Anso carabiner. (mixed feelings)

Haze · Sep 7, 2011

I just picked up one of the Anso carabiners, I'm a bit of a sucker for cool wee gadets and you can double that if it's made from Titanium or carbon fiber

. The Anso piece is made from Ti and looks to be well machined and finished, the one I got is anodised green with a tumbled finish. The carabiner is very light being made from Ti and is clearly going to be strong enough to take a good amount of weight. We are obviously talking "gear weight" and not body weight for something like this. It is sertainly not suitable for climbing.

As my title states I have to say that I have mixed feeling with this thing, although the machined Ti part is well done and I can say nothing bad about it, there is a "but". The gate spring is frankly not up to par at all. I'm sure some will think "and ? big deal".....Well, the single moving part on this carabiner that needs fitted has been done very poorly indeed IMO. On the piece I have the spring barely even springs, it does't meet the cut out at the top of the gate and is also rather unevenly bent to shape meaning it opens to one side. To top that off this piece is a whoping US$125.........I'm sorry to say but IMO this is just not good enough given the price.
I'm left in the position of paying to send it back round the world for refund/replacement or just to swallow this and perhaps fit a gate spring properly my self and save the time, money and hassle of returning it. I will no doubt choose the later.

I had no problems paying the perhaps high price for this as I am familiour with Anso's knives and have been impressed with the pieces I have handled. I don't want this to sound like I'm being overly negative where it's not deserved, but unfortunately this was not what I was expecting from a maker as well known and regarded as Anso. I have other similar pieces in Ti and carbonfiber that were far less expensive but with much better finish and function. I was hoping this was going to be a "premium" piece next to the others but alas not.

Practical Use · Sep 7, 2011

You need to contact the seller. Perhaps it is just a quality control slip, and he would like to know.

lemmuhj · Sep 7, 2011

Wow, thanks for the write up. I was very close to getting one of these.

Haze · Sep 7, 2011

Practical Use said:
You need to contact the seller. Perhaps it is just a quality control slip, and he would like to know.

I'm sure that is what happened. I have bits of Ti and SS wire here for a new spring any way. IMO that is far easier than going through the rigmarole of returning it.

lemmuhj said:
Wow, thanks for the write up. I was very close to getting one of these.

I wouldn't say don't get one just have it checked by the seller first.

UffDa · Sep 7, 2011

Here's a picture I found. It appears that the spring was an "off the shelf" item and was not made to fit properly. For $125, I think they could have done a better job.

Haze · Sep 8, 2011

UffDa said:
Here's a picture I found. It appears that the spring was an "off the shelf" item and was not made to fit properly. For $125, I think they could have done a better job.

View attachment 230655

From Anso's blog:

CNC milled in the ANSO shop from .210" thick titanium 6Al4V. Measures approx 3" x 1 1/2". Spring custom made from stainless steel. Weight is approx 1.2 oz. These have been beadblasted, anodized and stonewashed in blue, green and bronze. 24 have been made in this first batch.

The springs are aparently "custom made", to me it looks like the spring has been bent to shape by hand. It's uneven and is a little short so it doesn't fit well or even have much spring to it, it doesn't snap back like the other wire gate caribiners I have. Regardless of the price they definitely could have done a better job.

These two were a fraction of the price and have strong snappy springs, so it can be done......

xbxb · Sep 8, 2011

When you pay that much money you should get a quality piece of workmanship. I would first send an email, sometimes mistakes are made and can be corrected. Hey we all make a mistake now and then. Let him try to correct the problem. I guess the second question is are you going to use it for camping climbing etc. or is it going to hold your keys. If keys-- maybe take a look at a re-evaluation of the product. Is the spring strong enough to hold a key ring. If not then inquire about the problem. Most people will be happy to work with you.

lemmuhj · Sep 8, 2011

Think i'll pass....

TheMadPlumbarian · Sep 8, 2011

So far i still cant get over the berkeley point carabiner, all titanium, but its the design of it, theres a slide on it that will use the gate to also make it a locking carabiner, but at the same time, its a little out of my price range, they were selling it for about $90,, i posted the link below JR

http://www.berkeleypoint.com/products/titanium/parts/locking_carabiner_a.jpg

UffDa · Sep 9, 2011

Haze said:
From Anso's blog:

The springs are aparently "custom made", to me it looks like the spring has been bent to shape by hand. It's uneven and is a little short so it doesn't fit well or even have much spring to it, it doesn't snap back like the other wire gate caribiners I have. Regardless of the price they definitely could have done a better job.

These two were a fraction of the price and have strong snappy springs, so it can be done......

View attachment 230749

Right.

Custom made for someone else's carabiner? Why is the end round and the groove square? If it was custom made, simple logic would say that the parts fit.
My guess is that they either bought the springs from another company or took them off of a cheap carabiner. Maybe they wanted to get things on the market and didn't have
time to make a proper spring. Either way, I would definitely complain. If nothing else, it's shoddy workmanship.

Just for the heck of it I googled Anso and found this picture.

Notice that the spring is square on the end and fits the groove. I would still bet that the early ones had factory made springs. I would definitely bitch about it.

yablanowitz · Sep 9, 2011

Haze said:
I just picked up one of the Anso carabiners, I'm a bit of a sucker for cool wee gadets and you can double that if it's made from Titanium or carbon fiber . The Anso piece is made from Ti and looks to be well machined and finished, the one I got is anodised green with a tumbled finish. The carabiner is very light being made from Ti and is clearly going to be strong enough to take a good amount of weight. We are obviously talking "gear weight" and not body weight for something like this. It is sertainly not suitable for climbing.

For that kind of money, I'd better be able to hang my car from it, not just the keys. With the fit of that spring, all I can say is "You've been robbed."

DanG · Sep 11, 2011

Frankly, the first thing I thought when I saw the first pics of those carabiners some weeks ago was that the spring gate wouldn't be up to par. It looks like the wire is too thin, the bending isn't optimized for torque and the wire ends have been left sharp instead of "melted" to prevent coming undone. They are just not pocket friendly, and are insecure to carry keys. Unload it asap.

There is a science to biners and to my mind no custom maker gets them right. The only option for the time being is to stick to mountaineering biners. Choices abound. Prices are competitive (a tenth). Metolius makes the smallest but full load bearing one (FS mini). Black Diamond and DMM are state of the art, though a bit big for keyrings. None of them will compromise the security of your keys.

Anso carabiner. (mixed feelings)

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