X4 Offset Camalot Review

I’m a big fan of offset cams. When Wild Country introduced a set back in 1999, most people wrote them off as being too specialized, and sadly the company stopped making them. As it turns out, they were just a little too far ahead of their time, as many now agree that not only are offsets great for clean aid climbing, but free climbers are also finding they are an indispensable part of their rack at many trad climbing venues.

When Black Diamond launched the X4 Camalots, it wasn’t hard to guess what was coming next. While they wouldn’t officially comment on it, it was no surprise that a year later the offset versions were released. In talking with Bill Belcourt, Climbing Category Director at Black Diamond, it was actually a fairly simple process to create the offsets, because they were just combining components they already had from the X4’s, no reinvention required.

I got a couple of these units before a two week trip to Red Rocks this spring, and by the end, I realized we had used them on almost every pitch. Some people look at offset cams and think they wont be useful, but the truth is that most cracks are irregular, and we’ve only trained our eyes to look for the less irregular places to put in cams. But once you can place a cam almost anywhere in a crack, so many more options open up. And the flip side to that is that these cams often work where nothing else will. Over the course of our trip, I often found myself a ways out from my last cam, on some nebulous face climbing, with little in the way of options for pro, until I realized I could wiggle in an offset and all was well again.

As noted above, offset cams aren’t new, with both Aliens and Metolius having current versions of them, but in my mind there are two things that sets the X4 Offsets apart:

The double axle expansion range that you are used to in Camalots is, of course, wonderful and super user friendly. But what I found really sets these above the others are the anodized cams. This is something the other brands don’t have, and one that makes it a lot easier to place the cams faster. Instead of having to really look at the unit and decide which lobes are smaller, which can be especially hard in the smaller sizes, you have colors that instantly give you that same information, with no guesswork.

They come in 5 sizes: .1/.2, .2/.3, .3/.4, .4/.5, .5/.75. On most climbs requiring a double set of cams, I’ll bring along one set of offsets, and am always glad that I did.

If you’re curious about offsets but haven’t yet jumped in, get a couple of these and you’ll soon understand what everyone else already knows. For many trad climbing areas, they are an incredibly useful tool that often work where nothing else will.

Retail is $69.95, more info and tech specs available on here.

Disclaimer: Wait! Before you go handing over your credit card number, ask yourself, do you really need to buy more new stuff? If so, this product is worth a look. In the spirit of full disclosure, it was provided to SplitterChoss.com for the purpose of reviewing. Don’t worry, though, our integrity can’t be bought!