Warning from Petzl about carabiners

**Oms** · 02-13-2011, 12:14

A friend who climbs frequently passed this info on to me. For those of you who climb or use Petzl products check out this http://www.petzl.com/us/outdoor/news...petzl-products link.

**Jsaults** · 02-13-2011, 12:40

Quite a lot of manufacturing skill went into these forgeries. It is one thing for a sewing shop to be cranking out TNF down coat forgeries; Quite another for a forge to be creating items that are life-safety rated. The level of skill and expertise needed to make an ascender or carabiner at such a high level of accuracy is impressive. The committment to testing and QC is not.

Jim

**Bat** · 02-13-2011, 12:49

The low level people will go to for a buck is sad. I hope nobody gets hurt with this cheap junk out there.

**Law Dawg (ret)** · 02-13-2011, 17:45

Petzl has recently discovered Chinese counterfeit versions of the following products:

Knock offs; Just part of the costs of Chinese outsourcing and yet another reason (among many) some of us like to stay domestic when we can.

**jackleberry** · 02-13-2011, 18:24

Heh. Yeah, the thing is, due to outsourcing as Law Dawg mentions, most Chinese 'knock-offs' are not knockoffs at all, but just the QC rejects of the real thing or additional production runs of discontinued products. I doubt anyone set out to 'knock off' these Petzel products. If you have anything manufactured in China, you're begging for this treatment. Much of this stuff is sold elsewhere, but a fair amount of it ends up in the U.S. Take a look at all of the familiar products on dealextreme.com, for instance. Many of the items you know and love, but for a fraction of the price. The downside is that there is almost no QC, so you have to deal with the duds. Much less of a problem with a bluetooth headset than with a climbing carabiner!

**MosquitoFood** · 02-13-2011, 21:40

Thanks. I suppose that's a reason to second guess some of those incredible deals you see on line from time to time. It's amazing how bold counter fitters are. ..Geez.

**Wags** · 02-14-2011, 00:43

saw that on bpl. some serious bogus

**Jsaults** · 02-14-2011, 07:43

I wonder........

Cannotsay about Petzl, but I do know that Black Diamond destroys all gear that fails QC testing. As in mangles beyond possible use. One would assume that Petzl does the same.

But that begs a question: Where is the original tooling for the biners and ascenders? If it is in China, then all bets are off when it comes to maintaining integrety. Nine-to-five, production for Petzl. Five to whenever, production for the black market.

Jim

**dragon360** · 02-14-2011, 09:03

Originally Posted by Jsaults

I wonder........

Cannotsay about Petzl, but I do know that Black Diamond destroys all gear that fails QC testing. As in mangles beyond possible use. One would assume that Petzl does the same.

But that begs a question: Where is the original tooling for the biners and ascenders? If it is in China, then all bets are off when it comes to maintaining integrety. Nine-to-five, production for Petzl. Five to whenever, production for the black market.

Jim

I believe this wholeheartedly. I know too many people with connections in Asia who by a product at one price if made between the hours of 9-5 (for example) with a name and a whole other discounted price when made after hours with no name. Makes for dangerous business.

**Rain Man** · 02-14-2011, 09:10

Originally Posted by Law Dawg

Knock offs; Just part of the costs of Chinese outsourcing and yet another reason (among many) some of us like to stay domestic when we can.

I assume by "stay domestic" you don't mean "Made in USA," because that claim can be "forged" even easier than the product itself. One hardly knows what to do anymore, but price is a great indicator of quality and being genuine.

Rain Man

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