Black Diamond LiveWire Quickdraw

When I first saw these at the Outdoor Retailer trade show, they really stood out. I guess that’s what neon green will do for a product. But blazing color aside, they just looked really sharp. And no more of this skinny dog bone crap, here was a return to the fat quickdraws that so many of us love, not just because they don’t twist as easily as their skinny brethren, but because that fat grip feels really good when you are choking the cobra and dogging up a route.

We got our hands on a couple of these to test over the last couple of weeks, and I have to say, they are nearly perfect. The top ‘biner is a Dynotron, good and beefy for clipping bolts. The bottom is a LiveWire and has maybe the smoothest clip of any ‘biner I’ve ever used. There is a nice thumb catch on the spine to facilitate quick clips and the action on the wire gate is smooth. And then of course there is the fatty dogbone, which as I mentioned before is nice for several reasons, with my favorite being how easy they are to grab.

I did also use them on some single pitch trad routes, and they were nice, but I’ll probably stick with the lighter stuff when venturing more than a rope length off the ground.

Alright, they sound pretty great and all, but what about the price you say? Ok, I’ll admit it, maybe they aren’t quite perfect. At $24.95, this is a pricey draw. Let’s say you need about 12 draws to climb at your favorite choss pile, that’s $300 for quickdraws! And I thought sport climbing was the “cheap” way to get into climbing.

Still, if you clip a lot of bolts, you may find it worth the investment, especially if you are looking to replace some worn and aging draws. There is no question in my mind that this is simply the finest quickdraw you can find on the market today. Sorry Petzl 😉