climbing, we still carry a set of the CCH Alien and CCH Hybrid Alien because their soft metal helps them stick better in certain situations. The future availability of Aliens is always in question so we would say buy a set of these, especially the hybrids, now while you still can.

We also really liked the Wild Country Zero. We carry the smallest sizes because they are hands down the smallest cams and can really help, especially in clean aid climbing. The bigger sizes are great too and scored just behind the Master Cams.