I like the"feel" of these tools... they inspire confidence. The shaft profile suits my somewhat large hands quite well and the rubber shaft surface provides a positive grip. Note that the rubber surface can be damaged by carelessly smacking snow from "balled-up" crampons...(don't strike the crampon with the shaft)! mine have survived but this practice may not be the best idea with these shafts. Damping is excellent and the design of the hammer is nicely configured for dry tooling/camming. There are probably more specialized tools out there now for waterfall ice, but for an all around ice tool they're solid.

Customer Service

Black Diamond is a great company, they are hyper responsive to their buying public and a pleasure to deal with.