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Review > Contact Climbings > Handroids

We expected the Contact Handroids to be at our doorstep a couple of weeks ago and we've been eagerly waiting for them since Contact told us that they we're sending us a set. Noodles pointed out that they are like an extension of the War of the Worlds set. If anyone has had the chance to climb on that set you know that there are ridges all over the holds and the same goes for the Handroid pinches, but the difference with these is the pinches are what you're going to be grabbing where on the WOTW2 they're more decoration on the outside of the hold!
So this set has a pinch for everybody. If you have monster hands you'll be strugling for friction on the small holds, if you've got baby hand then you'll be having a hard time wraping your hands around the big pinches. The ridge on the holds helps in sticking the hold although it will leave your skin burning. Normally we would make big deal about this but we realize that the added dimension of holds is well kinda worth the loss of skin. With these holds its about the attention to detail, and its the detail that you need to pay attention to. When we were working on the long move to the box I caught one of the edges with the tips of my fingers and it kept me from swinging off. The intention of these holds for pinches we set the holds with their intended purpose in mind but at the time (and the route we were climbing) the detail on the hold served better for crimps than for the added friction as a pinch.

So with 7 holds, its a large set and we weren't in any way worried about setting with them. We pushed the limits of the holds right off the bat by setting them on the 45 it is much easier to get up than some other pinches we've had on the wall (See the Sequence review here). On our last review we had pinches on the 45 and I spent 3 sessions trying to get up the problem with no luck. We set the exact same problem with the Handroids and it took myself and Noodles a couple of tries to get the feel of the holds before we sent the problem, but bear in mind this route was the second one on the 45, we had a different route that was just undoable. Even on our second set there was a fairly long move that I thought would be a challenge for us but it turned out to be a walk in the park.

Some people will like the ridged nature of the holds, some people won't. The holds will stand out on the wall as they're different, they're not the hardest pinches on the planet, but they're not the easiest either.

Pinches are hard to gauge and it really depends on you pinch strength and where you set the holds. Ideally you'd want them on a vertical to 15 degree overhang but climbers are crazy little monkeys we like to see how small/steep we can go. Droids on the 45? Why not. Droids on the roof? Not unless you like concussions from hitting the ground too hard. What this set has going is that they it caters to all level of climbers. They are very forgiving for pinches because you can hold onto the ridges instead of trying to clamp down on the hold. I find that sometimes I'll be cranking so hard on my hand that I'm unable to get myself into position for the next move. With these holds if I found that I couldn't pinch the hold I would switch to a crimp to make it through the sequence. The wider pinches are easier to hold onto on the 45 while the smaller ones are incut and could be used on steep terrain as well, the smallest hold from the set is also the thinnest and this is the hold that stopped us on the first 45 route!

The mold that they use makes the holds rough on the skin and we suspect that the foam that is used for shaping the holds is more pourous which results in a rougher texture.
Urethane, it's a little porous so the holds do have a good ammount of texture to them
I was actually surprised when Bobby and Jack couldn't get their asses off the floor (Jack should have been able to climb it since he made it to the same spot as the infamous Sequence pinch route) SEB
Funny enough, this "review" feels like a continuation of the previous one (here) But before going into it I'd like to spend a couple of words on my thoughts of the week or in this case; why did I put the word review between speech marks.

I’ve been climbing in gyms and outside for a couple of years now. 5… 6… can’t remember. Reaching the top of cliff using small rock pinches and thinking when sending a route in one go that I could have done it without a rope (just the idea as I’m not into soloing stuff) was always what turned me on about climbing. So for me the purpose of a climbing hold was to mimic this feeling while ultimately adding to the potential difficulty of a climb. Then I discovered bouldering and home climbing walls. “Calis de Tabarnac” (swearing in French) was I thinking every time that I was falling on my ass unable to do what all the others were considering “warm up” stuff. This is when I discovered how technical the sport could be and basically how wide the climbing universe is. You could now be asking yourself: “where is he going with this introspective autobiography of a nameless climber… get the point dammit!” I am, hold on. This was actually an introduction to my “review” thoughts as I feel the need to justify where I come from in order for you reader to understand why and how I comment climbing holds. So, where was I… ok, I‘m a slightly above average climber who leads once in a while and who as no intent of becoming professional. I’ll swear at a 5.11 that is too hard for me but I’ll stupidly keep on trying its crux until I can do it or… fail miserably… but still laugh (and swear) at my memorable fail. I do not own a gym and do not participate or set for competition. I like training at the gym, prefer going outside but also go to Noodles place to have some fun getting my ass kicked by routes set by climbers that are way better than me but still are kind enough to teach me the technical part of the sport. I also act like I’m setting small routes with the holds that I comment and consider learning on a regular basic about every aspect of the sport.

I therefore do not pretend to be an expert reviewer but rather a constantly evolving climber who comment and share his experiences.Finally I do not intend to harm any animal or human being during any form of practice related to this sport :P

I felt the need to do this as I think that “reviewing” climbing holds is a complex matter that is often (but not only) based on who you are, what you like climbing, how you climb it and for what purpose you climb. Now you know… and thank you for this active listening session, I feel better now :)

So let’s get it on with the Handroids. The short version:

1. LOOK: I’ll be honest; I don’t like the concept of sci-fi holds. I’m old fashion on that matter and prefer rock like shapes but kudos for the name as it is one of the coolest I’ve heard.
   
2. TEXTURE: A little rough for the skin but highly efficient
3. VERSATILITY: Average and a little bit above
4. ARE THEY FUN: Absolutely no doubts about that
5. PRICE: Cheap!

Overall the Handroids are an interesting addition for somebody who already owns a bunch of holds. They are not that versatile but can surely add to the fun factor of a route… as I recall Noodles and Chris falling repeatedly on a specific move in video two. Cheers to Chris who managed to do it… as for me, I couldn’t do my own move. I know, shame on me. The design itself offers a good grip on both type of shapes (some concave while the others are a little bit meaner and convex) while maintaining a general average difficulty level. Let’s say that they are not mean but can still be surprised.. Especially on low routes when you are tall… damn you short people who set routes. As for the texture, the guys from Contact Holds managed to reach that thin line where pain meets efficiency but without losing too much skin. You get that extra confidence even in sloppier situations which is a feeling that I really like. That being said they feel rough not only from a texture but design/polishing/final touch point of view compared to other holds that I’ve recently tried. But those holds were also more expensive so maybe that explains it.

Which brings us to the final question: would I buy them? The more I think about it the more I appreciate the package as it covers a nice range of “pinchytude” and is really cheap. It would therefore be an absolute yes if it wasn’t from the sci-fi theme.

Review > Contact Climbing > War Of the Worlds 2

UPDATE TO REVIEW AT THE BOTTOM

When we posted these holds on the news section there was a reaction to them, some positive, some negative. So much so that Dale (from Contact) offered his email address and phone number so they could bitch at him rather than anonymously on the comments section, the neighsayer didn't get the number and Dale stood by Contact's creations... and know what... rightly so.

Seeing the images of the holds doesn't really do them much justice. I was expecting some weird looking jugs, and what I got some people would class as a novelty hold but what these holds are is function over form, yes they've been sculpted to look like alien space ships, and yes some people may find this a little weird, but what the sculpting doesn't take away from is their function. Contact made some huge ass jugs and then made them look like alien space ships, hell So Ill mold telephones, so alien space craft isn't really out there...It doesn't take 5 seconds to guess where these holds were going, it's obvious once you see them that these puppies are roof dwellers, they can be put absolutely anywhere and you don't need to worry about how they're going to be... bomber is going to be the word of the day!
As we've got our new box up and kicking we figured we'd come out from under the box to one of the holds set as a side pull and then have a chuck across the roof (it's about 4ft to the hold) and see how that went... getting across was fine, getting back was a different kettle of fish!! It's easy if you use the side wall, so we took it out for fun.
The biggest of the holds is a huge double handed butterfly that has huge jugs on either side, that are more than matchable whichever way you fancy grabbing them. The other holds are just as large, except they're single sided not double sided, but whichever way you do look at the holds (and we'll say this a lot) they're huge, they're some of the biggest boltons that we have and have seen. Barring stuff like Climb-It's "Sleeping Giant", but that's a piggy back hold that takes other bolt ons!

SUGGESTED USES



The answer to this question is "where not to put them!?!", they're one of those holds that is a gimmie in any situation, roof's, super steep overhangs, they're going to be great pretty much everywhere. If you have a roof and want to set an easy route for beginners these will bego to holds for your setters, anyone should be able to haul on these holds pretty much anywhere

Incut is not the word I would use for these, hand eaters is a better description on what these holds are... super comfy once they've got some chalk on them bomber monsters from another planet.



In fact I'll go so far and give them a film rating, yup, they're rated E for Everyone! No parents needed, no having fake ID, just get them and you'll see just how big these holds are!





OVERALL BUILD
Excellent, which is what we've come to expect from Contact. Even with these holds being big the backs are well sanded and sit flush to the wall. The bolt hole and screw holes are nice and clean and well situated (we're yet to put screws in). Even with the intricate design of the holds they're well molded and look great. Texture does take a little bit of time to even out with chalk build up, but its in no way a bad thing and the holds don't rip your hands to shreds

There are a couple of minor points, I'm not all that keen on the color. As these holds are huge I'd want a brighter color if I was buying them, but bear in mind we didn't specify a color, ours are the green you see in the images. If I were you ask for the brightest color that Contact rock as it'll be worth it.

The final point is the way the holds were packed for shipping, they were in a box surrounded by paper, which means the holds can move about when the post people use the parcels in their care as a party pinata. It's something that they need to look at, but nothing that can't be fixed in a few minutes.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
There's not much I can really add, it's been hard to review three holds, but that being said it was a pleasure to do so. Bug jugs are always tricky, they're holds that you swing about on and if the texture isn't just right you end up taking skin off, thankfully Contacts texture translates well from their small holds to their big holds, add chalk to these holds and then it's not evennoticeable ! When I added these holds to the news section there were some negative comments, and these I feel have been put to bed, yeah Contacts made some holds that are a little funky, but they're better than if they were up there and we're just plain old hunks of urethane, this is especially the case with these holds are they're massive and you notice them right away!

My one gripe is the color, but it's super minor and nothing that's worth much of a mention. These holds are the same color as the Hex holds we reviewed a way back so in essence we're extended the set and now it's easy to rock both sets in longer routes. If I were buying them (like we said) I'd go for a brighter color so they really stand out, the red that Contact does will really make them pop out.

If you're looking for some monster jugs for beginners, or something you can chuck to and not worry about having to be super exact with your hands then these will do the job and then some.

CHRIS
Definitely function over form. These green invaders will spice up your wall, aesthetically and in function. I don't know if the guys from Contact did it on purpose but I realized that if you invert the holds you can use the features as crimps or better yet a massive (there it is again, MASSIVE) pinch. As noodles pointed out those same features can be used to match or bump.

When we set for a review we try to user only the holds from the set. We're lucky on the fact that we have a massive box on our roof so we could do that interesting move from under the box to the front. Even when we set for long moves, these holds are huge and it would take a blind man to miss these monsters.

In the roof, the holds are bomber. If you're like me and freak out a bit in roof sequence, these holds will help in getting rid of that psychological hex. One, two, three moves and you're on the other side.

As for the colour I don't really have any problem with it other than the fact that many companies do not carry this shade of green so if you set in a gym you can'texactly match the colour....no big deal.

What else can I say? They're massive, huge, juggernauts, monsters...you get the picture.

PROS

• Texture doesn't rip your skin to shreds
• Nice shapes with no burrs, you can even match some of the alien features if you're feeling up for it
  
• Good for any angle... ANY ANGLE!!

CONS

• If space is low then these could be too big...
• Colors not the best (but this is upto you)
• Packing needs a little bit of a look at

PRICE
Three holds for $85, but they're monsters!!

UPDATE:
Because of the comments we recieved Dale sent us some pictures to show how big the holds are, hopefully this will put the (as Dale puts it) haters to bed for a while... any comments can be addressed via the comments under the post or via our contact address. Next review we're going to take waaaay more photos, we didn't this time as we felt that the video showed how large the holds were! Our bad, we'll make sure to sort this out!! (and the pictures are of holds BEFORE sanding)

Review > Contact Climbing > Hex and Rex

We received the Rex and Hex sets from Contact during the build. There's nothing that makes you want to finish building a wall like fresh holds to pull on. Before the wall was even finished we had the holds up!Being the sneaky guys we are, we put some of them on the roof.... Once the wall was finished we moved the holds to create a single route... at this point we realised that we're either not strong enough or stupid enough to try and climb on them when they're horizontal, so we chucked some bigger holds on the flat part of the roof and used the Rex' holds on the slightly overhung roof, and then the Hex' around so it makes a big loop. Here's what they look like: Rex first...and now the Hex:
The two sets are pretty small, pretty much all crimps, the Rex being the larger hold set and the Hex being the smaller thinner_wedge_your_fingers_round_the_back holds. Now we've had a bunch of crimps as of late, and its hard to not take the Hex' and look at them side by side (which we don't normally do, we put the reviews into the archive section and let you make your own mind up!) against the E-Grips 2Tex Pure Crimps. There's positives and negatives with both of the sets, the E-Grips were made for comps and the Hex are crimps, no frills, no dual texture just plain and simple crimps! They're more positive than the E-Grips, and even thou they have a smaller area to grab onto (in most cases) it's because they have incuts for you to bear down on the makes them feel more positive... ... see what I mean? Maybe a pad if you've got small fingers, they're hard to open hand so you're forced to crimp on them. As usual i'll add my normal disclaimer that crimping will cause injuries if you over do it, so be sensible and make sure you don't haul on these holds for hours on end. Mind you with saying that the Rex' are larger and more comfortable of the two sets, and can be bolted onto way steeper terrain that the Hex' and i've been hauling on them over the past few weeks for hours on end without too much finger pain!

Thanfully Chris had his camera on hand, so here's a video of us playing on the holds.

The first part of the route on the steps is nice, the Rex' are super positve and are more than enough to get your fingers clamped around, the hold on the angled roof, is pretty big aswell, you have to bear down on it to make the move to the pinch on the roof, but overall it's good enough that you can take your weight and pull all you want. The roof isn't Contact's holds, they're some stuff we've got kicking around. The overhung wall is the Hex' and they're hard as hell to hold onto, you need to make sure you're on them really well before making any kind of movements, mind you the back wall is the same situation, matching on these holds is pretty hard (but doable) just take your time and you'll manage to stick the move.

Overall we're pretty damn impressed by these holds, and considering Contact have more stuff coming out pretty soon they seem to be a company to keep checking in on to see what's new!

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Fresh holds on a fresh wall, what more can a man ask for? Contacts got some good stuff in their line up and i'd read about some of their holds on a forum, people were raving about the Hex and Rex holds so having a look seemed like a good idea! It's a well documented fact that i'm not a huge fan of crimps (yeah yeah broken record) but they're a nessisary evil in the climbing world! If I was asked which set I prefer I'd opt for the Rex as they are larger and you can get them pretty well anywhere on a wall and they're positive, steep walls is where these holds will come into their own, and as they have a small surface area they're not going to clog up your wall. If you're feeling adventurous then get them onto the roof, we can't but there will be people out there that are looking for a challenge, and these would be it :)

The Hex for me are well suited to a slightly overhung wall or on the horizontal, they make wicked traverses and will make some wicked hard boulder problems on steeply overhung wall, they're buggers to hold onto so if you want to spit you're local hardmen (and women) off of the bouldering wall these are just the ticket!

Given that both sets are $22 a piece, and they're small shipping is going to be cheap! I think that both sets will be a welcome addition to any home wall. Erring on the Rex for me, but the Hex are where the crimp-monkeys will be hanging out if you get them

CHRIS SAYS
Sexy Hexy! Oh I do love the crimps, the smaller the better, the more evil is all good in my book. That routes been up for a few weeks, and unknown to me Noodles changed the back traverse from the E-Grips to the Hex, changed the overhang from Nicros to the Hex's and then removed half of the feet on the roof :) Give that boy a wrench and he will play, thankfully he knows how to set a route that's going to make us work, and work we are! I'm loving the Hex' holds, they're small and they're hard to match, hard to catch aswell if you're moving at any kind of speed through a move. These are my favorite holds on the wall right now, I need to work on my crimping (Noodles is making me tape my fingers when I play on the really small stuff) and these are perfect for that!

Rex... hmm, thankfully we'll be building a steeper wall very soon so that's where these will end up residing. I'm looking forward to getting these down the gym pretty soon, inconjunction with the Hex' and see what nastyness we can make up :P I like the Rex, they compliment the Hex really well as you can set nasty problems and as the Hex are so small you can chuck in a Rex to give someone a little breather... not much of a breather, but a little break!

PROS

• Both sets are cheap as hell
• You'll soon have enough crimp strength to get up that project you're failing on
• Small surface area on both sets so they don't take up much room
• Depending upon your wall's build one or both sets will be a great addition
  

CONS

• Crimping is hard on the tendons so be careful with the holds they're crimptastic
• The Hex aren't well suited for steeply overhung terrain
  

PRICE

• Cheap at half the price $22 for both sets, 10 holds in each set