Black Diamond is developing carabiners that use magnetic power to lock itself as opposed to the traditional twistlocks and screwlocks. As I’m a stay indoors kind of guy who never goes climbing, I think I just found my next keychain.
For people who do use carabiners for carabiner purposes though, the Magnetron carabiner is supposed to be easier to unlock than traditional systems but still provide the same safety. Here’s how it works:
• Magnetic attraction to a steel insert in the carabiner nose keeps two independent arms securely locked
• Locking arms must be individually depressed before the gate can be opened
• Once open, opposing magnetic fields repel the arms to ensure smooth and reliable gate operation
Ideally, it’ll be a lot easier to use than the old method and can let people focus on scaling a cliff rather than screwing and unscrewing a carabiner. Sadly, the Magnetron carabiner won’t be released until 2012. Guess my keys will have to wait. [Magnetron Carabiner via The GearCaster]
Blake
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 11:08 AMAuto locking carribiners are just plain annoying because they do automatically lock. It makes them incredibly frustrating to use as you can’t keep the gate unlocked when you are working on it (if you were say popping in a clove hitch) and more importantly it stops people thinking about safety.
There are uses for this in gyms maybe where soccer mums are taking their kids out but these aren’t outdoor devices.
Curly
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 11:45 AMHope you don’t carry your keys in the same pocket as your wallet…
Goodbye mag stripe cards.
nitestick
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 4:20 PMPretty unlikely, it takes a lot more than you’d think to erase those.