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Magnetron Carabiners

Date: 13th July 2011

OK, the name is kinda dorky but these are the coolest new carabiners I’ve ever seen:

Magnetron Technology: The reinvention of the auto-locking carabiner, coming July 2012 from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

The guy in the video, my friend Bill B., handed me one of these a few months ago to look at, but didn’t tell me how they worked. I wracked my brain trying to figure it out as I effortlessly opened and closed the gate, and finally it was like, “MAGNETS!!!!!” I’m a gear geek, and this is a huge step forward. No more fumbling one-handed with tricky gates, ropes unscrewing screw gates, “auto-lockers” that are total pain in the ass, etc. Huge step forward for boring old carabiners, a subject I thought was pretty much done in terms of huge evolutionary steps.
I’ve been just dying to talk about these ‘biners since I saw the rough protos, now I finally can. I can’t think of one thing these do less well than the best lockers on my rack now. Must be something I’ll still use a screwgate for, but these truly autolock without the hassle of an autolock. Wicked.

Posted in: Blog

Comments

  1. Chris   July 13, 2011 5:01 pm

    Hey Will…
    Always enjoy reading your perspectives. By any chance did you get to see these magno-lockers in action during the winter? I'd be interested to see how they hold up to ice conditions. My experience with the Petzl auto-lockers in the winter has been less than inspiring. Cheers.

  2. Dane   July 13, 2011 5:10 pm

    Same question..winter?

  3. Will Gadd   July 13, 2011 5:21 pm

    I haven't played with them in ice, too new. But they look like they would be far better than normal screw gates, can't see any reason at all why they wouldn't clean a lot better. Plus there are two locking pieces, so even if one was iced up the other would have a chance at still working, unlike normal screw gates that just freeze in place. There's good leverage to get them undone if they ice in place (doesn't seem likely as hard for water to get in there).

    So I think they will be at least as good and likely much better than normal ones, but not totally sure.

  4. Kim Graves   July 13, 2011 5:42 pm

    Magnetron is to Megatron as
    1) Autobot is to Decepticon,
    2) Decepticon is to Autobot,
    3) Luke is to Darth
    4) Easter bunny is to tooth fairy

  5. Will Gadd   July 13, 2011 6:13 pm

    And that is funny!

  6. Mauricio   July 13, 2011 6:58 pm

    Yeah, I was about to ask the same question. What about using them in ice/alpine…

  7. Will Gadd   July 13, 2011 8:48 pm

    I think they are going to be great in the winter alpine honestly, just the way they work is so much simpler and cleaner than traditional screw gates. I never use other "autolocks" in winter, they are generally a disaster. These are a really, really innovative idea I think. I had nothing to do with them, but I've been waiting for this announcement for months just so I could play publicly with these biners.

    I expect guides and instruction will be a huge market. Three-way closure (a standard for some applications), client can't forget to close the biner, etc. etc., they just solve a lot of problems.

    I hate autolockers actually, never use 'em 'cause they annoy me so bad. These are way, way simpler than a screwgate really. I'm sure there will be some minor issues to sort out, always are, but damn are they good!

  8. akalpinist   July 14, 2011 12:46 am

    What a neat concept! We'll see how they hold up.

  9. AlanL   July 14, 2011 5:17 pm

    > We'll see how they hold up.

    That would be my concern too, given that my Gridlock belay biner has a distinct rope groove after only three months of not very intensive use. Hopefully they have the alloy and the anodising a bit more sorted this time.

  10. Evan   July 14, 2011 9:35 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvmvxAcT_Yc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    F*ckin' magnets, how do they work?

  11. Brad   July 19, 2011 7:55 pm

    Hey Will,in that video is that a mega long screw in the back ground. Looks like 14 inches long or so. Neat idea for the biners. might be a neat idea to dunk it in water and stick it in the freezer.

    Cheers

  12. debs   July 27, 2011 7:42 pm

    Thanks for the info! I like the idea of these. Locking sure needs some kind of innovation. I think magnets actually get stronger in the cold…. I'm guessing it would be imperceptible, but will be interested to hear.
    And how much do they weigh?

    -for sure keep 'em away from your compass

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