The Petzl Spirit Express quickdraw is our favorite solid gate quickdraw. These quickdraws come in 3 lengths, 11cm, 17cm, and 25cm. The 25cm Spirit Express is the longest sport climbing quickdraw we sell, which makes it a great option for extremely steep routes. Wide dogbones make these exceptionally easy to pull on, saving you energy when projecting hard routes. The recently redesigned Spirit carabiners are extremely light for a full size solid gate carabiner while still being very comfortable to clip. They are certainly not the cheapest quickdraw, but we think their higher price is wholly justified and are a true joy to climb on.

The CAMP Orbit Express KS wiregate is our cheapest sport climbing quickdraw option, making them  fantastic for newer climbers. A 6-pack of 11cm quickdraws is only $89.95, a full ten dollars cheaper than Black Diamond’s equivalent offering. While slightly thinner dogbones and marginally smaller gate clearance make these slightly less comfortable than more expensive options, we never really noticed a significant difference. If anything, the rubber stopper on the rope side of these quickdraws does a better job than many other brands.

The Black Diamond Hotforge Hybrid is our favorite mid-priced quickdraw. These come in 12cm and 18cm lengths, and feature a straight solid gate carabiner on the wall side and a wiregate carabiner on the rope side. This means no snagged noses when cleaning steep routes while reducing the overall weight and cost of the quickdraw. The carabiners have very deep baskets, making clipping fat ropes without catching your fingers in the gate a breeze. As an added bonus, there are two great color options letting you look cooler than everyone else at the crag.

The Sterling Velocity 9.8mm rope is our pick for a high-end workhorse rope. These ropes come uncoiled from the factory, saving you the hassle of untwisting a fresh rope. They come in 40m, 60m, 70m, and 80m lengths, each of which comes in a variety of colors. In our experience, the Sterling Xeros dry treatment holds up better than other brands. This means your rope will stay cleaner and wear slower than other ropes. Marginally lighter weight than other options and supple feel in hand make this rope a joy to both belay and climb with. 

The Edelrid Boa Eco 9.8mm rope is our favorite budget rope. Available in 40m, 60m, and 70m lengths, we recommend this rope for single pitch sport climbing and gym leading. The 9.8mm diameter gives a good balance between durability and ease of use. While this rope may get grimier than a dry treated rope, they still hold up well if you are good about keeping it out of the dirt. As a plus, slightly different coloring on each rope can help you differentiate yours from your friends in a pinch.

The Beal Joker 9.1mm rope is our pick for a lightweight, performance sport climbing option. While the thinner rope will not hold up as well to top rope laps and repeated whips, it’s light weight and thin diameter make hard pitches where every percentage point counts that much easier. Unicore technology can provide extra safety in certain situations.

For those wishing to spend a bit less, Beal offers a cheaper Dry Cover treatment instead of their full Golden Dry treatment. We carry this rope in 50m, 60m, 70m, and 80m lengths in orange and blue, Dry Cover and Golden Dry variations.

The CAMP Energy CR3 harness is a great budget harness. It features adjustable leg loops and a single adjustment point at the hips. At $50, we don’t think there is a better deal on a harness. Since this is a cheaper harness, there is less padding and slightly smaller gear loops.  Ryan uses this harness for all around climbing and never realized it was the cheapest one we sell.  The leg loops on this harness do not drop, so we don’t recommend it for activities where you will need to use the bathroom while wearing it.

The Black Diamond Solution is consistently rated as one of the most comfortable sport climbing harnesses. Elastic leg loops and a single waist adjustment make this harness a breeze to put on and move around in. We rarely feel the need to take this off when sitting around the crag or walking from route to route. 4 molded plastic gear loops, while not huge, provide ample space for a standard sport climbing rack. No leg loop adjustment means this harness wont work perfectly for everyone’s body, especially those with a bigger thigh-to-waist ratio, but if it does you are in for a treat.

The Edelrid Jay and Jayne harnesses are our recommendation for a harness that will fit nearly everyone. Each size has over a foot of waist adjustability. They manage this by detaching the hip padding from the underlying weight bearing elements, which means you can slide the pads so that the gear loops are symmetrical on your body regardless of where you sit in its adjustment range. Other harnesses that feature this ease of fit typically have two waist buckles, whereas the Jay and Jayne only have one. We think this hits the best of both worlds when it comes to ease of use and security of fit. On top of this, we also think it's quite comfortable. This harness has plenty of space to rack sport climbing gear, but you might struggle to fit anything more than this.

The CAMP Rockstar is the lowest cost helmet we sell. Full plastic shell construction with very little foam contributes to this helmet’s robust feeling and heavy weight. Wearing this helmet for long periods of time might be uncomfortable due to its lack of padding and hefty mass. If this price point is what it takes for you to wear a helmet, or if you simply don't care about weight, we cannot recommend this helmet enough. Otherwise, you are probably better off spending a little extra for a much more comfortable helmet.

The Black Diamond Half Dome is the helmet we see most commonly at the crag, and for good reason. This helmet is relatively inexpensive and features a durable full plastic shell. While still on the heavier end, a foam liner helps keep this helmet’s weight slightly lower than other budget options and an easily adjustable harness makes it easy to fit hoods or hats underneath. Black Diamond helmets run a little bigger than other brands, so they may work better for those of you with large heads. This helmet comes in many color options and a women’s specific version to better accommodate a ponytail.

The Petzl Meteor is the lightest full plastic shell helmet we carry. While there are still lighter helmets available, we think this is the best middle ground between weight, durability, and cost. The Meteor features a magnetic buckle which allows easy closure with one hand. The magnet will also attract iron particles often present in sand. If you climb in the desert or other silty areas, the magnet can get caked in particles and prevent the helmet from closing. If this is you, the Meteor may not be your perfect helmet. For most people, we think that the light weight and durability this helmet provides far outweighs the slight annoyance of occasionally  picking dust off of a buckle.

The Petzl GriGri is one of the most popular and safest belay devices ever designed. It relies on a cam to pinch the rope and prevent it from moving when loaded. Because you don’t have to pull down constantly on the brake strand to hold someone in place (never take your hand off), this device is fantastic for projecting routes or giving a top rope belay. The GriGri’s cam engages very consistently, making it almost impossible to drop your climber. Giving a lead belay with a GriGri can take some getting used to, but we find it quite comfortable after the initial learning period. The only downsides of the GriGri are its high cost and weight.

The Petzl Reverso is our favorite tube-style, non-assisted braking device. It’s competitive cost, lightweight design, guide mode, and rappel comfort make it perfect for multi pitch and alpine ascents. While this device can be used for single pitch sport climbing, we recommend using a device with some amount of brake assistance for extra safety. If you are doing a multi pitch sport climb with a long approach, there is no device we’d rather use than a Reverso. This device might be less durable than other guide-style tubes due to its lightweight construction, but we have never noticed any issues.

The Edelrid MegaJul is our favorite tube-style, assisted braking device. While many other assisted tubes do not feature a dual chamber design or guide mode, the MegaJul has both. We recommend this device to anyone looking for an assisted braking belay device and doesn’t want to break the bank. Stainless steel construction contributes to the MegaJul’s exceptional durability. Belaying, setting up guide mode, and rappelling all work slightly different than other tube style devices, so take the time to learn how it works on flat ground before you take it to the crag.

The Petzl Dual Connect Adjust lanyard is a great option if you are looking for a dedicated personal anchor. This device increases safety by allowing you to quickly and easily adjust the length of the lanyard. This makes the likelihood of shock loading an anchor very low, since there is almost never any slack in your personal anchor. While this adjustability is great, the device is bulkier than other personal anchors and lacks some of the versatility they provide as well. We like the Dual Connect Adjust better than the Single and Vario versions, as it provides the best balance between features and ease of use.

The Metolius PAS 22 is probably the most frequently used dedicated personal anchor. This lanyard features many sewn Dyneema loops, allowing you to change the length by clipping to different loops. This adds security by allowing you to back up your lanyard with an extra locker or spare quickdraw. This also allows quick rappel transitions by letting you set up your rappel even when the lanyard is fully weighted. If you plan on doing multi pitch sport routes, we think this style of personal anchor is a little better suited to this style. The biggest drawback of the PAS 22 is that it is very static. Falling any distance onto this anchor can generate very high forces, potentially injuring you or breaking your anchor. Be extra careful to eliminate slack while using this lanyard.

While it is generally safe to top rope on a few quickdraws, we recommend using a dedicated top rope anchor because of the added security. Our preferred sport climbing anchor is the quad anchor. Since it self equalizes, you can tie it on the ground and clip it to the anchor bolts without having to fuss with knots while off the ground. We like using a quad-length (240cm) sewn sling, like the Edelrid 8mm Dyneema Sling. You can also use 16-18 feet of 7mm cord to tie this style of anchor if you’d rather save some money.

Any small D-shaped locker will work great for connecting your anchors to the bolts. Thanks to their cheap price point, we think the Cypher Firefly II locking carabiners are great for this. These lockers are exactly what you want from a D-Shaped locker, and nothing more.

Using a carabiner with a slightly larger basket on the rope side can give less friction through the anchor, but we really dont think this matters enough to spend extra money on bigger HMS carabiners. One great option for the rope side carabiners are the Edelrid Bulletproof series.  They feature a stainless steel insert in the basket of the carabiner, making your rope side lockers last much longer than typical aluminum carabiners. We like the D-shaped screwgate since they are a little cheaper, but if you want to spend more and have a low friction anchor, you can use the HMS variety as well. You will need two of these so you can have opposite and opposed redundancy.

When rappelling, it is safest to backup your rappel with an auto-blocking friction hitch. To do this you will need one locking carabiner and a 4 foot loop to tie the hitch with. We like using a sewn prusik, like a Sterling Hollowblock. The Hollowblock eliminates knots and works better for skinny ropes than normal accessory cord. Another option is  using 5 mm or 6 mm cord, depending on the diameter of your rope. Cord is cheaper, but has bulky knots and might wear out faster. We think either option is great, and you should choose the one that fits in your budget the best.