Review > Blank Slate Climbing > Blank Slate

This review is a long one, we've had some back and forth with John about the review and because we had many questions that needed to be answered. So this one is a little different folks... here's how it went.

We wrote the review as usual, we had questions so we had John answer them before he read the review; so the interview we have with him lower down on the page is with him not having read the review, anything that is in the main body of the review in italics are Johns comments after he answered the questions and when he'd read the review, he helpfully points out some stuff that we didn't ask


Here we go:


Blank Slate is a phrase that means "Something that has yet to be marked, determined, or developed" so what are we looking at here? Well to avoid confusion I will refer to Blank Slate Climbing as BSC and the product that we're looking at as the Blank Slate. It's kind of tricky when the name of a product and the name of the company are the same :) Here’s why we like Blank Slate as a name: In one sense, Blank Slate refers to a blank canvas for the owner to determine how they want their board to be, it’s up to them. In another sense, Blank Slate is about breaking through to the next level.

When you’re at a plateau in anything—climbing, work, art, life—our philosophy is that, to break through that plateau, you need to go completely back to the drawing board and re-evaluate everything, not just continue the same old things expecting different results. To break through, you must start from a Blank Slate, in every possible contributing aspect.

So now you are now wondering what we're looking at here... well they say a picture speaks a thousand words so here you go:

Yup that is pretty much it, need we say more? Ok, it's a board with some holds on it... but what's that bit at the back? Aha! The bit that looks like a pull up bar... you know, this bit:

Well that's the bit that attaches to your door frame, that attaches to the board and then.. and this is the genius part... it hangs like so:

So now don't have to drill holes for when you want to put up a hang board in your parents homes, rented apartment or new home. The argument your parents gave you to not have a board is done, finished and well and truly kaput! To say that this product is genius is like calling Einstein "a little bit smart", also to say that this is a complete product would be remiss from our part. The product is great, truly great but there are some short comings, really really minor points and something that if you get one should be aware of.

Before we get into the full on meat of the review, let us walk you through the day we got the board and what we did... and then the next couple of days. There is a resounding theme over these days that is quite amusing, but a very important message for anyone that buys a Blank Slate.

Arrival And Building:

We were waiting for some people to come over for dinner, the doorbell rings and instead of dinner guests it's the UPS guy. He's struggling up the stairs at the end of what was a miserable day outside with a huge box. Seeing the size of the box we knew what it was... dinner was going to be late. After paying the good man some money for import fees (one day people will remember to put lower declared values on packages that are international) the box is dragged to the living room and is unpacked.

Now if you're at all normal in any way shape or form you will discard the instructions, or take a fleeting glance at them and then build away. Thankfully BSC being a forward thinking company didn't include any instructions!! This isn't them not packaging their product incorrectly it's them being green, you can get the user manual online. Now, if you don't have say a handy iPad etc then you're either going to be sitting on the floor where your computer is building this, or in our case using my iPhone and then running back and forth to my computer screen because we sometimes needed a better look at what we were doing. The whole ethos behind no instructions is to save the planet, so don't just go and print them, do it the slightly longer and harder way.

What you're going to get in the box is this:

• Blank Slate Panel with pre installed t-nuts
• J bars
• J bar plugs
• Crossbar with foam grips
• Back support
• Back support felt
• 6 x 2 1/4" counter sunk bolts
• 2 x 2 1/2" socket bolts
• 16 washers
• 8 nuts
• 17 teeth washers
• 2 silicone bands
• Hex tool

Basically if you don't like Ikea furniture, but you do love climbing then get some friends over :D Remember how we said if you were normal you'd only glance at the instructions? Well don't! Actually read them because although with a combined education of 4 degrees, one masters and jobs like video game designer, train driver, machine designer and biochemist in the room you will miss something... and we did (more on this later) Don't get us wrong here, with the quickest glance at the screen we were able to put the Blank Slate together, it's easy, it's easier than the last piece of furniture you built. All of the parts were there, the instructions are through.. it took us all of five minutes to put together. It was so quick and easy it was almost crazy.

As we were building it we got to play with the bolts etc that hold this board up and it's a list of high quality parts. All of the bolts are hardened steel, same with the nuts, the hex tool is like the one Metolius sent us when we reviewed one of their hold packs (but waaay better) and then you look at the wood, it's good quality and the finish is superb, same with the matching back support; these pieces are just really well made and pretty. The cross bar that we received well it was pretty obvious that it'd been used a little the finish was scratched up in a few places and despite this minor fact everything was just beautiful

So it's built... and by now we have it hanging on a door frame... and thus far you've not heard what we did wrong. Wait.

Tweaking:

Putting the Blank Slate together takes no time. To put it onto a door frame is quick as well, you just swing it up, put the back brace over the top of your door frame and the foam pads of the crossbar rest on the front of the frame... it's that simple. What you need to do now is play around a little bit to get the board as vertical as possible, playing with the back support and the adjustments on the J bars will take a little time, you'll need to put up and take down the Blank Slate a few times. Overall, this took us about 30 minutes, so we've spent 35 minutes of our time and we're ready to rock. All you need is some holds... or a board.

Holds and Boards:

Now the Blank Slate will take two boards, the Grill from Revolution Climbing and one from Axarte that is being designed as we speak. We'll be looking at the boards in a separate review later on. The holds you can get from BSC are these:

Easy Rocks

Hard Rocks

Both sets of holds are again from Revolution Climbing, if you have a keen eye one of the images at the start of the review has grey holds, which are from Metolius (Yeah we have a keen eye) So this basically means that you can put whatever holds you want onto your Blank Slate, hell this thing is a BLANK SLATE so you can screw any board you want onto it, here's what our board ended up looking like by the end of the evening:

 

That's right, the Metolius 3D Simulator and the DRCC V3 Hangboard are installed and ready to rock above the kitchen door frame.

What We Did Wrong!

We didn't read the instructions. We glanced at them but we didn't read the really quite comprehensive instructions on use of the product... oh read them people read them. Here's a quick list of the stuff we didn't read and some thoughts on them:

Ooops, we've been doing pull ups on the bar like a bunch of monkeys that we are. The way the board works is the force of the climber pulling down torques the board into the wall above the door trim and keeps it in place. It's a shame that most peoples door frames aren't like ours here at CHR... massive and bombproof) so we don't have much of an issue doing this, but we'd not recommend it in any way shape or form

Well we skim read the instructions and looked the the images as we built it. Thankfully it's simple to put together so we had no problems

Well here we have a problem as we've been campussing from one board to the other :( Now we've had no problems doing what we've been doing BUT there was an instance where I (Jeremy) was static hanging from the board on one side only and we heard a very loud crack. What that was was our back bolts sliding a little from having four people bounce around on the board like lunatics for an hour, needless to say I dropped the floor pretty damn quickly and then took the Blank Slate down and re tightened the bolts so they were really really tight, since then there hasn't been a problem

Yeah right :)

The Blank Slate and Use:

Here is where we fall into the real meat of the review, there's good and bad and there have been lots of comments from the people that have used this board over the last week... this is a review that we will keep updating as we use the Blank Slate more and more.

1. The Blank Slate is great, there's no doubting that but there are some issues that we can see. No matter how you set the board up and no matter how tight you put everything together this product relies upon your door trims being pretty solid... to a degree, why do we say to a degree? Because the board when in use pulls against the wall ABOVE the door frame and not no much on the frame itself, so the load is distributed across the frame above the door and a little on the trim itself. So if this product is your answer to drilling holes in your parents or landlords walls then it is only a partial solution, check that your wall / frame is solid beforehand. Now we went back to John on this point and we asked about the door frame / trim issue, he in turn went to his engineer that helped design the board and got us an answer... see Question 4 of the interview for the answer!!
2. The Blank Slate does move slightly when in use. It's not much but there is some flex, we've had people from 100lbs to 200lbs on the board and it does move. Now this is when were were going from board to board so after seeing the warnings we did the same test with just hanging and pull ups, our board is totally vertical and there is still some flex. It's not bad and it is something that you'll have to get used to.
3. When you put a climbing hold onto the board you have to use (or it is suggested to stop spinners) washers so they are locked to the board. No real problems there, but it does become a pain in the ass over time as if you rotate the holds you use from one set to another then you need to get more washers. Blank Slate will send you more washers, we checked so you can avoid that pesky trip to the hardware store
4. The holds (we don't have them) aren't mirror images of each other. Look at the hard set, the pockets are the same, what happens if you want to do pull ups? You'll be pulling up on the same pockets... on a single angle bias and that kind of sucks. Why in hells name don't BSC use a system set of holds rather than just a random selection?? Revolution Climbing actually make system holds and they have holds that are no biased or left right biased so they should have used them instead... hell Revolution Climbing and Pusher are the same company, so there is so many holds to choose from from so many sets that it seems like a simple fix :). Again, John who is super happy to answer questions pointed out that "you can put any holds you want on the board" so you can have what you want, and that Blank Slate will be offering more holds in the future
5. The Blank Slate is made for static movements only... no dynamic movements, so what you have is a way to get your hang board onto the wall safely (awesome) but you can only do pull ups on it, no training regimes on your board where you move dynamically between holds, you'll have to drop off of the board, replace your hands and then continue. So basically this means that when you have climbing holds on the board you're using them for pull ups, you can't monkey around between the holds, you're just doing pull ups... it's not a bad thing but it's something that people should be aware of. You can bounce around as much as you wish, or wait for the stool to be released... it's a question of how comfortable you feel doing this. We have disregarded most of the suggested uses and apart from flex we've had no problems

NOW lets looks at point 5 here. Lets face it, unless you've got something like the DRCC System Holds kicking about the place (or any other system holds for that matter) so you can have a board that is symmetrical then there isn't any point in putting holds onto the Blank Slate, get a hang board and get it on there and then use it as your mount.

So pull ups are fine... what the Blank Slate is more intended for is STATIC HANGING... aha! Reading section 3 the Intended Use section gets you to the training section!!! Controlled pull ups, static hangs and eating salad is all covered here (Whoever wrote the manual has a sense of humor and they LOVE salad!) Now that we've found the intended use of the Blank Slate we're better informed about what we can and more importantly what we can't do on it, it's something that should really be included on their webpage so people can make a more informed decision on their purchase.

We were so perplexed by the instructions and what we thought it was going to be intended for that we sat down with John Reed to ask him about what the board was designed for...

And Now A Quick Interview With John Reed

1. Name and position
John Reed, Founder, Outdoor Soul, parent of Blank Slate Climbing

2. You designed the Blank Slate, what was it's intended purpose?
The original purpose was to remove the construction phase (measuring, sawing, re-
measuring, obligatory-return-trip-to-the-hardware-store, re-sawing, stud-finding, etc.) out
of having a home hang-board.

In creating the Blank Slate, we wanted to also have an adjustable height board so that
taller and shorter climbers could use the same hang-board without having to hold their
feet off the ground or use a stool. Lastly, we added a mount for a smart-phone to ward
off the boredom of long hang-board sessions.

Back Story:
Before moving to the mountains, I lived in an apartment in San Francisco. I was
climbing 3-4 times a week and trying to get better and, like a lot of people, decided no
matter how big of a pain, I needed to install a home hang-board. 6 hours, 20 screws into
my rented apartment’s doorway, 1 can of paint, and 1 sore arm from hand-sawing ¾”
plywood, I had a hang-board over my doorway that looked nice-ish.

About 18 months later, the hang-board had delivered and I was climbing almost two
grades higher, but it was time to move to the mountains, so it needed to come down. 4
hours, 1 can of spackle, and 1 can of paint later, I was ready to get at least half of my
deposit back, hopefully.

Given this experience, I decided to figure out a better solution in my next place, and the
Blank Slate prototype was born. It allowed easy install and remove, and it sit at a better
height—my girlfriend (now wife) could reach it without a step stool.

3. How does the physics / mechanics of the board work? (feel free to geek out here)
You’re basically taking advantage of the structural integrity of the door frame, which is
built to standard building codes, and will support up to 300 lbs of Blank Slate. The force
down on the board creates a torque against the wall called the cantilever effect, and this
torque holds the Blank Slate and user up.

The trim on the back side of the doorway only supports the weight of the back half of the
Blank Slate (the board and holds are held up with the cantilever effect, even without
someone hanging). These physics create a very secure board when installed correctly.

4. We're guessing that you need pretty strong door frames / trim to use this product?
We have installed the Blank Slate on a doorway with very week (tack nail, thin as it
comes) trim that was actually broken on one side, and it works flawlessly. According to
our engineer, it’s the cantilever effect, the pressure against the doorframe, that provides
all of the support. As long as the trim can hold the weight of the Blank Slate in place
(more accurately, just the back half of the Blank Slate), then it can support 300 lbs.

5. Was there no way of making the cross bar into a functional pull up bar without screws?
Screws into the wall or trim were out of the question because we wanted to avoid damage
to the wall or trim.

Many home pull-up bars, such as the popular P90X, allow pull-ups directly on the cross-
bar. Our original engineering calculations concentrated on the board
force, so until we’ve verified with our engineer, for liability reasons, our manual states
clearly not to hang on the crossbar.

Theoretically, because the force is downward, you should still have the cantilever effect
pulling down on the cross-bar. In our view though, doing pull-ups from the bar is less
than ideal because 1) you’ll have to hold your feet up, and 2) you might whack your head
on the board on the way up, possibly reminding you you’re a climber, not a meat-head.
Ha, ha.

6. Now the flex. Is there a way of making the system so it doesn't flex when in use or would
making the J bars shorter mean it'd be harder to put up and down (Note to the readers:
The Blank Slate is easy to put up and down once configured so you can still close your
door) or was the design a compromise between the two?
The original prototype was one piece of monstrous, unnecessarily thick, welded steel
that, once you heaved into the doorway (meat-head style), still flexed noticeably,
although it was likely the wood doorframe was doing all the flexing. Using that thickness
steel in the production version would 1) make it unnecessarily difficult to put in the
doorway due to increased weight, 2) cost more, and 3) not reduce the flex noticeably.

The j-bar lengths were calculated based on the wide variety of ceiling heights, doorway
widths, trim widths, and user heights.

7. Now lets talk about the boards
1. The first board is the Grill from Revolution Climbing? Has it been redesigned?
Yes, Revolution has re-designed the board.

2. Because of the redesign that's why the price difference is so huge?
We're still waiting for the board but the price will be adjusted as needed

3. When is the Axarte board coming in and when can we see it as it's their first
board?
It'll be here very soon

8. So holds. Why didn't you go for system style holds or left hand right hand bias holds so
people could make their own hangboard?
We have different offerings in the works. Our first thought was that hang-boards would
fill the need of left/right exact matching, but for holds, most would want a little more
variety. We’re open, it’s all about what customers want, and we have some training
specific holds in stock we plan to sell soon, among other holds sets. This is the Blank
Slate, it’s up to the customer what they want to do with it.

9. We spoke about the kick stool that you're designing that will work with the Blank Slate,
do you feel that having the two will enable people to be able to move between the holds
safely?
Yes, after testing the Blank Slate for a while during the prototype phase, I found that
having a little stool to put my feet in better replicated climbing—it got my back, legs, and
feet in on the training, rather than just my forearms and fingers. I think a dedicated stool
that won’t move around or tip over, and that has foot holds, will be ideal.

It’s interesting that I only came up with the stool idea after having the prototype for
years. The difference is the recently created smart-phone holder. With a smart-phone
there, I’ve had many hour plus sessions to think about things like a stool. Before having
the watch-a-movie option, I could never stand to use a hang-board for long periods of
time, and now, I look forward to it.

10. So the stool will make the Blank Slate into a more rounded climbing system?
Yes, definitely, and the stool will also work with the Solution Climber’s desk.

11. What else do you have up your sleeve? I've seen the design of the desk and I'm intrigued!
In this whole process of creating Blank Slate, I had moved to using a standing desk to
alleviate back pain (which worked marvelously, I’ll never go back to sitting). So, I’d be
at a standing desk in one room, working or surfing, and then go to the other room to hang
on the Blank Slate.

This lead to the invention of the Solution—a standing desk that doubles as a climbing
boulder. While you’re working, you can get a hang in while you’re on a call or just
taking a break. While you’re working out, you can put on a video to keep your mind
occupied.

The Solution lead to creating the mount for a smart-phone (and future tablet mount) for
the Blank Slate.

As far as other things up our sleeve, that’s a big YES. Our next big thing will do no less
than revolutionize the sport of indoor climbing! You heard it here first, folks.

12. We think you've done a stand up job of making the Blank Slate and bringing it to market.
Anyone you want to thank for making it happen?
Thanks, we’re glad to hear that! I would definitely like to thank Brett Boeckel, who has
run Blank Slate Climbing from the beginning in addition to working on other ventures for
Outdoor Soul. Also, thanks to Dustin Buckthal of Vertical Solutions, who has done
invaluable work on product design, among many other things, including work for
Outdoor Soul.


SUGGESTED USES:
We don't have a symbol for what this is :) The suggested use for this product is as a hang board mount and if you're using holds then as more of a climbing simulator but in a pull up way not in a door mounted monkey about from hold to hold way.

Either way, if you don't have time to get to the gym or you're in a office and you're allowed to put this up then do so, its a good way to get a quick fix and a quick pump on. The one problem you may find like some of us over here is that having a mounting platform that is vertical kind of sucks, we don't like straight up and down pull ups... pretty much ever, that's why we like the Metolius board on there because it's angled and it's nicer on the ol' elbows; thankfully the Blank Slate does flex a little so you do get a slight angle when you're on it. Now in the future there will be a variable version of this board available... stay tuned we'll let you know when it's released

OVERALL BUILD
We'll list the parts that come with the board:

•  Price: $129 + shipping
• Board: The Grill: $59
• Holds:
• Hard: 6 holds $29
• Easy:  8 holds $39
• High-quality stained and treated birch wood board: 30″ x 19″ (light or dark stain)
• Looks awesome in dark stain which is what we have
  
• Assemble with 8 burly bolts
• Hardened steep bolts
• A combination of foam padding, plastic and felt prevent door trim damage
• Good quality
• 17 holes with standard t-nuts for holds and fingerboards
• The t nuts are screwed in which is a nice touch
• Powder-coated high-grade steel components
• Very good quality
• Climbing hold hex tool
• Two keys welded together, nicely done
• Crossbar smartphone mount kit
• We call them rubber bands :)
• To be accurate : ), they’re the same as those yellow Lance Armstrong LiveStrong bands. And, man, they work perfectly and add no additional cost to the customer.
  Honestly, we tried many different methods to attach a smart- phone and this was easily the best, most universal, and cheapest for the customer! I love them, and they won’t wear out.]
  
• Crossbar: 42″ Board: 30″ x 19″
• Nice quality, ours arrived with some wear on it

The Blank Slate, you know it's intended uses and you know it's limits. There's not much to write here because every single piece of hardware that came with it is superb, the finish on the board itself is great and once it's put together (which again is easy) it does exactly what it's made for! There isn't anything to complain about apart from the crossbar that looked like it'd been used before but that's forgivable because it could have been from something in the packaging.
 
WHAT IS IT MADE FROM:

• High-quality stained and treated birch wood board: 30″ x 19″ (light or dark stain)
• Assemble with 8 burly bolts
• A combination of foam padding, plastic and felt prevent door trim damage.
• 17 holes with standard t-nuts for holds and fingerboards
• Powder-coated high-grade steel components
• Climbing hold hex tool
• Crossbar smartphone mount kit (rubber bands)
• Crossbar: 42″ Board: 30″ x 19″

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Not so good, everything was loose in the box, this is due to the board being so big.

RATING:
Noodles:
Our hats are off to BSC for getting this product to the market, I've had something like this kicking around for a few years... it involves two pull up bars some wood and some brackets. My version isn't anywhere near as user friendly or well designed, but it did get the job done; as does the Blank Slate. When you're in a fix and you need a fix then this could well be the cure, it's a jack of one trade right now and that's pull ups but it does master that trade pretty darn well if your door frames are up for it.

Now I'll be honest (like always) and I wrote this review with a lot of input from the usual crew. This is going to be an ongoing review as we use it more and more and as we put different boards onto it, we've done a week with it now and so far things are going good. We've pointed out the flaws and problems that we've seen as we've built / used and have moved it about from door frame to door frame so if you're thinking about getting one you know what we've found; hell if you get one then post a comment on this review (good or bad) and let us know what you've found.

Look despite what we've said above lets face it, it's either the gym or a pull up bar and pull up bars suck. Christmas is coming and your parents, girlfriend etc is looking for what to get you for a present. The Blank Slate feels the void (for me) between that dreaded bar, work and not being able to get to the gym and having your own (larger) wall. I'm lucky, I have a wall where I can climb to my hearts content but I like having this above my kitchen door so when I'm cooking or talking to guests I can get a quick work out in without locking myself in a room and thus being anti social.

Sure we should have sat down and read through the instructions before we jumped about on the board, but then again Blank Slate should have mentioned on their site what this product is really for. Now, even though we know what it's for we'll be CHR about it and we'll use it as we wish, we know the risks and we'll push it as far as it'll go and we'll report back. For now we're using it as a hang board mount, once our DRCC S Holds turn up then we'll use it with them and then we'll report back... if we don't break it then all the hang board reviews will probably end up on this board... so lets face it, I love it and you're going to see a whole lot of it before we're done :)

Now as always would I suggest you buy one?

You now know what the Blank Slate is for... chances are you have a door somewhere just begging for this.... I love it, I love that I can watch TV whilst hanging in my kitchen doorway... get one for your loved one for Xmas, they'll love you for it :) Just remember to eat lots of salad :D

Chris:
To say that I was excited about the product is an understatement, I told Jeremy to tell me the second it arrived so I could bring some people over who have the "parent" issue so they could see it and see what I was talking about :) I'll be honest the flex takes some getting used to, but once you do you suddenly have this training device that can be moved about the house in minutes and it means I can train when I like... I don't have the wall like Jeremy and my schedule is tight these days for getting to the gym :(

I'm going to see if I can steal this one without Jeremy noticing, chances are I'll be caught read handed once it moves. I've wanted something like this for many years and now it's here, so I'm happy and I know what I want to get for the holidays, it's simple, elegantly designed (although I think the J bars are too long) and it does it's job... job done!

PROS:

• Fits any door frame
• Takes holds or hang boards, it's an elegant solution
• Your parents / landlord can't complain because you can take it down
• Looks pimp

CONS:

• You have to get used to the flex
• Slightly heavy and bulky for shipping (but it IS a board)
• Not all of the holds are available right now (Minor because you can get holds from lots of places)

Review > Kando Holds > Smoothie

As the name of the review suggests these guys are smoooth... or are they? That's really the question... this week we're looking at Kando Holds Smoothie set. We've had them a good long time and it's time to put them through the Climbing Hold Review wringer :)

What you're going to get when you order these holds are these:

They look pretty inconspicuous right? And you'd be right, they are! These guys are some nicely shaped smooth radius holds that either double as slopey edges or as pinches... you're getting a double whammy with these guys... hell some of these holds are so positive that you can use them as some tenuous mini jugs... but that last sentence does come with an interesting mini warning. You know when you're leaning back, reaching for a hold... really reaching and your body hits that angle where the hold doesn't end up being that good? Well that's what these guys do, check the video with Jeremy reaching out, his feet rip off of the wall because that happened, somehow he hung on and finished up the rest of the route but we were kind of worried about the head smashing fall he could have taken, ah, just another day at CHR :P

So these holds are a mix of edges, sort of mini jugs and positive as all hell pinches... they have a lot going for them but there (as always) is a but. Let us explain:
When you look at the holds we first reviewed from Kando Holds (The Erosion) we never complained about the texture too much, because the shaping kind of worked around the smooth texture... we did complain about the brittle sounding holds but overall it was a good first review... here we have a weird flip side of the coin. These holds are solid, they don't sound brittle at all despite being made from polyester resin... infact they sound and feel really solid. So that probably comes down to the holds not being pockets, but what's weird is that there were some similar sized holds in the Erosion set that sounded brittle but the Smoothies don't. Maybe it's down to the mix, who knows, but there is a totally different feel to these guys than the others.

Next, lets look at the texture, the Erosions were pretty smooth on the texture front... there's nothing bad with that but the Smoothies are like sandpaper and you'll notice that after some really hard moves and a couple of good trys on whatever you've set that your skin is a little flayed. These holds are kind of emery boards, you can climb and sand your skin at the same time. Now, the Grit Stone from Dream Holds was way way worse, but those holds were made to imitate real rock so we kind of expected that, with these guys it's just a side effect from the texture. It's almost like these holds want the Erosion texture and the Erosions want the Smoothie texture :) Then, apart from the smooth radii of the holds, then they'd properly live up to their name.

Ah complain, is that all we do? We have had these holds on and off of the wall for over six months. We've set easy routes, hard routes and just bloody stupid routes with them. We've thrown them in buckets, dropped them and just abused them. Now something we'd not have done with the Erosions is drop them because they'd break, these guys... nah, these guys are solid and despite our (purposeful) chucking them into buckets and throwing holds on top of them all of the edges are fine... so we know that the holds are solid, maybe a little too solid because they are slightly heavy but nothing you'd really complain about. The texture is a little rougher than needed but these holds to inspire "I can do that" out of a climber because of their level of grip, sure people with new skin won't be able to climb on them for hours at a time, but anyone that's got good skin will notice a little wear, will shrug it off and then just continue without worrying too much

So a good bunch of pinches and edges that are a little heavy; nothing to really complain about


SUGGESTED USES:







If you use these holds in pinch mode then you can put them onto a roof, they're not bomber in anyway shape of form but you can use them. If you're playing in edge / jug mode then you can get a lock on them but it's hard as all hell.


Where these shapes really shine is steep angles up to 60 degrees, you can really clamp down and haul ass on them. On anything below 60 they do seem pretty easy... so you know us we set low and hard on flat and slightly angled walls and you can match all of the holds no matter which way they're placed. These holds are a strange mix of a "Lot of pinch" and "A little less jug and edge", it comes down to how you set and how you want to climb to see how far you can go and how much potential you can milk from these guys. At first we were totally meh on these holds, but after a few times setting with them you can really start to see what you can do with them... just beware of the slightly sand papery texture

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 10
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 35 Euros / 10 = 3.5 Eur0s per hold
• Color: Ours are dark green
• Bolt placement: Centred and good
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: A little sandpapery
• Set size: Medium
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: Kando Holds
• Weight: 2.5kg
• Distribution:
• US: None
• EU: http://www.kandoholds.altervista.org/joomla/ 

Lets get the nagging things out of the way right from the start, these holds are a little heavy for their size because they're polyester resin. Ah resin you say, then they'll chip! Not these holds they're super strong which when you read our other review is a little strange as the other set of holds feel like if you look at them wrongly they'll break as well... NOTE: the other set has chipped up a little.  That's it for nagging issues

Sanding on these holds is great and you can see that all of the holds have seen the angry side of a sheet of sand paper, the bolt holes and washers are all flush and nicely placed, all of the holds have an engraved "K" for Kando Holds so you can find them when they're mixed in with other holds

All of the shapes are really well shaped and are tendon friendly, the texture is the only thing that might give your skin a little grief, they are a little grippier than you may want for a home wall, gyms will find that it beds in well after a period of time. We've had these holds on the wall for six months and we're yet to brush one of them, that's a good and bad thing, the more chalk they get onto them the better they will feel! They make great pinches and if you use them horizontally then there are two edge options so you can get a lot out of them without too much trouble,

None of these holds have pre-drilled screw holes, which they need as you can spin them when they're weighted on one side.

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Polyester Resin

PACKING / SHIPPING:

RATING:
Noodles:
Did we say this last time? When you go to Kandos site they have music, when you click on a set and then browse you're all good and then, and then you click on catalog and the music restarts... it's almost as annoying as having to install all the bloody Apple updates. If you're wise you'll turn the music off, oh but wait browse a set of holds and then click on catalog... and fuck me the music starts again... argh!! Imagine how annoying that is when you're looking for holds, trust me it's enough to drive you mad

Right, rant over!

Kando, they're in a funny place for me. I've seen a lot of holds, I own a lot of holds and sometimes there are companies that kind of make me sit back and wonder. The difference in the feel and weight between the two sets of holds we've reviewed has me wondering if they really have their mix dialed in, they sound when you tap them on a wall so different. Take two holds from any other company and knock them on a wall, they'll sound the same, take two of Kandos holds and do the same and you have something that sounds brittle and something you could use as a weapon.

 I prefer the weapon sound, the brittle sound kind of unnerves me a little.

Then look at the texture, these guys are called the Smoothies. The shapes back that name up but the texture doesn't. But the texture on the Erosions is smooth(er), it's like they're the wrong way around.

I_just_don't_know

Both sets climbed really well, the Smoothies being the better of the two sets that's for sure, but I feel that we'd need to see more shapes to really get a feel for Kando. Does that make sense? Let me explain.
Lets take Teknik, when I order Teknik holds I know what I'm getting and I know what to expect, I know the quality and I know EXACTLY what I'm getting into, same with Climb It, E-Grips and a whole bunch of other companies. With Kando I think I can be surprised by what I'd receive, I'd not be sure if I'm getting great but brittle sounding holds or super awesome holds that sound bomber. I'd like to suggest that whatever the mix the Erosions was made of be totally thrown away and to use the Erosion mix and stick with that, it's got a better weight and those holds feel like quality.

People send us holds for review and for our unbiased opinion, and I know that writing the above I'm going to get into a little trouble, but do I rail it back... HA, god no! We blind order peoples holds, they get the same treatment, I am the Canadian rep for a bunch of companies and I give them both barrels on here sometimes... know what they do? They go and fix the problems and then continue on making holds that are a better quality. Kando, hopefully will do the same.

Would I buy and / or suggest to you, dear reader, that you buy the Smoothies? I'm totally torn. They have a lot to offer but you have to really play with them to find it, they're not just "plug and play" (or in this case "bolt and climb") they do need a little thought when you're setting because there are options: default being pinching them; but if you do sit and fondle the holds a little, if you do sit and think about what you want to set and what you want to get out of your route then sure go and grab a set, the price is alright and shipping won't cause you to have to take our a second mortgage on your house... BUT if you want something to just chuck up onto the wall then sure buy them, BUT you're wasting a set of holds that could be used for so much more.

Chris:
I agree with what Noodles says, except I prefer to climb on the Erosions more than these guys. Why, because I like the smooth texture, sure they're not as versatile as these guys but I don't know (brittle sound aside) I just like them

There have been so many routes that we've set on these holds it all becomes a blur of movement for me. The one thing that does stick into my mind is that out of the box these holds hurt your skin and that's coming from someone that climbs a lot, I dumped these holds into chalk and just chalked and chalked and chalked to try to lessen the texture so they were comfortable for sessions and only now after 6 months has the texture got to a point where I'll hit a route set with them more than just a couple of times. If someone goes near to the holds with a brush then I tell them to stop because the texture is there no matter what!!

Gyms will love these holds, because they are a weird mix of shapes that can be used in a variety of ways and because they will last a long time because of their texture. Home wall owners will find the same problems we had and might end up sanding or etching down the texture down a degree or two. I don't mind these holds, they could do with screw holes because we've spun them a bunch of times but other than that I have no problems

PROS:

• Versatile
• You don't need to brush them because the texture is always there
• Super strong material

CONS:

• Texture takes a long time to bed in
• They're a little heavy
• No set screw holes

Review > Core Climbing > Super Slopers (Granite and Limestone)

There are a couple of points in this review that will probably make you sit back and go "shiiiiit", yup, and what's funny it's not even a bad review... it's a pretty good review... read on and all will be revealed!

So Core, you know them by now they're from the UK and we've looked at a bunch of their stuff, so far they're batting a good average, not knocking it out of the park but they're well up there. If you need a recap here's what we've reviewed from them:

• Limestone Medium Jugs
• Font Mini Slopers

And that isn't even the tip of the iceberg, we've got a bundle more to come... here's the next installment. 
These two sets of holds only consist of four holds apiece, they're from Core's Super Slopers line up from their granite and limestone range...

Limestone Super Slopers from Core Climbing

Granite Super Slopers from Core Climbing

Let's roll with the Limestone Super Slopers because we've looked at part of this line up before. Slopers, ah slopers, you love em... we love em... everyone loves em. These carry on the faceted faces theme from the jugs but this time it's super sized; and they have this texture (that we've mentioned before) that is just baby soft on the skin. But there is a problem and Noodles will be the first one to point it out, look at the image above and what do you see? You see four holds, nice work. But how many slopers do you see? Four? Nope, three and a pinch! That bottom right hold (cannot be called a sloper BECAUSE IT'S A PINCH. Noodles hates it when people name stuff and then one of the holds in a set ends up being something entirely different.

So three slopes and a pinch, not so bad right? Well you'd be correct these holds are a hoot to climb on, the steeper the angle the harder the climbing and it gets harder and harder. A 5 degree change makes something that was easy to pull on into something that is hard, then harder, then a screamer. Overall, base opinion is to be seen to be believed.

Now that granites. Ah granite, you love it or you hate it, in this case you'll love it! Granite at best is a hard medium to climb on, it takes time and effort to become "one with the rock" and to really push where you want your climbing to be, it's kind of the same with these holds... they're huge and they look inviting but the reality is that you'll have to dig deep to be able to pull off what you really want to do. It took us many many sessions to get across shallow walls that had these holds bolt to it, one thing you're going to learn is grace. It's a hard pill to swallow sometimes, not being graceful, not being able to power through a sequence that you've set and you can see within your head... a hard pill, but you will be pulling out both power and grace to be able to really climb on these holds, you cannot just brute strength through these holds, you have to be measured and it's a humbling lesson for some of the people that hit these holds.

Would we suggest a home wall invests in either of these sets of holds? No is the simple answer, yes is the more complex answer

Why no?

Simple, price. The amount of money that you'll spend on these holds could pretty well outfit any good sized wall for months. You can shop around and find lots of holds that will fill your wall and that will keep you happy and allow you to set what you want, when you want and still have money left over for beer

Why yes?

Because these holds, both sets, have a weird way of making you strong. You cannot just hit these holds and breeze through (like you did in school, lets be honest)... you have to think, plan and then attack with these guys. But it's a stealth attack, there's no full frontal assault with them, be Sam Fisher, be Delta Force, be the SAS... be there, get it done and walk away. If you're serious about your climbing or serious about giving your customers at your gym /  home wall a new (humbling) experience then invest, you're investing in them, you're investing in yourself and you're going to get good mileage out of the shapes; just store them carefully!!

Ah but there's at but :D There are smaller slopers (from all of Core ranges) that for a home wall are better, sure they're not the big eye popping monsters that we have but they'll get the job done. We reviewed the Font Mini Slopers and we'd love to review the Font Super Slopers to be able to fully deliver on this point, but if their mini slopers are as good as the super slopers then go smaller, get more holds and have some fun

SUGGESTED USES GRANITE SUPER SLOPERS:







If you're man enough to put these anywhere near a 45 degree wall you'll be able to grasp what we're talking about when it comes to "a screamer", precise footwork and core strength are what you need to even attempt this, otherwise your ass is going to hit the mat so fast it's not even funny. They're grippy but not so much that you loose skin and in certain situations you'll be on the little ribs of slickness that is the key feature of these monsters. Yeah that's right, in certain situations you'll find that the slick is better to hold onto than the grippy part itself.

A 30 degree wall is where these holds shine, they're hard but not so hard that it's not do-able, whatever problem you set up may take you a few trys to get, but it'll be a fun few times as you tweak out your hand placements for the send


SUGGESTED USES LIMESTONE SUPER SLOPERS:







We actually put these on the roof, man we wish we filmed that session.... knee bars, screaming, falling it was a fun one that's for sure. These holds have such a wonderful texture that you can climb on them all day and not worry about what your hands look like afterwards, they walk a really fine line between just enough and not enough but the only way to fine out what angle and what move is too far it to experiment with the moves and the route. Again all of these holds can be pinched (like the granites) but you're going to be working a little harder for the send than before

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 8 (two sets of four)
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 200 GBP / 4 = 50 GBP per hold
• Color: Blue
• Bolt placement: Middle
• Sanding: Awesome
• Hollow backed: Yes
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Granite feels like the outside, the Limestone is slick... like limestone :)
• Set size: XL+
• Versatility: Depends on how strong you are
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes, multiple per hold
• Shaper: Leo Moger
• Weight: TBC
• Distribution:
• US: None
• EU: http://www.coreclimbing.co.uk/

Core doesn't muck around when it comes to quality, no sir, there's only one place that they fall down and that's the medium that these holds are made from. Composite resin, it's fragile... don't get us wrong these holds are strong as all hell, but they will chip if you mishandle them (FYI: when a different, thinner set, of holds was loaned to a local gym two of the holds broke on a flat wall). So you do have to be careful, that's advice from us that wraps some holds in bubble wrap before storing them, we'd not go so far with these holds but we won't just throw them into a bin and then chuck holds on top of them.

All of the holds are hollow backed, which does save weight, but you are still looking at some heavy weight holds to haul up and down the wall, the effort is going to be worth it in the end... so get it done and reap the rewards of a route well set.

Screw holes, these holds have numerous set screw holes! Which is nice because some of the grabbing areas are well away from the middle line of where the bolt hole (which takes any bolt btw) lies. We have had spinners from not using them... but the holes are all counter sunk so it means the screw head always sits nice and flush. They're also strong as we never dialed back the drill

Now texture. You have to look at these two sets separately.
Granite: Have you climbed on granite? Well this is pretty close to having the outside, inside. Except without the bloody finger tips :) You can run laps on these holds all day and not worry about your skin, the texture does chalk up pretty well so you do need to brush the holds from time to time to get a little extra edge
Limestone: This is a tricky one, from new they have amazing grip, more that you'd actually think was possible. Weird right? The more you get chalk on them the better they seem to get, but they will get slick every now and then, less so than the granites which is strange because we didn't end up brushing these holds as much.  

Sanding on these holds is awesome, they're all flat and when we look at the color we've got both sets in blue and it's a consistent color so no problems there.

If you want to get down to the nitty gritty of the problem then its the shaping, a sloper is generally open handed without much use for the thumb. Both of these sets have areas where you will pinch, so the name doesn't really fit, probably about 75% of the time we were able to get a sneaky thumb somewhere to make a move a little easier. So the name is a misnomer. But the shaping is superb, the shapes have no sharp edges and you can tell that the shapes have been refined before going into production.. Good work

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Composite resin

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Awesome

RATING:
Noodles:
Ah here we go. Do I have to talk about the fact that one of the limestone holds IS CLEARLY A PINCH? No! Good!

I've spent too much time on these holds trying to work out the moves that in the setters eye should be easy and do-able... yeah right, sometimes I laugh at my creations, hell sometimes I set like a complete asshole because I want to watch people fall off of the wall. Anyone that set with either set of these sets of holds always thought that on an (insert angle here) angle these holds would be a breeze, but people found out really quickly that you're going to have to be super careful with what you do

Did I mention that we lost some footage? The Go-PRO footage that we didn't use was meant to be edited into our normal footage, damn that route was so much fun, technical, powerful with an ending that was just brutal. I had a blast trying it and eventually getting it, but we lost the footage from the camera in some bizarre comp filming incident :(

Would I buy these holds is the question. The simple answer is yes, I would.... but there are a few factors that may stop (North American) buyers, the price is quite simply the thing that will stop you, add shipping and then you're pretty well stopped in your tracks. For me those facts is a crying bloody shame as Core have some amazing shapes (and we're reviewing all the holds they sent us as we go), apart from the fact that I have to shout at people to be careful with them (well that's any hold to be honest) they climb so much better than you think that they're one of those manufacturers that make me want to import holds to Canada and the US so other people can enjoy them.

So you have to be careful when storing them, that's fine. They're heavy, bummer but they're working on that. They're expensive, well, when the weight comes down so should the price. But the base line is they're technical holds, they don't kill your hands and I know I'm stronger from climbing on them in more than one way.... So far Core Climbing is batting a high average... and if I'm honest we're just scratching the surface of what we have to review, there is a crap tonne (HA!) of more stuff to come

Hang on there's more, we set at the local gym with these and they were well received, our route was actually under graded by us (our bad) but saw lots of sends from lots of people and not one person didn't like them. If I was going to invest I'd go for the smaller sloper versions that Core have available because they're cheaper and you get more holds for your money, but if I had a gym I'd add these to my wishlist, the possibilities of what you can do with them on a huge variety of terrain is up to you to determine

Martin:
Well well well, I've only climbed once on these "if you brush them on the balcony don't drop em because you'll kill someone". Yup they're massive. Massive but not obvious to hold on to. I've seen gigantic holds that don't fit in a milk crate with one obvious easy spot to grab on to but these slopers aren't that.

Depending on how we set with them, you had to grab and correct your hand position 2 or 3 times to find the not so sweet spot on these. There is a "dyke" on some of them, I don't know how that works but there is less texture on the dike but you still often come back to that feature to wave a secure grip. Unfortunately, you can pinch and cup most of them wich gives too many option and make forcing a move pretty hard. We had fun on all angles with this set but I havent tried (yet) to set them on the ceiling for compression moves with high footholds, kneebars and other crazy stuff.

Ah and, for those who set in a gym or high stuff, forget about the "I'm too lazy to move the ladder so I'll step to the top with the hold on the wrench and screw it in when I'm at the top", this won't work :) You can't say you weren't warned

Chris:
If I was asked which of these sets I'd prefer to own I'd have a tough time deciding between the two. The limestones are great because of their texture and because there are a few more juggy areas (they're more positive and not really jugs) that you can grab and not worry about so you can make some easier stuff

And then, well there's the granites which are way more technical and harder to figure out.

Both have great texture, both are great to set with, both are huge and both will give you lots of enjoyment. Now if I compare them to another of Cores sets of holds, the Font Mini slopers I'd say I would rather climb on those when it comes down to price because you get a great font texture and more holds for your money.

It's hard... I like both sets and there are lots of pros and cons to owning and setting with them. But when all is said and done I'd probably go for the limestones as you can go a little steeper with these (making them harder) and they're a little slicker because of their texture so you really have to set your hand, weight it and move.... but those are the kind of moves that I enjoy. BUT, there is nothing wrong with either set other than the weight :)

PROS:

• Great texture on both sets
• The harder the angle the harder the problem, this is very noticeable if you set the same route on differing angles
• Will teach a climber the usefulness of not great hand placements when climbing

CONS:

• Weight
• Price
• Because of the two above fact shipping won't be cheap