Black Diamond Rocklock Screwgate Carabiner

This is a great first locking carabiner to get for belaying purposes. I use mine with an ATC-XP belay device and the biner is great in every aspect. The screw-lock gate can easily be opened with one hand, and with some practice, can be tightly screwed shut with a single flick of the thumb.

I recommend this screw-lock version over the twist-lock, especially so with a first biner; I feel that learning climbing safety with an autolocking biner teaches bad habits because students should always learn to check that carabiners are locked (especially in critical "links in the chain" such as belaying and anchors) and not simply rely on "auto-locking systems".

In the future, I can definitely imagine myself using this as an anchor master point biner on multi-pitch climbs. The only competition for that purpose is the Petzl William, which is roughly the same size, but I feel this is less bulky, slightly (but noticeably) lighter, and also cheaper.

Overall a great biner. I've had mine for only a few months and with moderate use the paint is already coming off in the place where the rope runs over it. There are also several scratches where it has come into contact with my ATC. That being said, this is purely aesthetic and I am confident that the biner will last a long time even though it will lose some color.

Overall a great biner. Some other reviewers below commented about using this biner with a GriGri - I personally feel that this biner is too large to comfortably belay with a GriGri, and I would recommend the Petzl Attache or Am'd for use with a GriGri. I plan to purchase my GriGri around May 2012, so check "Petzl GriGri" and "Petzl Attache" product reviews around then for my follow up on this comment once I've used had some hands-on experience.

i bought this biner for my two inch slack line hoping that the two inch side was going to be big enough to lay the line flat with out bending putting to many kinks in it. for those of you who dont know what im talking about, slacklining is like tight rope walking, except with tubeler nylon climing webbing. my 2" line needed bigger biners obviously because its a bigger line than the one inch line. imagine the two inch flat line trying to rest flatly on the rounded and of a one inch biner. its gonna bend and if you need that line to be flat to keep proper tension it becomes a problem. now luckily i didnt have this problem too much. it sat flat enough to were the tension would hold. but as for all you other slackliners out there, try and find another "bigger" biner for your two inch line. if you cant and these are the biggest you can find, well [*]give the little guys a chance and let em do there duty and hold some tension. high tension rating as well, good product black diamond.

I have both the BD Rocklock screwgate and one twistlock.

These biners are huge. They are heavier than the vapor lock and positron biners, because they are super beefy. My primary uses are setting anchors, belaying, and as part of my personal anchors system for sport climbs.

The twistlock is great for belaying, and is incredibly easy, almost to easy, to open with one hand. My only complaint with the twistlock would be that it doesn't require any motion other than twisting it to open. I don't see it opening accidentally while belaying, but it's a definite possibility. There's no safety feature to release the lock, such as a button on the gate, like on the Petzel William.

I haven't had any issues with the twistlock cross-loading, on an ATC or GriGri. I haven't used the screwgate biners for belaying yet, so I can't really comment on those.

I would definitely recommend these for belaying, but I think most people would find them too heavy, and unnecessarily large for any other purposes. I will probably go with Vaporlock or Positron biners in the future.

Great biner. No question.

These huge, low-cost, beefy, colorful, easy to clip, locking, biners are simply fantastic. The keylock is superb! Never again will you be stuck fighting to get the webbing out of your biner or your biner out of a bolt. Simply put, I can't buy standard gate biners anymore. I love the colors and the gates are really easy to use regardless of ice, snow, or mud.
These carabiners are so good that I'm hard pressed to say anything bad about these biners. But... they do crossload easily (especially on a drop/diaper harness), they scratch really easily and lose their pretty color after little use (a good sign of wear though...), and they are a bit heavy (but then again they are HUGE).

These are great for belaying, rappelling, storing gear on your rack, setting up pulley systems/anchors/etc, and generally using them anywhere you need a big, safe, and secure biner.
You can't beat them for the price!

Choose this or the auto-locking twistlock version to slap on your harness, or any place you need a monster for rope handling. Because it is constantly round (no weight-saving flat / cut sides), you can run rope over it cleanly, which is exactly what you need for a munter hitch. It's very easy (for a locker) to clip in, and the gate action is wonderful. Some other climbers I've been around don't like that the pin rivet for the gate isn't perfectly flush, but it won't snag either.

I use this biner for my belay device, and it works great. The gate opens wide, and the keylock nose does not snag on anything. It is a pretty big biner, so I wouldn't use it aa an anchor biner or anything like that, but it works great for a belay device. The locking sleeve turns nicely, and has larger threads than Petzl biners, which I like because the sleeve won't spin when you put your thumb on it to open the biner.

As always - BD manufactures great quality produects.
This locking carabiner works well, is the perfect size that isn't overly large where it won't fit thru blt hangers and such, the locing sleeve is smooth and works well, and the price is unmatched by ANY other manufacturer in the business!
I wish wish they made these in a more 'attractive' color that dull brown!

Like the other reviewers, I've also noticed that this biner can cross load sometimes if its loaded and unloaded a lot, because its not quite as D-shaped as some others. Used properly though its rock solid and rope runs over it super smoothly since its super thick, rounded, and has a huge gate. Its my favorite belay biner.

This is a great carabiner to use for belaying, or for use on a toprope anchor. The screw lock is smooth. The gate is smooth. The opening is large. The shape lends to a great large-radius rope contact area. It's no lightweight, so pick another if you're counting grams.

This is a great carabiner for belaying. The only cons I have found about it is that it tends to like to cross load against the gate and it also loses its orangy color after the rope rubs against it enough times. It is also very easy to scratch.