The Link Cam is unique because they are the first cams designed with interlocking lobes. According to OP’s literature, “Link Cams operate on a simple concept of trisecting a cam lobe so that, as the device is retracted, the cam unfurls and permits an amazing range for a unit of its size.”  As one lobe retracts beyond its range, it swivels out of the way on a hinge, or “link” and another lobe takes over contact with the rock.  There are a total of three lobes interlocked allowing these cams to ingeniously have, by far, the largest camming range on the market. Link Cams have an impressive camming ratio of over 2.5:1. OP’s literature goes on to point out that you can take one cam in the place of two, and that they are great for the crux.

Hand in hand with the benefit of huge expansion range, there are unavoidable downsides.  The cams are heavy, probably the heaviest on the market for their size.  A large amount of metal is required to create so many interlocking lobes.  This creates an interesting conundrum for the “less is more” minded climber.  While the larger expansion range might allow carrying fewer pieces up a climb, those pieces are going to be heavier.  Carrying a cam with a larger expansion range isn’t necessarily going to reduce the number of pieces required to protect a 100’ pitch, so if one were to bring all Link Cams, they would be carrying extra weight.  However, as a compliment to a single or even double set of cams they suddenly become much more appealing.  If I know I need 1-2 more pieces for a climb, but I’m not sure what size, Link Cams may be the perfect tool to complete my rack, and keep it light.

The other unavoidable downside is the high price.  Link Cams are roughly $100 a piece.  This makes them some of the most expensive cams on the market, which is understandable due their complex design.  This price will obviously be prohibitive for many, and probably not justifiable for someone building their first rack.  It is much more economical to buy other cams for about 50-60% the price.

As advertised, these things can be great at the crux.  Have you ever been pumped out of your mind, lactic acid building, and you reach for the wrong cam to protect the crux?  With their huge expansion range, Link Cams make that situation much less likely.  I tested them out on Moonlight Buttress this last spring, and they worked absolutely perfectly.  I brought one for the cruxes, and I was casually able to slam a Link Cam in first try every time and keep on chugging.  I can’t tell you how much of a relief it was to have a cam that would fit first try, every time, including the crux 12d pitch.

If you surf the Internet forums, you may be aware that these cams do have another downside.  Due to the links, they are structurally weaker than other cams if they rotate in their placement.  If set improperly, it is possible (not probable!) that the cam will break.  From the OP literature, “Link Cams can become damaged – and the placement may fail – if a load is placed that makes the cam ‘shift” when a climber falls onto it.”  The OP representative that gave me these cams to test said they are constantly trying to strengthen the links.  There have been improvements, but there is still a very small chance of cam failure.  I discuss the mechanism of failure in the video below:

I have seen multiple reports on the Internet of Link Cams breaking, and spoke to one person who broke a first generation Link Cam.  To be honest, at first I was a little hesitant to trust the Link Cams myself.  However, since I was going to be writing a review on them, I figured I should just get over it and give them a good solid test.  I led Insomnia, at Suicide, and placed the Link Cams, climbed above, and jumped off.  It was quite fun logging some air time, and as I jumped off over and over I started trying to put them in pods at weird angles with the specific intention of causing one to rotate, break, and fail.  However, despite my best efforts, I was powerless to damage the cams.  This has definitely helped my confidence in the Link Cams, and I’ve thought much more highly of them since.

Note, Insomnia is very smooth granite with a relatively parallel crack.  As I described in the video above, I believe the more there is for the lobes to catch on, the more likely the cam is to break under loaded rotation.  This means that the cams will shine more on parallel sandstone than on large grain granite or pockets if there’s a chance of cam rotation in a fall.

As a result of this issue, I know there will be people who immediately write off Link Cams.  I was almost one of those people.  However, now I believe that if you’re aware, and use them properly, these cams can be another effective tool in the arsenal of protection.  There’s a tiny chance of these things failing, but isn’t that true of all cams?  I’ve broken a brand new 0.5 C4 in a small fall (although luckily it still held), and I’ve ripped textbook cam placements out.  Nothing is perfect.  The reason that I’m still around, is that when I climb, I protect myself redundantly.  If I think there’s a chance of falling and getting hurt, I try not to rely on a single piece, and you shouldn’t either.

In summary:

• Link Cams have the largest expansion range on the market
• A single set is value added in many situations
• More than a single set is too heavy and expensive
• Parallel cracks are their friends
• Be careful/aware of rotation on more uneven cracks
• Great for some cruxes & if you don’t know what size cam you need
• Link Cams will definitely be used on some of my future adventures

Full disclosure:  After seeing other gear reviews that I’ve done, a representative from Omega Pacific contacted me to write a review of their cams.  The Link Cams were supplied to me for free with the understanding that I would write a non-biased review of the cams.

Josh Higgins

P.S.  Thanks for taking the awesome pictures Berto!

 

How do they do this?  Well, there is no “stem” on a Totem cam, and the axle is not what bears the load.  While the cams rotate around an axle, load bearing cables wrap up and around a pin on the back of each lobe, and extend down past a trigger to a loop below.  There are at least four unique aspects of this design.

1.  It is possible to isolate and load only two lobes of a Totem Cam.  While Totem recommends this for aid climbing and body weight placements, it is not recommended for holding falls.  This halves the strength of the cam and adds instability to the placement.  To see a picture of this configuration click HERE and instructions of how to maximize holding power with two lobes, click HERE.

2.  Due to the unique design and the direct loading on each lobe, there is equalization of each loaded lobe.

3.  The camming angle of the lobes relative to the axle is different than its effective camming angle, since they rotate around an axle but are loaded on a pin on the back of the lobe.  Due to a larger camming angle, these cams have the potential to hold in downward flares of up to 40 degrees.  For Totem’s technical explanation of this, click HERE.

4.  Due to this unique design, Totem Cams have the largest expansion range of any single axle symmetrical cam on the market, comparable to Black Diamond’s C4 double axle design.

The cams come in a set of 5.  From smallest to largest, they are blue, yellow, purple, green, and red.  They are roughly the same size as the blue and yellow Metolius, and the purple, green, and red C4s, which works perfectly for me since those are the cams I’ve climbed on for years.

I work in a quality control laboratory and brought them in for a few quick measurements.  I threw them on the calibrated scale, and measured them with calibrated calipers.  Here are the results:

Note: I measured the “High Range” with the cams fully open so this is not the functional range.

As you can see, the results were pretty close to what is claimed on Totem’s website, with the exception of the blue (smallest) cam which was a full millimeter larger, when fully cammed, than claimed.  Just to confirm, I measured this three times and had 0.01mm difference between the three measurements.  Other than that discrepancy, the cams generally had slightly more range than claimed, and the weights were within about a gram of what was claimed.

Someone asked me to measure the head width, which I did, because these cams probably have the narrowest heads on the market.  If you’re curious about how other cams compare, then just grab a ruler and measure whichever brand you’ve got handy.

So far, I have taken them out for a few days on the rock at Mt. Woodson, Tahquitz, Suicide, and the Needles, all granite areas.  I replaced one set of blue and yellow Metolius, and purple, green and red C4s on my double rack with the Totem Cams and used them head to head with the other cams.  They’ve taken falls by my friends and I, and held every time.  I’ve hung on them using only two lobes, but overall I haven’t gotten around to really pushing their limits for two reasons: I don’t want to break one early in the review process, and I haven’t had time yet!

So, what are benefits of Totem Cams over other cams on the market?  They have an innovative elegant design that increases holding power in flares, and increases camming range for a single axle design.  They have a similar expansion range to Black Diamond C4s but are slightly lighter.  I believe the smaller sizes have more expansion range than most competing small cams, like for example Metolius TCUs.  The color scheme matches at least some of the popular brands on the market.  The thumb loop is large, easy to use, and would work well with gloves.  The sling material, while bulky, is quite good for French free climbing (yes, I got completely shut down on a climb in the Needles).  The narrow cam head width has helped in some placements, and is definitely beneficial.  Also, without a proper stem these cams are obscenely flexible without compromising on usability at all.

I know this is subjective, but these cams just feel damn solid when they’re set.  We’ve fallen on them repeatedly and they’ve held every time. So far, in my opinion, Totem Cams represent a true improvement in cam design and functionality. I’m impressed.

While the upsides to the cams are many, there are downsides as well.  As of yet, there are only 5 cams to a set.  This is a limited range, and so a typical rack would require more brands of cams.  Intentionally or not, they have done a good job of sizing the cams with some other popular brands, so this problem may be minimized depending on what brand of cams you climb on.  The Totem Cams are currently expensive.  They retail for $80 a piece, and if you purchase less than a full set the shipping fee is nearly $30.

The design, while light, is relatively bulky.  It is not nearly as low profile as many other cams on the market when hanging on a gear loop.  There are a total of 12 wires descending from the head of the cam.  8 are from the 4 load bearing loops, and there is a trigger wire for each lobe as well.  This part of the cam can interfere with rare placements, and I did find a great placement for a cam with a constriction under it that I had to switch to a TCU instead of a Totem Cam because the wires did not fit through the constriction as the placement required.  Bulk compared to my typical racked cams:

When the trigger is pulled and the cam lobes fully retracted, the bottom of the cam lobes actually wraps all the way under and contacts the load bearing wires.  My first thought was that there is no additional “play” for the lobes if the cam becomes overcammed.  I assumed that this would make cleaning the cams more difficult, if not impossible, in such situations.  While this still raises red flags for me, my partners and I have plugged these things desperately, overcammed them, and climbed on.  Each time whoever was following was able to retrieve the overcammed units out in under a minute, just like any other cam.

This is a relatively preliminary review.  I’ve had the cams for over a month now, and I haven’t had nearly the time I would like to fully evaluate them.  However, may people are VERY curious about these and so I thought I’d release my findings so far.  There are multiple things that I intend to investigate going forward.  The four things that I’d like to continue to look at are as follows:

1.  I would like to know how these things work for aid climbing.  While I have aided in the past, I just don’t really aid climb these days.  I thought I lined up someone to take the Totem Cams up a wall in Yosemite, but that has apparently fallen through.  However, serendipitously, a representative from Totem will actually be in Yosemite allowing climbers to demo them and take them up climbs.  A link to sign up for the demo is HERE.  While these cams have impressed me so far, I believe this is an area where the cams may truly shine.  I look forward to hearing what aid climbers think of these things in the near future!

2.  I would like to see how robust the cams are.  The blue Totem Cam has held our largest fall to date, and it put a decent bite in the lobe.  Perhaps they are softer metal?  Someone more knowledgeable about metallurgy may be able to clarify.  Like Aliens, this could increase holding power but decrease life expectancy.  It could also have just been bad luck since the cam was set behind a crystal.  It didn’t affect functionality, but my 00 TCU looked less dented after Roberto took a 25’ fall on it on the same climb.  I won’t really have an opinion about robustness until I’ve spend more than a month and a half with the things and there’s not much of a point in putting a lot of stock in a single data point.  (Edit: I learned that the aluminum in the lobes is 7075-T6, one of the harder alloys. )

3.  As mentioned above, I’m concerned about cleaning the Totem Cams.  I’m less concerned with cleaning them since we’ve been able to retrieve overcammed units every time so far with little problem, but I feel that I need data points to have a final opinion.

4.  Lastly, I’d like to really test these things out in some poor placements: flares, two lobes, etc.  I’d like to set them with two lobes and take some small falls on them.  I know it’s not recommended, but the curiosity is killing me.  I need to be patient, however, since if I break one I can’t review it anymore so I’ll save that for last.

For the moment, I’m happy to have them on my rack.  They are much lighter than the old style Black Diamond Camalots the larger three are replacing.  While the smaller two are heavier than the Metolius TCUs they have more expansion range and the weight difference isn’t huge.  I really like having a single set of these on my rack.  Due to their bulkiness on the harness, and the larger weight in the smaller sizes I wouldn’t want to carry more than a single set.  Due to their different design, I can fit them in some places better than a Metolius TCU or BD C4, and vice versa.  Having a different brand of cams on my harness is opening up more quality placement options.

In conclusion, if you have the cash, you’d be very happy to have a set of these on your harness.  Due to cost, bulkiness, and a lack of information about robustness, I wouldn’t recommend getting more than that yet.   If you’re an aid climber who likes “toys” I would DEFINITELY pick up a set.  Expect a sequel to this review at least a few months from now once I’ve had the chance to put a lot of mileage on them.

If you’ve made it this far in the review, here’s a short video of the cams that I put together:

If you have any questions, please let me know by posting to the comments below.  I’ll also try to monitor the various forums that I link this in.

Josh Higgins

P.S.  I apologize for saying that this review would come out sooner than it did.  I’m working full time and going to school full time so it’s been brutal finding time!

Note:  These cams were provided free of charge under the agreement that a review would be written and posted on the internet.  Before they were sent, I specifically informed Totem Cams that despite receiving them for free I would not favor the cams in any way in my review.  This is my honest opinion of them with no strings attached.

Edit on January 18, 2011:  Totem Cams are experiencing a RECALL.  Apparently, their annodization has an effect on their ability to hold on limestone due to its lack of friction.  They recommend sanding off the annodization to fix the problem, or mailing them back.  Personally, I’m not mailing mine back since I don’t climb on limestone and with normal use I’ve already worn the annodization off on much of the lobes.  Nothing like a little DIY action!  Read the recall and decide for yourself, though.  Mine have been holding falls like champs though and I haven’t had one blow yet!