The Stem
- Length
They might look similar, but there are a handful of significant differences between the larger and smaller halves of the X4 line. Most obviously, the stems on the larger sizes are much longer than those on the smaller sizes. The 0.5 and 0.75 X4 are longer, in fact, than Helium Friends, Master Cams, or C4s.
While the smaller X4s are longer than both C3s and TCUs, they come up shorter than their Helium Friend or Master Cam counterparts. I’m not saying the longer the stem, the better the cam (after all, I think TCUs are wonderful). However, on a flexible single stem frame like the X4’s, I don’t see a reason to trim the smaller sizes down quite so much. The 0.1 in particular is about half an inch shorter than the size 0 (purple) Master Cam.
In case it sounds like I’m getting hung up on the very few occasions when I’m reaching way over my head for a placement, I should explain that my gripe is with having the trigger so close to the head. If you look at the 0 Master Cam and the 0.1 X4 side by side, you’ll notice not only that the Master Cam is a bit more than half an inch longer than the X4 but, more importantly, that half inch is gained entirely between the trigger and the head. Maybe it’s my chubby, clumsy fingers, but I like the extra space between my hands and the placement when, for example, I’m trying to work the cam into a crack at the back of a flare.
- Flexibility
Though a bit short in the small sizes, the stems on all six cams are extremely flexible, and keep walking to a minimum. I never had trouble with the cams migrating or getting stuck. The X4s have the Master Cams beat in this regard.
The X4 stem is flexible from swage to head. This makes the beads that protect the upper stem on the X4s look especially clever. By contrast, Master Cams do most of their bending in the middle, where the cable is exposed between the trigger and thumb loop. Having the sort of stem flexibility that the X4s have makes me more confident about horizontal placements that face straight out or even up. The steep, juggy, finger traverse on Princely Ambitions at Index is a perfect example.
As with other similar cams, I’ve heard complaints that the 0.75 X4 is too big for the wire stem and the combination makes the cam feel “floppy.” As with green and black Master Cams, I can sympathize with this, and I understand why people might be put off, but this is personally not something that bothers me. I’ve never felt like I came close to botching a placement because the stem felt too soft.
If I have one gripe about the stem, it’s the way it is offset at the top of the thumb loop. Like many cams with flexible wire stems, the stem is doubled back on itself to form the thumb loop and swaged closed. In the case of the X4, there’s a small recess below the top of the thumb loop that allows the stem to kink slightly and migrate to one side. This is not a huge problem and it hardly compromises the cam, but it is annoying, and I think it should be an easy fix for future generations.
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On the other hand, the 0.5 and 0.75 X4s (the largest two of the six), are dramatically thinner than comparably sized C4s, Helium Friends, or Master Cams. In fact, the four cam lobes on the 0.5 and 0.75 X4 sit in the same space as just three of the four lobes found on the same size Black Diamond C4.
Do you think that this is a disadvantage? I meat that the more narrow head is the less placement is stable? I think that with 0.75 with reduced head width (between BD C4 and X4) you can put it in more tricky placement. But, well, stability…
And the second thing about X4. Sometimes I find it too flexible – a cable is bending during closing lobes. Have you such issue? But the ones that I’ve used really needed greasing.
Regarding the stability, I haven’t noticed that to be a concern as a function of the head width. In fact, when the stem acts to rotate the cam, the wider head will have a longer “lever” in terms of the basic mechanics involved and significan’t off-set the stability that you might get from the head having a wide “stance.” Additionally, the soft stems (relative to Black Diamond C4s, Helium friends, etc.) help isolate the lobes from the movement of the rope in the same way, but to a lesser extent, as a sling. In the real world, I haven’t seen any actionable difference between stability in the X4s and the Black Diamond C4s in the same size, and any slim difference is easily overcome by the ability to work with thinner (or slightly flaring) placements.
As for the softness of the stem, this is definitely the type of issue that colors peoples experience with one cam or another. While truly rigid stems are obviously impractical, a really heavy cam (say, off fingers or thin hands sizes) on a super soft stem can be irksome. Pairing excessively stiff springs with a soft stem can be equally problematic. As for the X4s, I use the 0.75 regularly without much trouble from the soft stem. In fact, as far as the stiffness of the stems go, I generally have an easier time with the 0.75 X4 than with the comparably sized black Metolius Mastercam.
This is definitely wading into personal preference, though, and I do know other climbers who don’t like to use those types of single stem cams (Mastercams, X4s, Aliens, etc.) in sizes any larger than perfect fingers. In my opinion, the real issue with the stem on the X4s is the needlessly short stem on the two smallest sizes. They threaten to get stuck with some regularity despite otherwise being excellent micro cams.