Red Point Climbing Holds – The Review – UPDATED

Ok, so in mid-February we got a small shipment of Red Point Climbing Holds to check out. In case you didn’t see the first post or haven’t been into the gym, here’s what they sent us:

The holds are, from the top of the picture:

Purple screw-ons : Golf Ball Mini Jugs 

Smaller Green Blobby Things : Commundum Pinches

Green Angled Pinches/Slopers : Tusks

Large Orange Blobs : Ergo Jugs (aka “Big Paws”)

Below are our impressions of each.

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Golf Ball Mini Jugs

They point out, rightfully, that these are great for home walls. Obviously we don’t put screw-ons into our walls at The Spot (our walls are concrete, except the Beach, which is mostly fiberglass), but we do put screw-ons onto other holds and on volumes. We got two of this set and on our first setting day with them Jon screwed one onto a large sloper to make the mantle on the slab.

This one worked just fine

He tried to screw the other one onto another sloper but as he put the 2nd screw in…

The hold broke like the piece of Prinz hold we broke off, that is, it looked like shorn plastic. The broken area is all white like it stretched apart. When it broke it made a loud crack though, so maybe it is a bit brittle or, as Jon suggested, maybe the 2 screw holes in the same approx horizontal line made it weaker. Urethane should flex when screwed in, and this just cracked. Also, in general the edges of these seem thin/delicate/brittle and so for a high-use facility they may not be the best choice.

The Yay

Very small volume, meaning cheaper for them to make, lighter to ship, less expensive for you, and less wall-space used, but still a nice crimp/mini-jug edge on each. Rounded lips for tendon comfort. Probably excellent on a wooden wall.

The Nay

Ian took a bite of one of the edges of one (Powell, not Dory) to test the strength of the urethane, and I’m sad to say he did get a little chunk out of it. We don’t usually bite test our holds so I’m not sure how telling that is. I am planning to throw one at the concrete floor eventually (our standard strength-test) and see how it does. I am loathe to destroy one though so I’m hoping that, like the Prinz holds, it won’t break. (UPDATE – as noted above one already broke, so I threw the broken piece on the floor to see what happened. It did not break further when chucked at the floor.)

UPDATE #2 – Red Point has noticed this problem and shared this:

As of now, we have pulled our screw on mini jugs from our lineup, as we had one break on us at the local gym. We like the idea of them, being small low profile and cost effective, so we will have a new set reshaped for us that has a thicker profile so no more cracking, more material for the screw, and less torque on the material.

We like the idea of small, low profile, cost effective and comfortable finger jugs as well, so hopefully the new shapes will be slightly more durable. We also like Red Point addressing the issue asap. Nice job guys!

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Commundum Pinches

I would have described these as crimps at first, though they are very comfortable to pinch and both of the ones we got offer a nice thumb catch.

The Yay

Neat, comfortable, unique little pinches. Don’t take up much wall space but offer lots of grabbing options. Hard to match. Positive so you can pull off them. Fine on vertical, positive enough for overhanging, possibly even a roof if you were uber burly. Would be great feet on a roof as well.

The Nay

The two downsides I saw at first are 1) Martini bolts (a big no-no at The Spot though we will use them sometimes and did find a couple to put these holds on and try them out), and 2) thin-edged base plates. The thin edges are a problem because they can chip; however, the urethane of these should stand up to our rough handling. I am nervous about them though because of what happened with the jib. UPDATE as of April 8, 2012, nearly 2 months after we got them, these are still holding strong.

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Tusks

The Tusks were the most instantly interesting of the samples because we don’t have, nor have we seen, anything quite like them before.

The Yay

They seem usable as either pinches or slopers, depending on how you put them. At the moment they are on the vertical wall, but I am excited to try them out on some slightly steeper angles on compression problems. Nice rounded edges mean comfortable for your tendons. Angle change means they’re hard to match. Can be used for left or right hand. Nice edge transition from hold to wall.

The Nay

Not super comfortable on the vertical. Kind of hard to find a really nice way to use them, though we did turn one as a sidepull/undercling and it seemed good that way.

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Ergo Jugs

I henceforth dub these jugs the “Big Paws” because if you’ve got big paws you’ll find them to be very comfortable.

The Yay

These medium-sized jugs are not super incut the way you might expect all jugs to be, but they are incut enough to be usable on a variety of wall angles (at the moment ours are on vertical) and I think they’d be great for a 45 or a woody because the lips are very large, handfuls even, so you can use them as the best holds on the wall without stressing your tendons. They remind me of Maple Canyon split cobbles. The ones we got can be used upside down as slopers with side thumb catches. I really like them.

The Nay

Maybe not as good for kids, and would probably be really hard on any sort of roof. Also, sort of heavy, so probably not the best to set a whole route’s worth so you don’t have to haul a bucket of ’em up the wall.

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General thoughts

The texture is ok, a medium-sticky that seems sort of full of air bubbles. They are not painful, but a little more aggressive than the super fine texture we generally prefer (just for being able to climb volume without working your skin). This means, for us at least, that they aren’t instantly aesthetically as pleasing as a finer-textured hold (aka Teknik or Kilter) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t great holds that we and our customers will enjoy climbing on.

Integrity: I’ve been saving this review until we had a better idea of how the hold material would hold up, and so far they’ve been great. All besides that first jib have survived a set/strip/wash/set cycle. The texture still seems good, not polished, not painful, and there are no problems to note.

It was great of Red Point to send us a small variety so we’d be able to get an idea of their line and their direction as a company. If all they’d sent were the screw-ons and martinis, we’d not be very psyched. Instead we got those things plus some sweet pinches and jugs as well.

Another nice thing – though (according to their website) they’ve done some experimenting with their line, they sent us some nice, simple shapes in single colors. Though we do not set by color, we find single-color holds far more aesthetically appealing than multi-color holds (with the exception of DRCC, who do amazing multi-color like nobody’s business).

Packaging: They were wrapped in paper (recyclable) and packed tightly in a box lined with some cool air-pac stuff that looked like a new take on bubble wrap.

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Overall

Good presentation for a good initial impression.

I’d definitely buy the Ergo Jugs and if we had a wooden wall the Golf Ball Mini Jugs. For the rest choose according to the needs of your training/wall/facility. A good start from a promising young company.

Also, we didn’t get ’em, but they make these:

Red Point Climbing Holds Single Dingles

Wanna see the rest of their line?

 Red Point Climbing Holds

or find them & other companies on The Big Hold Company List.