Gear Review: The Best Ultralight Racking Carabiners

Ultralight Racking Carabiners

The C.A.M.P. Nano 22 is the long standing best in the ‘Ultralight’ class. There are some rough substitutes out there and are some shining stars, but the Nano is has no equal… or at least that used to be the case. We’ll take a look at the C.A.M.P. Nano 22, the Metolius FS Mini II, and a new challenger in 2020, the Black Diamond Miniwire. Plus a nod to the world’s lightest carabiner the Edelrid Nineteen G. 

To define the ‘Ultralight’ class, we will discuss carabiners between 19-23g—a feat of engineering for fully rated carabiners. None of the snag-free nose designs made weight for this class. Three of the four qualifying carabiners are a single gram apart. It’s worth noting, this class is designed to prioritize weight savings over function and ease of use. They are best suited for racking cams on your harness and will be scored for that purpose. All commentary and scoring on the functional advantages or limitations will be relative to this class. If you have banana hands, look to the mid-size and full sized carabiners in the lightweight class—e.g., The C.A.M.P Photon and the discontinued Black Diamond OZ.

Scoring Weight
Clipping 50%
Unclipping 30%
Reracking 10%
Sixth Sense 10%

Scoring
A carabiner’s size, gate clearance, gate catch, nose profile, and nose angle contribute to handling performance. Each carabiner will receive a score based on performance of clipping, unclipping, re-racking, and a “6th sense score,” for subjective weighting. Categories will be weighted to reflect the priority of some performance traits over others. Price will not be part of the weighted score.

Lets break it down...

Reigning King - C.A.M.P. Nano 22 (22g)

Score: 95/100
Clipping - 50/50 
Unclipping - 27/30
Reracking - 8/10
Sixth Sense - 10/10

C.A.M.P. Nano 22

Hard to beat, the Nano 22 reigns king—best of the few carabiners in its class. We did a full weekend, full rack test on the Nano, but full disclosure, this is the carabiner most of our testers use on their racks already. It’s the largest in a class that’s small to begin with, giving it a distinct advantage over its competitors. The gate clearance is significant at 21mm, an impressive boast for ultralights. Clipping with a finger in the basket is easy, and was unanimously declared the easiest to clip in our testing. The gate catch on the nose is less prominent than others and the nose angle curves continuously, producing low frequency of snagging incidents. The nose profile on the nano is the thinnest in its class and easiest to rerack… ish. While the thin nose makes re-racking a crowded gear loop easier, it also makes it possible to accidentally thread the gate on a neighboring carabiner creating ‘rack jam.’  We docked it heavily for this which is perhaps unnecessary. Rack jam sucks, but doesn’t happen often by any means… only when you’re runnout and pumped. 

Overall, being the largest and easiest to clip, easiest to unclip, easiest to rerack*, the Nano 22 is King for a reason.

Not the Nano - Metolius FS Mini II (23g)

Score: 80/100
Clipping - 40/50 
Unclipping - 24/30
Reracking - 8/10
Sixth Sense - 8/10

Metolius FS Mini II

Long regarded as a poor alternative to the Nano 22, the FS Mini II is not a popular choice. We did a full weekend, full rack test of the FS and we were pleasantly surprised. It really isn’t bad as a racking carabiner and it tested well enough for this purpose, but it comes up short of the lead competitors in its class. Its most glaring shortcoming is its small size, which effects handling performance across the board. Another mark; the gate clearance is an unimpressive 18mm. Clipping was a pain, but became bearable when we retro adapted a clipping technique we learned while testing another small contender; keeping our fingers out of the basket while clipping. The nose profile on the FS flairs in a way that was designed to help prevent accidental gate opening; not a big concern, but the flare did change the way we were unclipping. Using a thumb and the flare as a guide, push/twist to move the sling or wire past the more prominent gate catch to make snagging less frequent. A few of us became fairly adept at it, but it would still be generous to say it equals the Nano in unclipping. Re-racking on a crowded gear loop is fine, but easier with its larger contenders. Note: because of the flared nose profile, it cannot accidentally thread the gate on the neighboring carabiner — no rack jam!

There’s not a lot of praise for the FS mini II, but it’s not all bad. You might not like it at first, but you won’t mind it eventually. Pretty much says it all.

The New Nano? - Black Diamond Miniwire (23g)

Score: 94/100
Clipping - 50/50
Unclipping - 25/30
Reracking - 8/10
Sixth Sense - 11/10

Black Diamond Miniwire

Black Diamond introduced a newcomer to the ultralight world in 2020 and it comes in packing a punch. To be transparent, we had a single carabiner for testing and did not climb on a full rack of Miniwires. The Miniwire is the same size as the Nano and matches its 21mm gate clearance, making it easy to clip. The profile on the nose is comparable to the Nano with the same advantage and the similar potential for rack jam. The gate catch is larger than the Nano and there is a change in the nose angle. Both concern us about snagging and our unclipping exercise showed potential for the increase. We did give it plus one in ‘Sixth Sense’ for the sexy black gates.

We had limitations in the brevity of our testing and would like to do a full rack test, but our impression so far is that the Miniwire is great—really great.

Update: We have since done multiple seasons of testing on a full rack test and we can confirm

Stupid Light - Edelrid Nineteen G (19g) 

Score: 75/100
Clipping - 40/50
Unclipping - 21/30
Reracking - 7/10
Sixth Sense - 6/10

Edelrid Nineteen G

The Edelrid Nineteen G is a carabiner built to break boundaries. Sub 20g for a fully rated climbing carabiner is absurd and impressive beyond comparison. Like the Miniwire, we had a single carabiner for testing and did not climb on a full rack. It is small and while it measures out the same as the FS II, it feels even smaller do to its inward curving spine. We dropped this thing a lot. The obstructive gate catch sticks out more prominently and snags more often than any of its competitors and there is absolutely no nostril to speak of. Clipping with a finger in the bottom of the basket was consistently frustrating, so much so that we actually changed our clipping technique to adapt to its size, keeping our fingers out of the basket entirely. We retro adapted this technique to the FS Mini II and both scored better, but not well.

The Nineteen G sacrifices significant function to make its weight. None of our testers cared to explore a full rack test. Too small and hard to handle, it isn’t the best for racking cams or much else. It’s definitely the lightest option out there.

Conclusion

There you have it—The C.A.M.P. Nano 22 is still the best ultralight carabiner for racking, but the Black Diamond Miniwire is right there with it. The Metolius FS Mini II is nothing special, but it will get the job done, and the Edelrid Nineteen G is inspiring, but more of a novelty than a performer. Between the Nano and the Miniwire, the two leaders of the pack, the difference in performance is so small that if we were in the market for an entire set, we’d buy based on aesthetic appeal.