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Wild Country Superlight Rocks recall (Read 1900 times)

cheque

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Wild Country Superlight Rocks recall
March 01, 2023, 11:23:31 am
If you have Superlight Rocks (the type with a single wire, not to be confused with Superlight Offset Rocks which have two wires and are larger) manufactured before 2023 then you need to send them back to WC for a replacement.

Details here. Confusingly they list batch codes but I’ve had confirmation from them that it’s all of them regardless of the code.

ben

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Thanks for the confirmation. I've sent them the same question as mine don't have any batch numbers on them but are definitely pre 2023!

cheque

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Yep it’s all of them. No idea why they put example batch codes in the document.

I started the return process just now and discovered that you have two options in return for sending in your dodgy ones- a replacement set of Superlights or a replacement set of normal Rocks 1-11. The catch is that while they can send you the normal Rocks straight away, they won’t be able to send replacement Superlights ‘til September!

Will Hunt

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Bit of a bugger that you can't get replacements till September. Mine have only had 1 day by the sea since 2019 so think I'll hang on to send them away.

Paul B

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Did everyone else love their Superlights? I've never been that fond on them personally and think I only really started to like them when aiding things (this comes with a general preference of Wallnuts vs. Rocks in general).

Will Hunt

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Did everyone else love their Superlights? I've never been that fond on them personally and think I only really started to like them when aiding things (this comes with a general preference of Wallnuts vs. Rocks in general).

Carrying these was the first time I'd routinely taken offset wires up anything (which weren't little brass things that would always rip) and it was like night and day. I wouldn't go anywhere near Yorkshire limestone without them now and on most things they feel like cheating.

cheque

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Usually I use Wallnuts, supplemented with DMM Offsets if I think I’ll place loads. I find rocks are better than Wallnuts on limestone though so I take the Superlights/ bigger Offset Superlights (the names are so confusing as both are offset, the real difference is Superlights cover 1-6, Offset Superlights 6-11) as the second set on long limestone pitches.

I can’t say I love them really. The smaller ones have a tendency to pull straight through placements that a full size rock wouldn’t and to create scary swivelling placements in shallower cracks. I might just go with a second set of normal Rocks- Ideally I’ll be in at a new address by September so it might be less faff to do that as well.

T_B

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Thanks for posting Mike.

I always carried a set (in fact I made some of the prototypes at the factory with Mark in 1994. There was another single wire nut available at the time but I can’t remember who made it).

They’re good on granite. Not sure I’ve used them that much in the UK to be fair.


jwi

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I never liked them or trusted them. I think they looks like a solution to a problem I rarely face, and the construction seems inherently weak and overly complicated to me. To each their own, of course.

Duncan campbell

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Caveat being I’ve never actually used them… but I don’t get what their use is? Can you not just put a sideways wallnut 4/5 in for a shallow 6? Or use brass wires for small placements?

Like jwi says they seem weak and I have rarely had an issue with carrying a set of walnuts, set off offsets up to 8 and then a set of rocks up to 6 if I’m climbing something long + hard especially on limestone. But I generally prefer placing wires over cams. And love fiddling with me nuts  :smart:

Will Hunt

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I can’t say I love them really. The smaller ones have a tendency to pull straight through placements that a full size rock wouldn’t and to create scary swivelling placements in shallower cracks. I might just go with a second set of normal Rocks- Ideally I’ll be in at a new address by September so it might be less faff to do that as well.

How are you placing them? I've always ended up using them like this (what I think of as side on). Because they taper a lot more than standard wires in this configuration they go into places where standard wires aren't accommodated. Particularly useful on Yorkshire lime and quarried grit.


T_B

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Yes and in that configuration with only a single wire they seat in shallow placements much more easily.

duncan

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I don't use mine as often as regular offsets. They're handy for shallow, flared placements like you get on Carreg Y Barcud sandstone for example and, as T_B says, some granites.

Paul B

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It'll have been granite where mine got their most use (possibly as set 3!).

Proper offsets are great, the gold one particularly so.

 

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