Black Diamond Oz

The Oz carabiner is a small carabiner that can be used in sport, trad, and alpine climbing. It's lightweight but has a decent gate opening making it more functional than other small carabiners.

Review

The Oz carabiner is a good all-around biner. It’s not the lightest out there nor does it have the largest gate opening (22mm) but it works well and I’ve always found Black Diamond wire gates easy to clip. The new Oz has a wire hood design making it keylock like the Petzl Ange S but is the cheaper of the two. It also comes in multiple colors to match the Black Diamond Cams.

Small Carabiner Overview

There are a handful of small, full strength carabiners on the market from 19 grams to 28 grams. Small carabiners are light in weight but generally have a smaller gate opening making clipping the rope more difficult (especially if you have large fingers). For that reason, some carabiners are better for racking gear or using on the bolt end of a quick draw than using for the rope end of a quick draw or on an alpine draw.

The lightest carabiners on the market are the Edelrid NineteenG, CAMP Nano 22 and the Metolius FS Mini. The NineteenG and FS Mini have a 17 mm gate opening which is TINY. I used my buddy‘s FS Mini quickdraw once and while I did manage to clip my rope in, I was cursing the entire time. Personally, I’d use the NineteenG and FS Mini for racking gear or on the bolt end of a quickdraw only. The FS mini comes in multiple colors making it good for racking cams. The Nano 22 also comes in many colors but has a larger gate opening, 21mm. This is my personal favorite and is the most affordably priced lightweight carabiner.

• Edelrid NineteenG          19g         $10.95   17mm   20/7/7 kN
• CAMP Nano 22               22g         $6.95     21mm   21/8/9 kN
• Metolius FS Mini             23g         $7.50     17mm   22/7/8 kN

In the 27-28 gram range, the gate openings get larger and are more usable. There are also a couple of small carabiners with a keylock which makes the gate harder to snag. The oz comes in a rack pack with multiple colors. Note that the original Oz did not come with the hoodwire technology so it was not keylock.

• Mammut Moses              27g         $8.95     25mm   23/8/8 kN
• Grivel Plume K3W           28g         $13.95   26mm   22/7/7 kN
• Wild Country Astro          29g         $7.75     24mm   23/7/7 kN
• Black Diamond Oz           28g         $8.95     22mm   20/7/7 kN (keylock)
• Petzl Ange S                   28g         $10.95   23mm   20/7/9 kN (keylock)