Express

Excellent piece of protection. Fine quality steel screw with polished finish make this screw easy to screw in. Screwing is further aided by rectractable knot that makes screwing a breeze. However, Grivel 360° is faster still and is way easier to place in featured ice. BD Express racks better though.

Very solid piece. Nice range of sizes to meet just about every climbing situation. I find them easy to rack and access even in tough moments. Much easier to handle and start than the Grivel 360. Ice is easy to remove from the bore once the piece is removed.

The first rule of ice screws is to always purchase them with a handle to screw them into the ice. What else to look for in an ice screw: Ease of placement, speed of placement and how well they rack. The Black Diamond Express Ice Screws set well and could be started within a couple of turns. Once set these screws where also fast to place. Flip open the tiny suicide knob and start twisting. Once the screw is in, flip the knob back down. Clip and go. Black Diamonds engineers must have had racking in mind when designing these beauties. They nestle together wonderfully on a single biner taking a minimal amount of space. At $40 per screws I find these the best value.



I summary give these screws an A for placement, an A for racking, and an A for price.



I highly suggest Black Diamonds Express Ice Screws.

great screws, better than the OP, the leaver snags a lil bit. These go in easy, important when on that schetchy pitch and its hard enough to place it.. But overall the best I have used

Not much more to add here with the BDs simply they are best of the breed.

They are easy to rack (I usually have 4 on a bineer)

Start easily (for me never more that 1 or 2 turns)

Go in and come out quickly

Their bad points are few, Namely their high price and I find that once they have grounded out on some rock it takes a lot of careful filing to make them half decent again.

In very hard ice one still has to use your ice tool to assist in getting them fully set but that is true of all screws save maybe the Grivle 360s.

For me, using only Turbo Expresses greatly simplifies my rack as I have only one type of screw with me with only different lengths. Basically I know they will all go in and come out quick, are all made to a high standard and will work in 99.9999% of situations where an ice screw is called for. A great confidence builder really makes you climb safer and faster.

So easy to put in! I have used other screws that do not have a swivel for turning and that is the last time. It makes for very easy insertion, especially in times that are hairy.

FIve Stars because they are the best I have used but I do think they could be better.

They go in most ice pretty fast and easy and they come out easy. Ice usually comes out easy or with just a little tapping. They do come in enough sizes for all your climbing needs just don't get carried away and rack too many!

Speaking of racking they stack well and stay organized and I find it fairly easy to get them off the gear clip.

I do wish the flip up handle you use to turn the screw were just a bit longer to fit in those gloves and mittons that are less dexterous and the arm could be just a bit longer for better leverage.

All in all no reason to buy anything else.

NOTE: There are FIVE sizes 10 cm (4.4 oz), 13 (5.1), 16 (5.6), 19 (6.3) and 22 (6.7)
They are all rated to 10kn.