DMM Dragon Cam – Gold – Size 4

On hard climbs where I likely want a lot of pro, I carry doubles. For me that means a set of BD C4s (the standard), and a set of Dragons. When I’m doing alpine stuff where I likely only need a light rack of singles, I grab the dragons.The Dragon cams pretty much cover an identical range as the C4s, and (thank god) they use the exact same color scheme. Some people worry about the lack of a thumb loop. I’ve never even noticed. That is to say, they place well and easily. I think they’re slightly lighter than the C4s, but doubt anyone trad climbing would notice the slight difference.The biggest boon (but also the only con, which I’ll cover) is the extendible dyneema draw. Very often I find that extending the draw for a more or less straight up and down pitch provides enough protection from the cam walking, without me needing to go for a runner. That’s pretty nice.The downside is that, supposedly, you should replace dyneema slings every couple of years, whereas the beefy nylon slings found on the C4s should only need replacing every 5 or so. Now, whether a theoretical 30% or so loss in strength due to aging of the dyneema should matter, given an initial breaking strength of around 22kn matters, when you have a rope in the system…I kinda doubt it. But if you’re a strictly by the books person, you’re going to have to mail these somewhere every 2 years for a new sling. That kinda sucks.I’ll end by saying two things: 1) I love placing these cams. 2) If you’re looking to do direct aid, the lack of the thumb loop might bother you I suppose. I mostly free climb though.