Review Black Diamond Hotforge Hybrid Quickdraws

How I use them

These are the first set of draws (12cm dog bones) I grab for most climbing days:

• Sport climbing: With fairly big carabiners these work well for cragging. Especially the wire gated rope side handles easily even when clipping in a panic. The wall side solid gates do work okay with a clipstick but can snap close at bit too easily.
• Multipitch and alpine climbing: Even though they are not particularly light, they are not heavy either. I mostly grab this set and then amend the rack according to the climb of the day: Longer draws, extendable, cams etc.

Construction and Quality
Both carabiners are fairly large (not HMS size large but a bit bigger than other draws) and are very easy to handle. However you might find them too big if you have particularly small hands. The dog bones are tripled up and good to grab onto while working or (god forbid!) aiding a route.

The mixed construction (solid and wire gates) saves some weight. However I do also like the fact that it is super easy to distinguish the wall and rope side of the draw when racking up.

After more than two years of use there is a little wear from the rope running through the wire gates and the wall sided solid gates have a few small dings where the carabiners rest on the bolts - all very much expected and perfectly fine.

Price (and are they worth it)
Even though they are listed at 110 Euro on the Black Diamond website you can find the six pack at 80 Euro online.

At that price these workhorse draws are worth the money in my book. Especially for sport climbing I do not see the necessity to spend double the money or more for a few grams less or some other small subjective at best improvement.