Petrogrips / Synrock - Jugs & Mini Jugs Review

OVERVIEW

Jugs Set A:   $60 - 15 holds

Mini Jugs:     $100 - 50 holds

POSITIVE - inexpensive, ergonomic, great texture

NEGATIVE - durability, lack of color options, heavy

Petrogrips are made out of a material they call Synrock - ceramic material that exhibits real rock texture.  The texture is great and so are the shapes, but let’s just get this out of the way first - There are durability considerations with these holds – no surprises here. Ceramic is brittle and will break/crack/chip more readily than polyurethane or resin holds. 

Tightening instructions are included in each shipment noting that you can’t tighten these like you would with urethane holds – turn until snug, then ¼ turn more.  We thought spinning would be an issue, but following these guidelines we had not a single spinner.  We tightened a few beyond those recommendations (about a full turn past snug) and didn’t break any of them, but an impact driver is out of the question.  The drop test exposed their true nemesis – CONCRETE.  When dropped onto the garage floor from 4’ (a very realistic scenario) one of the largest jugs shattered into many pieces; you can see this test in the video.  The more compact mini jugs fared a bit better in the drop test - some chipping but no catastrophic shattering.  The holds are also relatively heavy – not a huge issue for a home wall owner, but it isn’t feasible to use these in a commercial gym where holds are subject to more abuse and need to be hoisted up in a setter’s bucket.  The holds are not available in vibrant colors – another hindrance for their use in gyms. 

One of the major trade-offs for these characteristics is the price.  15 large jugs for $60, 50 mini jugs for $100 – amazing value.  Holds this size in urethane you’re looking at twice that cost easily.  Even if you break a few, you’re still looking at considerable savings over urethane holds of the same style/size. 

Onto the climbing - for the most part, the jugs are really useful holds.  Set A contains a range of pinches, pockets, standard jugs, and some not so standard jugs.  The range of hold styles would be good for someone who is outfitting their wall for the first time, but customers may benefit from a bit more focus on specific hold types – a set of pinches, a set of pockets, etc.  Petrogrips will accommodate custom orders, but it’d be nice to see such sets available as a standard offering.  All the holds in this set are ergonomically friendly and all gripping surfaces feature smooth large radii.   The texture feels a lot like a fine-grained sandstone – pretty easy on the skin, but you definitely feel the grit when you pop off unexpectedly.  In nearly all cases, the holds are useful in all orientations without introducing contrived or eliminate problems.  On the 50 degree wall we easy set problems in the V2 range, but also set a stellar V6 by utilizing secondary grips.  They lend themselves to the V0-V2 range on the 20 degree wall.  Check out these problems in the video above!

The mini jugs are all over the place in terms of hold type and size.  The set contains everything from a 4 finger 2.5 pad jug to a little 1/2 pad 2 finger crimp.  There are some prominent styles in there though - cool knob features, standard finger buckets/incuts, edges, and some really cool ergonomic pinches.  For the most part, they are all very comfortable - a few odd balls like a one finger thread and a 3 mono pocket hold seem out of place.  You'll get problems in the V0-V3 range on vertical to gently overhanging terrain.  On the 50 degree, the least difficult you could get would be around V3 and they could easily yield some really hard stuff.  We set up to V5 - check out the problems in the video!  They have the same great sandstone texture as the larger jugs.  Just like in the Jugs set, it’d be nice to see some focus on specific hold types to cater to customer’s specific needs.  This set would be a great buy to outfit a home wall for the first time, or for someone who just wants to freshen up their hold arsenal. 

If a home wall owner is willing to commit to treating these holds with considerably more care than their plastic holds, and can deal with the drab colors, buying these is a no brainer: they are fun, comfortable, very versatile, and inexpensive.  Just keep them away from concrete.

Holds are available at synrockholds.com or on EBay from the seller Petrogrips.

Enix Sandbags Line - Hold Review

NOTE: To better reflect the nature of these holds, Enix has chosen to change the name of this line from Jugs to the far more appropriate name - Sandbags.  

Enix Climbing Sandbags - Hold Review from The Proving Ground on Vimeo.

The Sandbags line from Enix Climbing offers 26 holds:

10 small- $71

5 Medium- $63

5 Large- $84

5 XL- $?

1 XXL- $48

First thing first, these holds are not the typical, sinker, OH THANK GOD! type of jug that one is used to. They do however, offer a positive profile, but lack the full finger wrap that the name jug implies. They range from SMALL to XL, and one XXL feature. The sizes SMALL- XL offer a solid pour construction and the XXL sports hollow back construction, creating an extremely light hold for its size. 

These holds have a sticky texture, but not on the aggressive side. The radius of the gripping surface combined with the texture, offers comfort for long sessions. These holds will take layers of skin, not chunks. The SMALLs offer 1 – 1.5 pads of gripping surface, and this increases as you progress upwards through the hold sizes. These are workhorse holds. They shined on the 50 degree wall making for moderate to difficult climbing. On the 20 degree wall the difficulty is dialed back. Though, on steep terrain volumes could be used to mitigate the difficulty. 

Everyone can enjoy these holds, from Gumby to mutant. The geometry makes it easy to force moves to create fun and difficult climbing. There was one issue with the XXL feature that was encountered. The hollow back is aggressive, removing a lot of material. This causes the hold to flex up to 1/4”, as you can see in the video. Enix was contacted, and the mold will be modified to alleviate this issue. The only real drawback is the name…Jugs. This can be deceiving to consumers, and the holds are too unique to be given such a generic name.  That aside, these holds are loads of fun, and every climbing wall should sport some of these “Jugs.”

ENIXCLIMBING.COM

Groperz Mixed bag

Groperz Climbing Holds Review from The Proving Ground on Vimeo.

Back in the day, Groperz holds were the cream of the crop at our Midwest gym – everyone loved climbing on them, setters would fight over them and their shapes were pretty wild for their time (the vast majority were shaped by none other than Tony Reynaldo).  A lot of these holds are still regularly pulled from the hold bins for new routes despite their age and lack of vibrant color from years of acid baths.  The glaring weakness was their relatively slick texture.  Recently, nearly all the classic shapes and a bunch of new ones (most shaped by Tony as well) now feature a grippy texture similar to most holds on the market, which should help bring them back into relevance in the current hold market.

It must be noted that Groperz plastic, which is a proprietary mix, feels relatively soft and a bit spongy.  Chalk caked on very quickly and shoe rubber seemed to become more embedded than with any other holds we’ve used.  When drop testing them on concrete, the edges chipped pretty readily, and when the chipping occurred, we found we could actually pick off the freshly chipped surface with our fingernails…  When we really cranked them tight on a concrete wall, there were some other issues.  The plastic compressed behind the washer and upon removal there was a 1-2mm gap between the washer and the plastic. This compression also warped the washer which caused some small cracks to radiate around the bolt hole on the back of the hold.  The price tag is certainly attractive, and for some users, these durability shortcomings may not be an issue, but there is certainly a trade off that must be considered.  

We proceed with the review of the hold shapes and most suitable use, allowing you to make that consideration on your own.   

Groperz divides their hold line by size but does not use the standard S, M, L, etc.  Their categories are Minis, Footgrips, Poprocks, Keystones, Jumbos and Megalithics.  This isn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself, but the individual sets don’t have unique names – they have a number and letter following the size.  These “names” aren’t memorable and make it difficult to communicate with others about the hold sets.  Some of these shapes have very memorable features, and it seems assigning unique names would be pretty easy.

The package for review from Groperz included:

• Megalithics 7A $99 3 slopers
• Jumbo 27A   $42 5 slopey jugs
• Keystone 39A  $25 5 angular slopey pinches
• Keystone 41A $39 5 mini-jugs
• Poprocks 17A & 17B $19 10 angular crimps
• Footgrips 12A $19 5 angular footholds

The orange mini-jugs (Keystone 41A) are all 2-2.5 pad incuts with sandstone like surface detail.  Unfortunately, that detailing extends onto the radius of the gripping surface, making for an aggressive texture.  After climbing a few problems set exclusively on these holds, we all felt a bit raw.  This was more of an issue on the 50 degree wall, as any texture issue like this is magnified as terrain gets steeper.  This comfort issue could be mediated by backing the surface texture off the grip.  They are all really positive and would work for beginners on vertical walls, VB-V0 on gentle overhangs, no harder than V3 on a steep overhang.  We were surprised at the discomfort, since most other Groperz jugs are so easy on the skin.  

The yellow sloping jugs (Jumbos 27A) are 2.5-3 pad incuts with a very large comfortable radius.  They are all large enough to warrant a set screw hole, yet 3 of them are without.  They have a worm-like protrusion on the front that makes a great thumb catch and would make for a perfect name for this set – WORM JUGS!  The hollow backs are impeccable and are pretty aggressive with how much material is removed.  The degree of incut varies, but all are pretty positive.  They surprised us on the 50 degree wall – deceivingly difficult!  They lend themselves well to the V3-V4 range at this angle, and would be downright nasty on a roof.  These were easily our favorites in this review.

One of the holds was VERY poorly sanded, resulting in nearly a ¼” of wobble on a flat surface.  This is a serious quality control issue considering Groperz knew these holds were sent for review.  We informed them of the issue and they apologized and offered a replacement and some additional free holds for the inconvenience – friendly people and they handled it very well.

The slopers (Megalithics 7A) are pretty standard fare.  They are very comfortable, have a set screw hole with a washer, and really aggressive hollow back to minimize weight and cost.  The logo on the largest hold is very large…   It makes the hold pretty much useless when turned upside down.  They also have their logo tastefully featured on the inside of the hollowback which is a nice touch that we’ve seen on larger Groperz holds in the past.  There are some subtle differences in their shape but they are essentially the same hold in different sizes.  On the 20 degree wall, they are basically jugs and on the 50 degree wall they were extremely difficult unless set into compression style moves – the sweet spot for these holds would be right around 35 degrees. 

The “Batwing” pinches (Keystone 39A) are unlike any holds we’ve seen before.  Groperz’s website refers to them as “ice cream teeth” – noting that they look like soft serve ice cream after you drag your teeth in it.  They feature lots of angles with concave edges between them.  In most cases, your fingers end up splitting, because none of the surfaces are large enough to accommodate all 4 fingers.  As you can imagine, sometimes the split feels great, sometimes it feels awkward.  We used these exclusively on the 20 degree wall and we feel that’s a great angle for them.  On steeper angles, they could yield some super hard moves and would be useful to force some technical footwork.  These shapes are truly a unique offering and deserve a look.

The Poprocks 17A, 17B and Footgrips 12A are shaped in the same polyhedron style.  Lots of angle changes, but all the surfaces are flat.  The Poprocks work well as crimps on moderate overhangs and would make feet positive enough for use in a roof.  Most of them have multiple angles on the crimping edge, which rewards accuracy and control.  These got pretty difficult on the 50 degree wall, but we set a few moves in the V5-6 range.  The Footgrips are quite versatile - multiple slopes are found on all of them, so changing the difficulty is as easy as turning the hold.  They would also work well as handholds on technical vertical routes.  Both of these sets would be at home in some capacity on any wall.

GROPERZ.COM

Escape Climbing Nemesis Line Review

Escape Climbing Nemesis Line Holds Review from The Proving Ground on Vimeo.

The Nemesis line from Escape Climbing Features 10 holds:

• 5 Pinches - $69
• 4 Slopers - $63
• 1 Ledge - $65

They all feature a “bubble-wrap” like texture, similar to the Egrips Bubble Wrap line, though these bubbles are quite a bit smaller.  All the holds in the line are hollow backed, reducing weight & cost, though the ledge still seems heavy for its size.  These holds look really cool. They sport clean lines, with a prominent logo that does not interfere with the gripping surfaces.

Minnesotan tallboy for scale.

The Nemesis Pinches are all parallel, meaning there is no change in the angle of the opposed gripping surfaces.  On the 20 degree wall, they lend themselves well to V0-V2, and when set purely on the 50 degree wall (no volumes) the easiest you could set would be around V4.  You could easily break into harder grades with these if you spread them out and turn them to funky angles.  They can also be used on lower angle terrain with the positive side down to set some slopey problems with cool thumby grips. In the case of the more positive pinches, the texture is a bit aggressive. The bubbles protrude enough that we all noticed a bit of skin pain when climbing on the 50 degree wall.

The Nemesis Slopers are not slopers in the traditional sense. They are triangular sloping edges and have angular transitions between all surfaces.  This is an important distinction to make, and we feel Escape should rename the set so buyers are not surprised with what they get.  Semantics aside, these are some really cool holds!  They vary in slope from nearly perpendicular to 25 degree slope.  These were great on the 20 degree wall and yielded problems in the V3-V5 range.  They worked really well on volumes, and would be great on vertical terrain as well.

Minnesotan tallboy for scale.

The Nemesis Ledge is the largest in the line.  While it features a good hollow-back, it is pretty hefty.  It is also fairly expensive at $65.  Perhaps a little more material could be taken out on the hollow-back to reduce weight and cost?  The bolt hole has some issues.  It was deep enough that you could get your thumb into it and use the hold as a pinch. This surely was not the intention.  The deep bolt hole also created issues with the bolt getting stuck.  This issue resolved itself when some of the urethane in the bolt hole was abraded away.  After speaking to Escape about these issues, they plan to address them by raising the washer, and were really appreciative of the feedback.  The hold will be remolded in the coming months.

Minnesotan tallboy for scale.

We did some durability tests on Escape’s plastic, and did our best to break one of the pinches.  We placed a bolt behind the hold prior to setting it to the concrete gym wall and cranked as hard as we could anticipating an explosion – no such luck.  We also threw it around a bit in the driveway and off some ladders – no chips.  This stuff is bombproof.

Bottom line, these holds are really fun, and can be enjoyed by climbers of all different skill levels.  The Ledge and the Slopers are enjoyable holds, but the Pinches are a must have for any gym or homewall.  

ESCAPECLIMBING.COM

Enix Climbing Cobbles Line Review

Enix Climbing Cobbles Line Hold Review from Chris Majerczyk on Vimeo.

The Cobbles line from Enix Climbing offers 28 holds:

• 10 small- $90
• 5 Medium- $86
• 5 Larger- $127
• 5 XL- $175
• 3 XXL-$240

They are suitable for any skill level, they look amazing, and are an absolute BLAST to climb on.  The texture is sandstone like and has that perfect mix of grit and comfort.  All but the Small holds (which are solid pour) feature impeccable hollow-back construction with a reinforced center column and crossbar, cutting weight but not skimping on structural integrity.

The bulbous Cobbles are aesthetically pleasing - smooth, clean, comfortable shapes that scream to be climbed on. The Enix logo is centered and clearly visible, with a dual textured finish that does not interfere with the gripping surfaces.

Small holds are palm sized. On the other end of the spectrum, the XXL allows a climber to not only match, but readjust hands before moving. All sizes would work very well up to 20 degrees, but at that point the smalls become very difficult and the other sizes really start to shine.  The M-XXL holds are at home on steep terrain.  We used almost every one of them on our 50 degree wall ranging from V2-V5.  They are surprisingly positive (as long as your feet don’t cut) and couldn’t be more tendon friendly.  The Small and Medium Cobbles worked well on the 50 degree wall when placed on volumes, and the texture even lends them for use as foot holds on steep terrain.  On vertical walls, V0- would be easily set.  

The only room for improvement would be the addition of countersunk set screw holes, particularly on the XL and XXL sizes.  The size of the footprint and large useable space on these holds WILL result in spinners (we spun one in problem #4) 

All things considered, these holds are HIGHLY RECCOMENDED across the board.

ENIXCLIMBING.COM