Review > Climb It Holds > Edges (All sizes)

Ah Climb It are always an interesting company to write reviews for, mainly because they always do something different, this week we're looking at a set of holds called the Edges:

It's rare that you see white holds, really rare but whats special about these is that they glow in the dark... they never told us they just poured them this way. How did we find this out? Well after we'd been filming the Blockys (that we reviewed here) the Edges were laid out on the floor and when we closed the door and switched off the floodlights they just started glowing.

Now normally when you see a glow in the dark hold you can tell because they have that slight green tint to the material (kind of like a glow in the dark watch face), you can normally spot a glow in the dark hold from a mile away. This time you can't, the holds are pure white, and if they're in the dark they glow.... at the time of writing this some of the holds (maybe two or three) have started to turn that tell-tale glow in the dark greenish tint, probably because the material is curing more.

Now there are of course some up sides and down sides to white holds, the upside is that you've probably not got any white holds (sure you have a bunch of chalked up holds, but they're not really white) so they show up on the wall really well, the down side is that chalk is white so you can never tell (visually) if they're chalked up and are in dire need of a good brushing. You take the rough with the smooth :)

We've noticed of late that Climb It's holds always take a little while to "bed in", this is where the holds still have a little bit of release agent on them (from when they're taken out of the molds) and are slippery; generally it's not a huge issue as all you have to do is get them nice and chalked up and then you're set to roll. With these guys, because some of them are huge, we've noticed that as the holds are pretty flat we still have areas where the shapes are a little slicker than usual... the simple solution we've found is to chalk all the holds before climbing on them... do this more than you really think you need to and then you'll be fine

A couple of things were wrong with these holds when we received them (things that should have been taken care of since)

• A couple of the hollow backs were just too thin and we were able to bend the material with our fingers
• The set screw hole placement is less than optimal, it's directly below where the bolt sits rather than off to the side

As soon as we noticed these things we got onto the phone and made sure that they were fixed in the next batches (although the holds hadn't been officially released) so that any problems could be headed off before any real problems arose.

When it comes to climbing on them, like we say in the walk through, if you're doing static moves then they're really fun to play with, the slopers even though they are massive are hard to stick on a vertical wall and when you really start being nasty with them they make some pretty tentative pressure move cruxes. As per usual we tried using the largest most incut holds on the roof and even Mark who's the tallest and by far the strongest of us couldn't make it the route work, the term sketchy still comes to mind when we think of it.

The best place for a lot of the sloping holds is going to be slabs and shallow angles, the holds are big enough that you can get up and over them and then stand on them. Of course the huge incuts are good up to 45 or maybe even 60 degrees (although at 60 you're over what is comfortable), they do make for some powerful climbs that despite the sharp(ish) edges work really well.


SUGGESTED USES:








We don't suggest putting these holds on anything much over 45 degrees, sure some of the incut holds could go this steep (and they do perform well at this angle) but at that point they're just a flat edge, still fun to climb on but a little boring. Grab these holds, use them as underclings and go mad trying to stick some of the slopes on a vertical wall... it's going to be a very balanced affair that's for sure.
One of the great things about the larger, super matchable, shapes is that you can play with some monster heel hooks, or just try to track your feet on the entire route... we tried it a bunch of times and sometimes it was hard, others it was just plain crazy... but it sure was fun watching Chris try it (see the video for that hand / foot match)

If you gym has a large slab grab the larger sloped sets and then use them for mantles, your clientele will thank you once they come back from a slab route outside!

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 48 (split between slopes / incut and flat)
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): TBD
• Color: White (glow in the dark) & two orange holds
• Bolt placement: Center
• Sanding: Good
• Hollow backed: Yes
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy, but they will be slick to start with
• Set size: Small to 2XL+
• Versatility: Ok
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes
• Shaper: Louie Anderson
• Weight: Various

We've talked about the obvious flaws in the holds, and to be honest it wasn't something that we expected from Climb It. We have a good working relationship with them an were surprised that something with problems of these nature turned up on our door... you have to remember that these holds turned up at the same time as the Blockys (which we reviewed a while back)

So apart from the slightly sharp edges, the screw holes in a weird place and some thin hollow backs... what else is there to look at?
As always the holds have nice inset washers and logo, the sanding is as smooth as you could possibly want on a hold. The texture is grippy once it beds in and there is a huge range of sizes to pick from.

Glow in the dark isn't something we've seen before, especially from holds that look like they're pure white. Since getting them and having them on the wall (and out for demos at a few places) they have begun to yellow in a few cases and they do look like they're glow in the dark. White holds obviously show up shoe rubber quite a lot and they do need to be cleaned to make them really stand out, thankfully this is easy as there aren't any huge dimples to deal with on the climbing surfaces

Considering their size the larger holds are pretty damn light, so shipping these monsters is more a question of size rather than weight.

NOTE: all the issues we found with the holds have been rectified before their official release should be before the end of March 2011


WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Very good

RATING:
Noodles:
Glow in the dark, you can't help but give someone 10/10 for that little gem! It was a nice surprise to see that when the lights went out :)

The big question for me is whether Climb It dropped the ball on this one, with a couple of bad hollow backs, iffy set screw placements and sharp edges. Of course logic dictates that you should get a good slap on the behind and a C- on their report card, but where (and let's be honest here) they fucked up they made up for in other ways. How? Let me tell you!
As soon as we noticed the hollow back issue we phoned them, and it was on a weekend and it was late by the time we'd done this. Zach being the ever reasonable (and ZZ Top look-a-like contest entry) listened to our concerns and addressed  them one by one. The hollow backs were re-done and the screw placements should have been moved.

That, is customer service and that is also someone that listens to the bad that we have to say and then gets the job done.

I'd have really preferred these holds to have softer edges, even though the edges on these aren't sharp sharp you do have to be a little careful with crazy all points off dynos to them, not super crazy careful... but just a little. I like the way that the holds are split between angles (sloper / flat and incut) it means you can get exactly what you want when you order and you know full well that when Climb It say incut they mean INCUT... some of these holds are almost big enough that you could (maybe) use them as a small seat (not that you'd really want to)
There is a little something for everyone in this set of holds, they're simple and they set out to do a very simple job. We paired them with another Climb It set of holds (the Sliders) that we've had for donkeys years and what you're looking at (if you're familiar with the Sliders at all) is pretty well an expanded range of these holds.

Slab-monkeys: look at the large slopes for all the mantling fun you're ever going to want
Overhang dwellers: get the incut / flat versions there is no way you'll hang the slopes on anything too steep

Overall I'm a little meh on these holds, there was a lack of finesse to them that left them a little lacking for my tastes. Considering they are simple simple shapes there could have been slightly smoother radii to the holds (which is strange as some of the slopes are nice and round) and it would have made a huge difference. These aren't the best work I've seen from Climb It... those are yet to come and they're called the Tufas!

Chris:
I love getting a box of holds in from Climb It. They usually send us a better part of their range so we can get a feel of all the different size holds and it was no different for this set. The range has everything from great big incuts to nasty sloping death. I like the fact that Climb It took a simple run of the mill shape and created something unique in each hold. There are a lot of these half moon shapes out there: from DRCC Force edges to the old Voodoo holds they have at the gym. Even Climb It has something similar in the Sliders. When it comes to shapes, these guys are awesome.

What I was a little surprised on was some of the details that were overlooked in the manufacturing process. I can understand that they are trying to get the shapes to be as light as possible, and they have done a great job on the hollow back that they didn't leave enough material on the edge of the hold. The other was the location of the screw holes. Some were located directly under the bolt hole and the hold would still torque under load. They still prevented the hold from spinning but I feel that the screw hole should be located in a place where it would have a mechanical advantage. Lastly, and for me the biggest issue, the screw holes are not completely drilled out. It's an added step in the process that is the difference between a good shape and a great hold. And besides, why should we spend time pre-drilling screw holes when we could be climbing?


PROS:

• Glow in the dark yo!
• Hold range is split three ways, slopes, incut and flat

CONS:

• Hollow backs needed looking at, they were too thin
• Screw holes aren't in the optimum places

Review > So Ill / Crytochild > Iron Palm Hangboard

Right, it looks like Spring is kind of coming, it's thinking about it... it really is (fingers crossed) and it's time to get strong. We use hang boards year round as part of our training regieme, this time we're looking at the Iron Palm board from So Ill and Cryptochild. This is the third board (actually fourth board) that we've reviewed, you can read part one here and part two here


Iron Palm Hangboard
We've covered three boards already, the Metolius Simulator 3D / Project boards and the Delire Redpoint station with the Metolius Simulator 3D coming out slightly in front compared to the Delire, this time Jason Kehls offering, the Iron Palm and from the get go you've got at admit it does look pretty unique. 

If you put this guy up against the Delire and the Metolius 3D it is by a small ammount the biggest board of the three, it's also the most striking and unlike most other boards there don't seem to be pockets and edges everywhere. So it's a clean looking board, with what look like a dolly split in half and then stretched apart to make the features.... it sure is strange

• 27 in x 11.5 in x 4 in
• Price: $99 (USD)
• Varied grip positions
• Included mounting hardware

If you're looking for a board then here's a handy list of what's out there (It's not a full list):

• Revolution's Grillito: here
• Entre Prise's Hangtime: here
• Asana's Talon: here
• Uprisings Revolution Board: here
• Rise Hold's Fingerboard: here
• Holdz Fingerboards: here
• Osm'ose boards: here
• Moon Climbing's Fingerboard: here
• Nicros Hangboards: here
• Bendcrete's Classic: here
• Metolius Boards: here
• DRCC's 5.12 and V3 boards: here

INSTALLATION
In our case we have lots of space and as the board came attached to a board all we did was mount our new board onto our existing wall; actually what we really did was extend the wall because we wanted more than one board up at a time :P Adding the extra part of the wall took a few hours, but it only took about 5 minutes to get the board on the wall and for us to start training... all we had to do is put in 7 screws through the pre-drilled holes in the mounting board.  It's not so heavy, and as only Noodles was around when the board went up he clamped the board and made sure it was level, other than that set up was nice and simple.

TRAINING
There wasn't any training material with the board, so we suggest you modify the Metolius regime from: here You can also read some good training tips from Eric Horsts training books or his page: here


Again we based our routine on Metolius' 10 minute plans and tailored it to what we wanted, we did go into specifics of three fingers hangs etc later on once we'd used the board for a while to see what it was like to train pockets on a board with no pockets... but the video isn't of that routine, it's of our super simple/easy routine that we like to use after a session.


RATING:
Noodles and Training
Sometimes you just luck out.... or not in my case... but first the pre-amble. As I've said in previous reviews... hangboards if you want to get stronger kind of become a necessary evil. You can really work on your contact strength and if you're limited on space / can't get to a wall etc then these are the simplest solutions for home training. As per usual I'm going to point out that none of us here at CHR are trained in training for climbing, all of our knowledge has come from trial and error (what works for us) and years of climbing....

I said I lucked out didn't I?

Not really :( This review has been a long time coming, we've used the board on and off for months and months. I kind of slacked on my hangboard workouts over Xmas and when I got my new tattoo, which meant no climbing, I hit the boards again for my fix! Now when I want to work my weakness I kind of cheat, as we get to look at different boards I simply switch boards and as I generally write the drafts of the 10 minute sequences we use (with some tweaks after a few sessions) I get to do what I like and therefore work what I like :D

The Iron Palm is a weird one for me, I'll start with the negatives: I don't like the texture as I think it's too grippy and a little spiky in places and I sure as hell hate the dragons on the top rail (I find that my thumb rests on them sometimes), that's it for the bad with the board... well kind of. The top rail flexes when you hang on it with your hands close together and it could use another screw hole... that's it... oh and it's massive... that's really it.

What Jason Kehl has done with this board is nothing short of art. I love the way it looks like Dunnys from Kid Robot on the sides and maaaan I love hanging off of those huge ol' slopers. Way back I asked Jason in an interview we did with him why he didn't use pockets and his reply was short and sweet; "if you want to train three fingers hang off of three fingers"... a good point from someone that isn't particularly known for his words :)

It's a well formed and well rounded board with something the Metolius boards don't have but the Delire board does, yup PINCHES! But these aren't just any ol pinches, no sir these guys are scooped (thicker) towards the bottom which allows you to really hang and pull up on them... hell Bobby hung off of them for a minute, they're that big and that comfortable; in fact the board itself is big and all of the radii of the rungs are ergonomic and friendly.

Hangboards are a personal thing, I've said in the past I like the Metolius Simulator 3D... because it's curved, the texture is right for me. I can train on it a lot because of the curve and the angle (It leans slightly forward) without my elbows paining me the next day... it's by far my favorite board... well it was. I'm now (as of this review and after getting up close and very personal with the Iron Palm) completely split. What the 3D lacks the Iron Palm has, I'm going to have to make a list here I think:

• I prefer the pinches (the 3D doesn't have any) on the IP
• I also prefer the top rail jug on the IP to the Metolius' monsters that they have... 
• I like the edges on the 3D more than the IP's mainly because the Metolius has more choice and I can on the fly change my work out as needed... 
• but the slopers argh, the slopers, both boards have superb slopers... the 3D has two options (Hell the Project and the 3D have two options) but the IP has those big round balls, and the sloping rails... two of them.

I guess what I'm saying is I like the Iron Palm as much as I like the Metolius Simulator 3D, I'm lucky as I can have both boards set up next to each other and I can move between them to workout the way I want to. If I'd have to make a decision on what I'd have over my doorway the answer is pure and simple, which one of them will fit because they're both pretty big; that's how! There are so many +/-'s with both the boards I couldn't tell you, and that my friends is a first

Chris and Training

I've noticed something about hangboards lately. Like holds, some hangboards are geared towards the climbing nut, while others, like the Iron Palm, are geared towards a beginner.

Like Noodles pointed out, hangboards are a personal thing, and although the Iron Palm may serve a purpose for some, I find that you can best invest your money somewhere else. I'll be honest with you and say that I was impressed by the Iron Palm and especially with the pinches (up to then I had only ever trained on the Metolius boards which are pinch free) but soon realized that this is nothing but a glorified chin up bar. I've been climbing for years and I've never found any use for over developed biceps that may impress a girl at the bar but does very little for improving your climbing ability.

I'm no expert, but I feel that the best way to improve is to climb more and that specific climbing training is used once one has attained a certain level of climbing (5.12/V6). Its like hitting the weights before learning how to skate. When it comes to the Iron Palm, if you can't hang on the board, then no amount of time spent training will improve your ability to climb. Time to hit the wall and reassess your weakness. Now this is just a personal view on training, and there is nothing to say that hangboard training (if properly executed) improves you climbing skills, I just haven't found the use of specific training until lately.

I wish I had more good things to say about the Iron Palm. I really like the pinches, but one good thing can't remove the fact that this HANGboard (emphasis on the HANG) serves better at showing of your biceps at a chin up contest than a climbing training device.
 


Mark and Training
Ahh, Hangboards..  I`d just like to empathize the fact that it is a hangboard.  So few people use these killer finger workouts properly and start wasting time doing chin ups on them.

I have to give it to the Iron Palm, it catches the eye and you just want to stick on to those two big slopers.  The problem for me is I like seeing how low I can grab them and still hold on yet I always go too low and fall off.

This board is pretty neat style wise and has some good features mixed in with some things that some would like less.  First off, I love the slopers, you can finally work your sloper strength on a board and just play with the angles that you try to stick on to it.  I also really like how you can work your compression strength by squeezing in on the sides of those slopers, a rare thing to find on hangboards.  The pinches hanging just under those slopers are also wicked sticky, almost to the point where I`d say they`re too easy.  I also like the variability in hand positions offered on the crimp rails, left right, center, anywhere; there are no constraining pockets to force you to do any hang in one specific position.

On the downsides for those of us who are picky, the board feels a bit coarse and isn`t overly pleasant on my hands, I`d compare that to brand new holds.  I also find the crimp rails to be problematic to hold onto with less than all your fingers, I guess you  could say it`s awkward.  The top does seem to have some flex in it when fully weighted and the dragons are artistic but get in the way of my thumbs. 

Keep in mind I like my workout tools simple and except for the fact theres a couple of dragons on it this is a nice simple board.  Overall I can`t complain too much, just make sure it fits over you door frame before you go out and get one.

OVERALL BUILD
If you're broad shouldered then you're in for a treat as this is the widest board out there right now, so all you big wide guys rejoice!! Below is the overall features on the board:

The texture for us is too much and the dragons that do add some flair to the board can get in the way, the other thing to note is the top rail does seem to have some flex in it as well, nothing that a screw cannot fix, but we're not sure how wise it would be to put one in here, we'd like to see So Ill add an extra hole here for the consumers.







If you want slopers, hell if you love slopers then this is the board for you, same for the pinches which are the best we've come across so far. The board is very well made other than that, there aren't any flaws in the build quality that we're noticed. It's actually worthy to note that if this board is too wide for your door frame then So Ill and Cryptochild do have four (yes four) other boards that you can look at: here 

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Superb

OVERALL 
The board is well situated price wise, it's the biggest board we've got so a one person mounting job is out of the question if you want to make sure you're setting it up level. The major downside to the board is the texture that is a little bit too aggressive for our tastes; it's an interesting plus and minus, some people don't mind the texture as they feel that it allows them to be able to hang on for longer and the other people just like their skin and when they've finished a long session on the wall and then they hit the board sometimes they complain.


It's a well designed board, some people might say that the beauty of the board is it's simplicity, but you do need to have some self control when training and you have to make sure that you train your finger sets on the rails. For some people having pockets on a board makes their life a little easier, for others well they have self discipline :P 

So... when it comes to working your contact strength you need a simple tool, the Ironpalm is that tool, it's a sleek efficient design that will fit in with your Feng shui (if that's your kind of thing) and will look great above a door frame. How useful it is depends upon what you want to get out of it and what you use it for. We've noticed that using it has helped (some of us) with out sloper and pinch strength, but we do use it in a very simple way, and that is, we use it to work our weakness' when we can't get to the gym to get onto a rope.


PROS:

• Great slopers
• Simple design

CONS:

• You'll need some discipline to train finger sets
• Texture might be a little too much for some people
• Might be a little too wide for some doorways

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Review > Motavation Volumes > Pele & James

This probably isn't going to be a typical review, well at least in the normal sense of a review, it's going to be a little retrospective... a little bit different. This week we're looking at some of Motavation Volumes shapes... generation three to be exact, they're called the Pele and the James:

James from Motavation Volumes

Pele from Motavation Volumes

Before we talk about these volumes lets take you back, to a not so distance past::

ROUND ONE:
Some years ago a company called Motavation Volumes popped up and sent us some little volumes made of wood, you can read the original review (here) but here's a recap on what they were like...

Two Willys, Medium and Small from Motavation Volumes

They were a little rough and ready, there were screw heads everywhere, the sanding on the backs was slightly off and basically the idea was great but there needed to be some clean up done on the volumes. We'd have given them a 5/10 if we still ran our old scoring system

ROUND TWO:
Wait some time and then another package arrives, that review in full is (here). This time there's a Waylon and two Billys arrived, one of the Billys was massive:

Waylon from Motavation Volumes

Billy from Motavation Volumes

HUGE Billy from Motavation Volumes

They'd done some work with these guys, the screw heads couldn't be seen, they were bright colors and they worked really well. We've had these guys for a long long long time and they're still going strong... the comments we made about the fact that any hold put on the volumes stuck to the texture they were using and was de-laminating the wood when you try to take them off still holds true and we've managed to destroy one of the screw in T-nuts... but there was massive improvements, they added a branded logo (They are from down South afterall), they're colored and they're made out of good quality plywood what more could you ask for??

Well if we remember correctly we mentioned that they should add set screw holes as the volumes are pretty heavy and hanging them off of a single bolt wasn't the best. Sure, sure, anyone can chuck a screw into these guys, they are wood after all, but a nice washered set screw hole would have taken these guys into a different realm of volumes.... in-fact Jeremy has had a number of drunk informative conversations with the boys at Motavation about improvements that we've thought of whilst moving and playing on these volumes

And this brings us to today... well, actually thats not quite true :) They did send us some more small Willys that had a new texture on them to see what we thought, THAT actually brings us upto date... now lets get this shindig rolling WOO!

So the James and the Pele, let's face it, they're pretty big volumes!

They're made of really good quality plywood and they now have a new texture that doesn't keep your holds stuck to it when you un-bolt them, so everythings looking pretty good so far! But there are a couple of downsides to these guys, they're minor things that you have to keep in mind:

1. They are pretty heavy, so you might need more than one person to put them up
2. You won't have bolts that are long enough so you will need to make some
3. The texture is sprayed on after the bolt holes are drilled, so they holes are tight to begin with
4. THERE STILL AREN'T ANY SET SCREW HOLES

Now these are minor problems considering what they bring to a blank wall, we bolt them to each other, we stick holds on them and we screw holds to them... as they're made from thick plywood it is actually pretty tough putting the screw ons onto them... you really need to press down on the drill to get any movement on the screws :)

Normally we'd show you a video of us climbing on them... but there's really not much point because you can pretty well see a volume in most of our videos... the only other volumes we have is a Nicros Jur-or-Not and their Infinity Board base everything else is a Motavation Volume... let's let Jeremy talk you through the volumes:


So there you have it, pretty short and sweet this week.... the volumes are huge and strong, they have a new texture... viva la generation three, we're looking forward to what they're going to come up with next... maybe a center column for the bolts would be a nice addition. Oh AND SCREW HOLES 


SUGGESTED USES:








Put them wherever you want, adding volumes to a wall gives a blank wall a welcome change, we move them around a bunch whenever we set. A couple of them a permanently screwed in place on our flat walls to make transitions easier. Get these guys and do whatever you want with them because they're strong as hell and they make a plain wall much more interesting... did you ever see the box we built? We're not going to be doing that again, if you read our older reviews you can see some of the smaller volumes we've tested: here & here


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 2
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt ons
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): James is $140 upwards / Pele is $250 upwards
• Color: Pele is yellow / James is Blue
• Bolt placement: Center
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: Yes
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
  
• Texture: Good
• Set size: Massive
• Versatility: They are bolt on volumes
• Pre-drilled screw holes: NO!
• Shaper: Jared Stains
• Weight: Heavy

 Motavation Volumes have come along way, the shapes are massive and super strong.. of course there are some problems which we'll repeat here: They are pretty heavy, so you might need more than one person to put them up, you won't have bolts that are long enough so you will need to make some, the texture is sprayed on after the bolt holes are drilled, so they holes are tight to begin with and of course THERE STILL AREN'T ANY SET SCREW HOLES.

One major problem is having to make your own bolts, because with a cap head what happens is because of the T nut placement you basically can only use a hollow backed hold as the cap protrudes out of the volume...  you can't use a normal hold. We're looking into different ways of using other bolts to get around this problem... right now we're thinking of threading some of the other bolts we have that are way too long and are un-threaded.

The texture is good enough that on some of the sharp angles you can get a grip, but it's not so good that you're totally bombproof on the move you're pulling. Construction is bombproof, these volumes are probably over constructed but that's not a bad thing unless you want light weight volumes, all of the shapes had a rough travel from Texas to here and they were totally fine on the pallet that they came in on.

One thing that can be said is that there could obviously have more t nuts on all of the climbing surfaces, but it's not hard to drill these yourself wherever you'd like them, you can always ask for more t nuts there will probably be a small cost for this service. Color-wise these things pop, the yellow is super bright, the blue is pretty standard, we've heard that there might be some neon colored volumes coming in the near future :P

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Plywood, super thick stuff

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Great

RATING:
Noodles:
Importing a pallet of volumes for a competition is always going to be an endeavor... but it was done for the Allez Up December Fest. Not long after they arrived we realized we needed to sort out some bolts for these monsters... once done up they went and then out came the drill. These holds really really really need set screw holes and Motavation know this, I've spoken to them about it but they've not got around to doing anything about it as of yet.... but they will I'm pretty sure of that fact.

Mark complains about me moving volumes about the place and he says we have too many, admittedly I did put every Motavation volume we have on the roof at one point because I was bored, but he never seems to complain about the variety it add to the wall, strange that :) We have volumes on top of volumes and sometimes we've have volumes on volumes on top of another volume, we have some fun with them that's for sure... it's testament to say that even the generation one volumes we have are still going strong and it's only the generation two volumes that de-laminate when the holds are stuck to them that are the only real building / design defects we've ever had.

Some people will complain about price, but when you look at them realistically (time and materials etc) then they're cheap and well worth it, some of their smaller volumes are way less that $100 btw, it comes down to what you want and whether you can be arsed to build it... me, I don't have time so I go Motavation volumes especially after the box we built that weighed in at about 2 tonnes and the hassle we had putting it up and down.

Base level, would I buy them (again)? Yes, because I'm lazy and I think that the build quality on these volumes is amazing... plus I love the fact that they add variety to our wall... go check them out.

Chris:
I'm really impressed with how Motivation Volumes has risen through the climbing hold scene. We were the first to sample their product and every generation has something new to offer. So its a pain to find bolts long enough for the larger shapes and they are heavy and difficult to get onto the wall without an extra set of hands but god damn, they're really cool to have around. Now I would gather that unless you have a big fat wallet and can afford custom made boulder walls, your personal home wall built around your garage frame probably has a lot of flat uninteresting angles. Stick a Motivation volume on it and you've got something fresh. I liked the simplicity of the small pyramid shapes but these new ones are mind blowing. I wish only that they would have more bolt holes. There seems to be lacking a lot of bolt placements. The faces that do have t-nuts in them only have one and there are other faces that are missing bolt holes all together. What this does is limit where you can place the hold. It becomes very repetitive and you can easily anticipate where the hold is.

Of course, it all comes down to would I buy it or not. The answer would be yes. Motivation are making geometric volumes that will be a great addition for a home wall or gym. The lack of bolt holes isn't a big issue and you can always pick up a drill and add some more t-nuts or better yet, add some screw on holds.


PROS:

• Super strong they're very well built
• Adds variety to flat panels of your wall

CONS:

• Heavy, you need two people to put them up
• Bolt holes are tight to start with
• Price for some people

Review > Summit Labs > Comfy Crimps & Bejeweled Feet

Summit Labs sure do have some interesting ideas when it comes to climbing holds, they also have some interesting names as well!! We've said it before but when we see the word comfy attached to anything climbing related then you kind of have to worry... then when you see the word Bejeweled you really start to worry ;) This week lets look at the Bejeweled Feet (orange) and the Comfy Crimps (blue):

Summit Labs: Bejeweled Feet

Summit Labs: Comfy Crimps