Review on Unleash Your Climbing Potential with the DMM Dragon Cam - A Revolutionary Powerhouse! by John Holliday

On difficult climbs where I'll probably need a lot of professionals, I wear doubles. For me it's the BD C4 Set (Standard) and the Dragons Set. When I'm doing alpine stuff, where singles probably just need a light attitude, I go with the Dragons. The Dragon cameras cover pretty much the same area as the C4 and (thank goodness) use the same color scheme. Some are concerned about the lack of a thumb loop. I never noticed. That means they are placed well and easily. I think they are a little lighter than the C4 but I doubt anyone who climbs will notice a small difference. The biggest benefit (but also the only downside I'll go into) is the retractable Dyneema linkage. Very often I find that lengthening the drawstring for a more or less straight up and down stride provides enough protection from cam movement that I don't have to follow a runner. It's pretty nice. The downside is that you should replace Dyneema lines every few years, while the heavy-duty nylon lines used on the C4 only need to be replaced every 5 or so. Now, a theoretical strength loss of about 30% due to dyneema aging should play a role when running the rope in the system with an initial breaking strength of about 22 knots. I doubt it a little. But if you strictly follow the books, you have to send them somewhere for a new sling every 2 years. It sucks. In closing, I would like to say two things: 1) I love setting up these cameras. 2) If you want to provide direct assistance, the lack of a thumb loop can pose a problem. However, I mostly free climb.