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Atomik > 18 Pack Smooth Edges

It's been a long road, our relationship with Atomik, but overall it's a good one. We had problems with their texture, so they fixed it... and that's no mean feat in itself! Some of their shapes were a little sharp on the digits... so they fixed the shapes, again that's no mean feat. The Smooth Edges are one of their latest offerings, we'll get round to the others in a different review (the other set they didn't want to send to us because of our earlier comments on their other holds!), the edges compromise of 18 shapes at $49.99.... and that includes (indoor) bolts. Now don't call us crazy but that is a pretty cheap price for 18 holds, and we're not talking foot chips here, these are sized as medium on their site... Let's see what they're like!

Straight out of the box they're orange, can't complain about that, we asked for a different color and it's a pretty nice orange too. Good start! All the holds are around the same size, backs are flat and bolts slide through without any problems... OK, so no worries there. The texture... ah the texture... always a tricky one :) Nope textures fine, nice and even, no bobbles, grippy but not too grippy. There must be something wrong with them right? 18 holds AND bolts for $50.

They MUST have scrimped somewhere

Maybe they're using filler and the holds are weak! That'd be it!!! They've got to be easy to snap.
Nope, they're as strong as every one else's holds, the bench proved that

Damn, looks like we have nothing to complain about... or do we!! Aha! Just when you were getting bored we found something... oh yes we did. What is it? Well apart from the shapes being fairly similar to each other in some places we think that there should be more of these shapes, in smaller and larger sizes. If you have a home wall then these are something that you should probably look at, the price point dictates that alone

We've had these all over the wall, from flat to the overhang and there's been no complaints, the only place that they should dwell for us is the 45 as they're just nice enough for simple problems where you're matching your hands and feet. If anything they could be a little easy, but that's because we do climb on the 45 degree wall a lot these days.. we'd go so far to say that most of these holds could be used as system holds, and that's something that Atomik should look at, make opposites of these holds, double up on a few and you've got a pretty nice system wall crimp set.

As the holds weren't really taxing us all that much we started putting foot holds into our traverses and that's where the fun began. We really didn't put all that many feet in so it was starting to get hard, then we decided that there were too many feet and that they were waaay too close together... the end result was some very long moves with some really sketchy feet, if there were feet at all. Chris went one further and almost managed to get the entire route without any feet, but bear in mind that he was horizontal for most of the route and wasn't having an easy time :)
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If you've climbed on a 45 degree wall for any amount of time chances are these holds aren't going to pose any problems for you... if you haven't then you're going to get strong pretty quick, lots of nice simple moves with semi good feet should see you in good stead. If you've got no problem on a 45 stick them on a 60... then you can have a real blast. The holds are just-about-doable on a roof, not all of them mind... but some of them are OK up there for when you're getting horizontal.

There's not really much else to say... the holds are good on the steep stuff, but inversely if you need some beginners routes with some fairly small holds on a vertical or slight overhang then these are good enough to get the job done. We've set easy and super hard with these holds and they've been super fun to climb on.
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Versatility: They're small edges, but do make interesting one handed sidepulls
Screw Holes: No
There isn't much to say about the holds, they're pretty well perfect, if you've got a home wall then you should probably have a set of these; they don't take up space on your wall so you don't have to worry about your wall be clogged with holds. The texture is spot on, sanding is well done and the holds are pretty strong... the holds are just well built and considering the price the term (which will appear a fair amount I think) "bang for your buck" comes up again.

Somehow Atomik have priced 18 holds at what they're charging, god knows how as it includes bolts and if you're in the lower 48 states it includes shipping as well. I do believe that they will be selling a fair few of these sets, it they make not_very_much_money every time they sell a set... but they'll make up for it in the volume of sets sold... hopefully their manufacuring boys are upto the job!


Atomik is slowly moving up the ranks as one of our favorite hold companies out there. These shapes are great and I had a fun time setting with them. There are 18 holds to the set and the hardest part with setting a problem with these holds is incorporating the whole set in the sequence.

If I had anything negative to say about these holds (and this is a long shot) is that they're low profile. Even after I covered the wall with the smooth edges, people had a hard time finding the sequence through the rest of the holds we have set on our wall. And on top of that, the colour that they came in is pretty bright and it blended in with the rest of the holds.

• Cheap as hell
• Finger friendly shapes
• Good for walls upto 45 and 60 if you're strong
  

CONS

• Sucks if you're not in the lower 48 states for shipping :)
  

PRICE
$49.99 for 18 holds, that's $2.77 per hold and that includes bolts

Review > Atomik > Sandstone Jugs and Patina

SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE REVIEW FOR AN UPDATE!

The long wait is over. We took a little vacation due to injuries and the call of the outdoors but we finally got around to the second installment of the Atomik reviews. This time around we have the Sandstone roof jugs...

...and the Patina's.

The holds vary in size from XL to medium according to Atomik's website. The roof jugs and regular size jugs not only get their shape from sandstone cliffs but have the texture to match, like all of the Atomik holds, these ones will also remove a few layers of skin (see our earlier review here for our views on the texture) As for the patinas, they look like something from the oceans floor, some kinda hybrid crustacean coral looking thing. I felt that the texture on the Patina are a more forgiving, when in fact it's just the shaping of the holds that makes them feel this way, even thou these shapes do have some nice dual-texture areas. Its obvious that the Sandstone roof jugs are huge (not huge like the War of the Worlds, but two hand huge just the same) so it came to my surprise that the first time Noodles hangs on the hold he hurts his hand, followed by two weeks off on the doctors request (Editors note: it wasn't a request, she told me I'd rip the entire tendon if I climbed), now you know why it took us so long to get this review out :P
We actually had this problem up more than two weeks ago and in the video you can spot the exact moment that things go wrong. The hold has a sharp edge, and combined to lack of feet may have helped with the injury, these holds do have some sharp edges (not super sharp) in places, so care should be taken when doing high stress moves! Some of the sandstone holds are sharper than they need to be...

We didn't let the size of the hold dictate where it was going to be placed on the wall so we have roof jugs into patinas back to roof jug, this makes for an interesting traverse across the roof. The Patinas are big enough for the roof but I can't manage to hang off of one hold, it feels like it's big enough but just isn't, you can see Noodles hit the floor and look back up! THAT'S the hold that is very deceptive. The regular size jugs are quite deceiving and it says right on Atomiks website "the design concept offers a deceiving jug that forces the climber to learn how to hold it on steep terrain" There are a couple of jugs in our roof sequence and at first we figure that it was going to be easy (Bear in mind we didn't expect an injury either!) but the layer effect of the sandstone can make the holds feel mediocre on the roof.

And now its onto the overhang! We put in some long moves to make things interesting.and my only complaint is texture. When you throw yourself at the hold, you're bound to lose some skin, but at this point it's the nature of the beast. The holds we first reviewed from Atomik have been at Allez Up for a month now and now that there have been lots of traffic on these holds they have mellowed out an awful lot!!

SUGGESTED USES (BOTH SETS)



We're saying you can put the Patinas and the Sandstone jugs anywhere you please on a wall. The sizing means that they're fine on roofs and pretty much anywhere you want to chuck these holds. Most of the holds can be matched, especially the Patinas that in some cases are nice double jugs.

All of these holds are incut to a certain degree. The smallest set are the Patinas and we have one on the roof but I wouldn't consider them a roof hold, although we've had smaller holds up there :), it's more than big enough to hang off of! As for the jugs, they're good everywhere. The regular Sandstone jugs vary in size and are all made for one hand. You could match some of them, and others would be sketchy in the roof if you're trying this.

OVERALL BUILD
Again, look at the original review because there's not much else to say other than what we've already said: None of the holds have any problems with their backs, they're smooth. There were less bubbles in the urethane than in the Font sets, so the mix is good and strong and these have been tested to over what you're going to do with a wrench, so you're probably not going to break any of them when setting a route!

These holds are RED, not RED, so they're going to stand out! I'll say it again, Atomik have their base colors down. They do have an amazing hue to them, if we could get the red and the yellow in a swirl then we would because that would be some seriously loud holds... like peoples dress sense in 1985! That's how bright they'd be!!!

If you want to see what we say about Atomiks texture go here, and read it. We're not going to go on about it again :) But put this in your mind, climb on the holds... if you don't like the texture, sand them down! The holds are a great price, so if you need to fill a wall with holds but don't have a huge budget the Atomik shapes should be a place to start shopping

Some of the holds do have some sharp angles that could cause injuries, we've had a bunch of mails from people stating this, and we had it in the review, but it got left out due to some PC errors at the time. Care should be taken on these holds when doing high stress moves!!! Some of the sandstones and Patinas do have sharp edges that make climbing upon them a little more harsh than needed, although edges like these are true to the real world, radii that's not comfortable in a gym / home setting is a no go!!

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Argh, ripped tendon!! I'm not saying that it was the hold that did this to me, it was partly the move and my complete lack of footwork that did it!! You can hurt yourself on any hold, on any move, climbing is a dangerous very tough sport on the body, we had the video rolling and you can see the look of pain on my face. It wasn't fun, and it's still not healed completely but it is getting there. I've never fully made it across the roof on this route, I've got close but no medal for me thus far I'm afraid.

The original route which is the first part of the video was changed whilst I took a few weeks off to make it easier with more feet, there was no way I was going to attempt that move again and risk killing my finger again. Now its "slightly" easier, but not much and getting into the roof is nicer and much smoother! The holds are all positive to a degree, and I'll agree with what Atomik say about the jugs being hard to read, they are, and it does take a few attempts to learn how to catch a hold the correct way for a sequence! I like this, I think that having holds that are a complete gimme are good, but part of climbing is learning how to read sequences and finding the most efficient way to cruise through that sequence, so I'm applauding Atomik on that, I was caught out and I've been hanging off of walls for 22 odd years!!

I'm not going to lie, the texture tore some skin off, so these holds are going to the gym so that other climbers can give us their opinion on the holds... and so they can make the holds smoother for us :P I like the holds, they're not the biggest jugs, but they're also not the smallest, they're a good size for beginners or for someone that has a steep wall and they just want to run circuits to get super strong, the fact that you have to think before grabbing is a good thing that in the long run will make you a better climber!

CHRIS
I'd like to say again that I was shocked when noodles hurt his finger. I honestly thought that he was putting on a face for the camera. Since we had jugs to play with, we set the route to be a warm up and after we sorted out our foot holds it was just that. To say that the roof jugs are huge is an understatement and if you`re novice climber you shouln`t be using these anywhere except on roof or very steep terrain in my opinion. Of course you could set a wicked dyno on the jugs if the height of your wall permits :)

You can get your fingers into the jugs right up to your second joint and even deeper on the roof jugs, but the Patinas will only allow you to get the tips of your fingers (or to the first joint) into the pockets and are more like pinches than jugs. It's an interesting mix of shapes :)

The holds that we received are all in bright colors and they stand out in the gym. We set a couple of routes last month at our local gym and they`re getting a lot of traffic. My ego says that people are climbing them due to the setting but my intuition says its the colors. Now that the holds are getting a bit of traffic they`ve evened out on the texture front, no sanding for us :P

PROS

• Good for any angle...
• Jugs are good every where
• Patinas are also good on any angle
  
• Packing was second to none!, no breaks or burrs
• Good for beginners, they can be put anywhere and the Sandstone jugs aren`t a gimmie hold, they`ll make the climber think more than a normal jug
• Price, most the the Atomik ranges have a great price!!
  

CONS

• The texture will need some time to wear down or you'll have to lessen it on some holds
  
• Some of the holds aren't for complete beginners, as they're a "thinking mans jug" rather than a grab on and haul jug, so you'll have to be careful with what and where you set with these (but not too careful!!)
  
• Some of the shapes do have semi sharp angles, so some care is needed when dynoing to these holds
• There are some sharp angles on some of the holds, so care must be taken when climbing on them!!
  

PRICE
Sandstone jugs are $59,99
Patinas are $46.49

UPDATE!! Since I've had a lot of mails about the sharpness of the holds we've added what we missed the first time (Our bad, we did write it but for some reason it was left out of the review :( ) Atomik are updating their site about crimping in general on all sets that have semi sharp angles, and we'll add a word of caution of our own about the holds. Sorry we messed up, we've now got the correct review up!!

UPDATE 2!! Atomik are now sending out sanding blocks with their holds and an information sheet that informs people how to do this. It's a step in the right direction of being able to remove the sharp edges on some of their holds that could cause injury! We'd like to tip our hat to the guys for taking on the comments and for making adjustments to their ranges as needed!! Good work!

Review > Atomik > Fonts 21 pack & Steep Wall Fonts

Kenny over at Atomik asked us after our last series of reviews what we'd like to see from them, as we loved their Font shapes so much, especially the XXL Font Sloper we suggested they make some more Font shapes and make some packs with them... and what did they go and do?? They only went and shaped a bunch of new Font holds.... HELL YEAH! Not only that the holds we had last time where poured from G1 (Generation 1) molds so the texture was pretty harsh... this time (and for their entire range from now on!!) these holds came from the G2 molds... DOUBLE HELL YEAH!!... so we'll see how the texture go's for the review.. let's introduce the holds we've been playing with:

21 hold Font pack, medium and smalls

Steep wall Fonts, 5 pack

These holds arrived and went straight onto the wall, there was no messing about! I wanted to see what the texture felt like on these shapes, they'd felt pretty good when they were on my desk at work so I was keen to get onto them as soon as possible... and know what? Perfect for the size of the holds, the smalls and mediums have just enough texture that you feel like you're going to be fine, and then Steeps feel the same, it's about how you grab these holds!

As you'll see in the video, we're playing on the smalls are fair amount on the overhung section of the wall, they're small and slopey in most cases so it's pretty hard going most of the time. The stand out holds are the steeps as they can go most places, the red one we have on our box got a lot of attention (and still is) just because it's so nice to hold onto, it's not in the nicest position, but where it is and how you get onto it is a very interesting move :)






These holds are going to be very good for beginners as the areas that you're going to want to grab isn't at first obvious, so they'll teach people about body movement if you set with that in mind. Where these holds will shine is going to be technical slab climbs where balance is going to be key, they're fun on traverses but the going does get tough the more the wall gets overhung, the smalls are super hard on our 30, there's no way they'll go anywhere near the 45. The reason the 45 is in there is because of the large steeps that we have as well, once these are on a steep wall you're going to have to be very delicate to grab the right spot and hang on... so therefore in our book a bunch of fun



SEB
I don't climb anywhere near as much as Chris and Noodles, and I hate small holds... but these seem to be an exception for me (maybe I was just strong that day) as I managed to get most of the way around the route without feeling like my fingers were going to explode. Small holds, as I'm a big guy are my nemesis, I avoid them, but these were very nice to climb on... I just wish my footwork was better so I could finish the route

The 51 pack is $219.99 includes bolts, t-nuts and shipping to lower 48 US states.

The 21 pack is $49.99 includes bolts, t-nuts and shipping to lower 48 US states.

There is a sale on right now... the 51 pack is $199.99 about $4 a hold i.e: CHEAP!