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Review #1 - Rock Empire Comet Cams
23 Jun 2006
review by Jason Brown
 Hailing from the
Czech Republic, Hudy Sport was never, say, a Wild Country or Black Diamond, so
you may take their Comet Cam camming devices with a pinch of salt at first.
After all, they're basically clones of the Classic Wild Country Friend design,
with single-axle cams and a design reminiscent of the older flexible friend
units. Wherre these cams really win out, however is in sheer price
competitiveness. Our test units retail for about the AU$69.95 mark, which is
significantly cheaper than equivalent sized Friends and/or Camalots, so for a
budget conscious climber looking to augment their rack or for a young climber
subsisting on cheaper static devices like wired nuts and hexes, These cams will
be a popular choice. Beyond the price, they're nice little SLCDs in themselves,
and are of course built so that in an emergency, they could be used in an open
position, though I've tended to dismiss this as a marketing point rather than a
genuine feature. I've certainly never had the need to use a fully-open camming
device, but there again, perhaps one day I will and then I'll eat my words.
Technically speaking, Comet Cams are available in sizes complementing
those of the classic Friend size range. 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. kN
rating goes from 7 for the smallest to 15 for the size 5, though we did
note that the label shows size 2 as 11 min. kN and the trigger on the
corresponding cam claims 12 - a small detail for sure, but hey, that's what
we're here for. For what it's worth, the other three sizes tested had
figures matching the paperwork. Reproduced here are Hudy's figures for
each of their Comet Cams
| Size |
kN rating |
Weight (g) |
Range (mm) |
 |
| 0.25 |
7 |
65 |
12 - 16.5 |
| 0.5 |
9 |
70 |
14 - 20 |
| 0.75 |
10 |
72 |
17 - 24.5 |
| 1 |
11 |
89 |
20 - 29 |
| 2 |
11* |
97 |
27 - 41 |
| 3 |
12 |
131 |
35 - 53 |
| 4 |
12 |
155 |
48 - 67 |
| 5 |
15 |
190 |
61 - 91 |
* test unit showed 12kN rating on trigger.
 Each Comet Cam comes
on a narrow dyneema-looking sling rated at 22kN, and the stem itself is plastic
sheathed, with the classic brass-ferruled trigger wires leading from
a dimpled plastic trigger, which is quite nice to grip. It's no Camalot in
terms of trigger action, but it's far better than the rigid Friend experience
of old, making a crusty old geezer like me quite happy. The axle is hex-key
headed, so you could, in theory have the unit apart for maintenance, though of
course I recommend thoroughly that you have that kind of thing done
professionally. After all, your life may dangle on one of these cams one day.
Here at Ausclimbing.com we have four on test alongside the usual rack of Wires,
Camalots and Friends, and we've had no hesitation in selecting a Comet when the
right size crack has presented itself. As of the time of writing, they've found
use at a few different crags - The stalwart suburban cragging of
Berowra, lower-grade sport crag Otherland
(we did, in fairness, use them on the one trad route there), Barrenjoey
Southwest and Glebe's Thin Wall - where we were taken very much off guard
by a nominally 'easy' crack and had to whip onto the size 3 from well above. We
have had no complaints at all, but this review may be updated as the test units
age. We think Comet Cams should be a popular choice, if you can stop
snobbery or faddishness getting in the way of purchasing a quite competently
built piece of kit.
Test units supplied directly by Mountain Equipment, Kent Street Sydney.
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