Phil Geng

Ratings

Overview

Price when purchased (February 2013): £25.00
Price now (June 2014): £35.00 - £40.00

DMM's Alloy Peenuts are designed as a compliment to the popular DMM Walnut set. Peenuts will allow the user to extend the natural protection range into micro wire territory while keeping the benefits of the traditional nut-on-wire design as opposed to soldered wire ends. At 63g for the set of 5 these Peenuts add mere peanuts to your rack weight.

Experience

Having had this set thrown in with a bigger gear purchase expectations were as neutral as they come. At first the asymmetric shape and heavily tapered design does not seem to fit very well, largely due to most traditional nuts featuring a more symmetric shape. But once the eyes have adjusted to see the little gems on otherwise scarcely protected routes the hand will start to wander to these little helpers more and more. Capable of withstanding a higher impact force than the DMM Micro Wallnuts and roughly the same as the smallest standard Wallnut these little helpers can make for a comfortable mental cushion. A downside to the asymmetrical tapered design is the inability to fit nicely into near perfect parallel cracks, but this is easily compensated for by fitting into otherwise hardly protectable pods.

Due to the nature of smaller cracks on grit the Peak District has seen the most use of my little helpers. Where the #1 and #2 Wallnuts used to come out the selection has now moved to one of 5 Peenuts giving better protection through better selection. Since the Peenuts are made from alloy instead of brass or other softer materials they can appear slippery at times and not "melt" into coarse uneven rock. This means good news for your second in terms of removing them again, but not so good news in terms of the stability.

Verdict

While initially treating them as fancy toys the Peenuts have earned their permanent place among the Nuts and Hexes of my Trad rack. I rarely leave these lightweights behind on the deck, mainly due to them fitting where other placements are simply not available. At almost exactly 100g for the set including the carabiner they attach to they are hardly noticeable if unused, but make all the difference when drawn. Overall their versatility and usability in the VS+ area on Grit as well as the S+ region on Limestone has provided me with welcome mental boosts and I would give up my Hexes over these any day.