Camp Turbo Chest and how they wear.

[Simon Wilson]

I've been using the Camp Turbo Chest for three months now and it's starting to show some wear but it's wearing in a way that I didn't expect.

There is some minor wear in the bottom of the rope channel and there is some minor wear of the cam. The wear to the cam is less than I would expect for a Croll and I think that is probably because the cam is made of a better material.



I have noticed that sometimes the rollers don't turn. The strange thing is that when this happens the rollers appear quite free. I step up and they don't roll but if I assist them with a finger they do. This happens with newer and cleaner rope.

Once a Turbochest has been used for caving it is bound to get particles interfering with the free running of the rollers. So even if they seem quite free they are not quite as free as they could be and that is unavoidable in normal caving use.

So even when they are as free running as can be the low friction of new cleanish* rope is not enough to overcome the friction of the bearings. You would expect that the abrasion of new cleanish rope to be low and to cause very little wear but wear is showing on the rollers. There are several flat spots on the top roller. When the rollers are new they have a nominal diameter of 8.00mm and are within about 0.02mm. The top roller on my Turbochest is now worn down to 7.71mm at the smallest point.  I think that if other parts don't wear out first, eventually the biggest flat will be favoured and could get big enough that the roller never runs. The flats are hard to see except when you roll it so I made a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNfnbLKFLSk&feature=youtu.be

* Before anybody gives me any more crap about keeping ropes clean - my ropes regularly go in the washing machine. No matter how clean you think you keep your rope it will be abrasive. One of the worst abrasives is aluminium oxide on the rope from abseiling.

[tamarmole]

In terms of wear and ease of use how to you rate the Turbochest compared to the Croll? 

(I changed from an old style Croll to a Turbochest and wouldn't go back)

[Simon Wilson]

Apart from the fiddly trigger the Turbo seems far superior (but it's early days for the Turbo). If the rollers wear they are easy to replace. You can swap them over. Do Camp sell replacements? I might try to improve the bearings.

Camp have leapfrogged over Petzl. Petzl have seriously screwed up with the new Croll and they can't keep selling them for much longer.

[bograt]

I can see flat spots on the rollers causing problems, what are the rollers made of?.

[Simon Wilson]

Stainless steel.

[paul]

Thanks for that review - very useful.

[D.Snaith]

Thankyou for the review, this is one of my options for a new chest ascender as i strongly dislike the new croll

[tamarmole]

Thankyou for the review, this is one of my options for a new chest ascender as i strongly dislike the new croll

Dan you are more than welcome to try mine (once I get it back from Big Dave).

[Simon Wilson]

The trigger on the Turbo is really fiddly at first and takes a bit of getting used to. If you're used to using a Croll and operating the trigger with your thumb even with muddy gloved hands then you probably won't be happy to use the same technique with the Turbo.

I've tried the Turbo trigger with and without the cord tag. Without the tag if your hands are clean and you have good gloves you can use the trigger in a similar way to the Croll. But I found that I was having to take my glove off sometimes. I have found that it is better to just forget the old technique and adapt to using the tag. The original Camp tag is ergonomic, easy to get hold of and doesn't interfere with the cam but it is black and hard to see. That is why I have been trying the yellow cord. The yellow cord tag needs to be made slightly longer and easier to get hold of.

[Fulk]

Is there any chance of this 'tag' getting caught on something and pulling the cam open by accident?

[Simon Wilson]

There is very little chance of the cam opening by accident. That's sort of the problem with the 'fiddly' trigger. It's actually slightly more difficult to open the cam than with a Croll and less likely to open accidentally.

I thought that a problem with the cord might be it getting down into the rope channel but it doesn't seem to be able to.

Several earlier versions of the Croll had a hole in the trigger for attaching a cord tag and lots of people used to do that. I never did it but I don't think it was ever a problem.

[Simon Wilson]

I can see a potential problem with the trigger spring which is carbon steel and rusting. I'll give it a squirt of spray grease and hopefully it won't break before I wear out the cam.

[D.Snaith]

Dan you are more than welcome to try mine (once I get it back from Big Dave).

That would be brilliant thanks Rick.

[tamarmole]

Dan you are more than welcome to try mine (once I get it back from Big Dave).

That would be brilliant thanks Rick.

No worries - Let's face it I'm not going to be using it in the near future! 

[D.Snaith]

Im sure you will be back, swimming in Ochre in no time.

[MarkS]

​Just to follow up on this thread from a while back, I thought I'd give some info on the Turbo Chest I've had for a bit over 2 years now. Until fairly recently it's been fine, perhaps starting to slip slightly from time to time, but nothing too bad. However, it was much worse this weekend and I was suddenly having to manually engage it most of the time down Rowter and Eldon. I'd intended to post a few photos here to show its wear, and then retire it completely, but having gone to clean it before taking the photos I found some amazingly solid mud on the cam, so I'll probably give it at least another go.

Anyhow, having cleaned it up and dug my camera out, I may as well carry on and post a couple of photos, especially because I haven't heard of many others that have had as much use. I bought it in September 2014, so it's had just over 2 years of pretty heavy use, including two China expeditions and a Montenegro expedition. Within that time, I'd take a slightly conservative estimate that it's averaged around 1 trip per week involving around 100 m of prussiking, meaning it's done >10 km of prussiking in total. If I'm honest, I haven't looked after it particularly well, and it's done a good chunk of that prussiking on fairly muddy ropes too.

In terms of how worn it looks, there's obviously cosmetic wear and the top teeth have been worn down. Very slight flat spots are noticeable on the rollers, but I think they make no difference whatsoever to their function. Regardless of whether I chuck it away after this weekend, I'm impressed by how it's lasted and I'll probably replace it with another of the same model. It seems to be an effective, durable design, and doesn't seem to fail in a catastrauphic manner...

[pwhole]

That looks pretty damn good for two years' solid use - I'm impressed. The attachment hole on my new model Croll had almost melted through in far less than that, and the teeth were more worn too. May have to splash out soon then.

[Alex]

I don't think I have cleaned mine once and its still working pretty good.

[maxf]

Any longer term updates on their use ?

[pwhole]

Having checked my records I've found that I've been using mine solidly for two and a half years, and I'm just retiring it due to worn teeth - much like Mark's photo above. But that's twice as long as I was getting from a Croll, so pretty good value. No significant issues anywhere else - the cam spring was a bit rusty I guess. I was impressed enough with the teeth durability to try out one of the Camp Solo 2 hand jammers, which I've just got today, so we'll see how long that lasts - hopefully better than the latest Basic, which is already flattening off after a year.

[MarkS]

I'm on my second one now, and it's lasting as well as the first. I think after my previous post I did use my old one for a bit longer, but the teeth were getting worn. I've been really happy with them, and only this weekend I was reminded how much better they are than other chest jammers when passing a tight and/or wide rebelay when you inevitably get quite a sharp angle of rope as it exits the bottom of the device.

[DKP]

Has anyone come up with a good replacement for the the string-pull on these?

At the moment I'm just using a bit of string tied on with a bowline, but the relatively loose knot seems to cause problems when trying to disengage the mechanism. I can probably fix this by just tying a self-tightening knot but was wondering what other people have been doing.

I have used the thin attachment string from an old lanyard I had lying around too, but it broke after one trip. The hole isn't exactly spacious so I've struggled to come up with anything hard-wearing, I'm starting to think thin wire might be better than string.

[Alex]

I got used to doing it without the bit of string... but I never really got on with that ascender too much and went back to Petzle

[Mike Hopley]

Has anyone come up with a good replacement for the the string-pull on these?

Mine came with a spare string-pull, but a quick search does not reveal any source for spare parts.

I would talk to Starless River and see if Mr Seddon can work his usual procurement magic.

[Minion]

Has anyone come up with a good replacement for the the string-pull on these?

A piece of 3mm accessory cord.

To fit it through the hole, you'll have to pull the sheath of the cord back, cut a cm of the core out, then pull the sheath back up, lick and twist into a point. This will then be narrow enough to fit through the hole, which will then allow you to pull the accessory cord through, with the core in tact in the lower section.

Tie a big knot in the bottom end, which will be something decent to pull on to open the device.

This worked really well for me in the Berger this year, when I had super cold hands and had been awake for 30+ hours. I found it much better than the tab which comes as standard on the device.

I'm away with work all this week, back home on the weekend. Send me a PM if you'd like me to send some images when I get back.