UK Climbing

Great screws that are unbelievably light. They work exceptionally well, rack well, weigh next to nothing and - being bright orange - they even look cool. Downsides are that they can ding up easily on the threads and they cost about a tenner more than similar steel screws, but if that £10 is available, then the saving in weight is, we think, worth it.go to full review

The large single clip-in point on the head accommodated two carabiners easily and worked well and the shape of it is designed so that you can clip the head when it is at any angle, not just pointing down, although we always turned the screw so that it was pointing down.

Summary: Really good screws with good bite, easy to wind in and a reverse thread. They didn't rack quite as neatly as some of the other screws, but not a huge issue. The winding handle was one of the longest on..." go to full review

The DMM Revolution screws are the only screws in this test that don't have a winding handle, and this does set them at a disadvantage in that respect, however the smooth rounded heads do have a little 'bump' and the technique for winding these screws in is to place your palm against this bump and rotate your hand - it does actually work surprisingly well if you can get your hand straight against the screw, and made the screws as easy to place as some of the other screws on..." go to full review

The major downfall for us was the ice-hook quickdraw system. The Revolve screw has no clip in point so it is essential to use one of the Ice Hook quickdraws, and as we have said in other parts of this review, we found these pre-attached quickdraws to be difficult to rack neatly (too long), and too limiting in terms of having predetermined quickdraw lengths, and the Revolve was no exception, however as with other similar systems it stops you dropping the screws when removing them from the ice..." go to full review

One of the positive features of this design though was the fact that it can be clipped to the rope before it is wound in (or out), meaning that the screw won't be dropped. In use we found clipping screws to the rope before placing them to be impractical, but taking them out whilst they are still clipped to the rope (whilst you are seconding) did actually work a treat. So no dropped screws by your second anymore!

Summary: Decent screws with an interesting double unit on the head...." go to full review

The Express ice screws bit exceptionally well in to the ice, meaning that they were amongst the fastest and easiest to place in the whole test. Once they have bitten, they were also very easy to wind in, with the handle and shape working exceptionally well.

Black Diamond Express - Ice Screw, 37 kb The threads were of average size, with a good design being angle on the entry size, flat on the rear side and of average size in terms of thread depth. We had no issues with the threads not..." go to full review