Review: CAMP’s Photon wire straight gate biner

Mike Soucy, American Mountain Guide/IFMGA Guide, recently reviewed CAMP USA’s Speed 2.0 Photon Wire Straight Gate Carabiner.

I tested CAMP’s Photon Wire straight gate carabiner on just under a dozen routes, from South Platte multipitch traditional rock climbing to waterfall ice pitches and mixed alpine climbs in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Photon is a great carabiner for guiding due to its size/weight ratio. It is large enough to make it easy for clients to manipulate and rack easily. Yet, it retains one of the lightest reported weights out there for a full-size carabiner.

So far, durability has not been an issue.

I love the design of the Photon biner. It’s large enough to easily manipulate with gloves on and in icy situations. It has a thin enough profile that it racks well and doesn’t take up much space on my harness or gear sling.

The light weight is really extraordinary. At 1 oz., it weighs just 0.2 oz. more than the lightest full-strength carabiner out there, while still being 20% larger.

The bottom line this is a great carabiner for guiding and year round recreational use. I can’t think of a way to improve it. The only downfall would be larger size equals more volume when packing it. If that’s an issue, go straight to CAMP’s Nano 22.

Specs:

• Weight: 1oz.
• Height (mm) : 101
• Width (mm): 58
• Gate Opening (mm): 28
• Major Axis (kN): 21
• Minor Axis (kN): 7
• Open Gate (kN): 9