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
- 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
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