Reviews & Ratings for Totem Basic Cam — 2 reviews — Page 1

Totem basics are absolutely bomber and place well where others will pull out. Paired mine as doubles with a set of X4s and they work nicely together, filling in holes in their respective ranges. Highly recommended.

I have used these cams moderately now and I have used BD X4s extensively. I like the Totem Basics much better and sold all my X4s!

Pros:
+ compact head fits in small placements
+ large cam angle is more forgiving (vs. Metolius or Wild Country)
+ "tire tread" combined with soft alloy lobes gives bomber grip in placements
+ long stem with wonderful amount of flex to snake into placements
+ light in weight
+ smooth trigger action and comfortable, shaped trigger bar
+ solder beads prevent cam lobes from inverting
+ fairly long sling plus long stem reduces need to extend placement

Cons:
- expensive
- long stem/sling makes them rack low on your harness
- fragile (but no more so than other small cams)
- no real cam stops or passive rating
- large cam angle and soft lobes give less holding power
- no thumb rest in thumb loop

For those coming from BD:
Blue Totem ~ #0.2 Camalot (In practice, Totem feels slightly larger)
Green Totem ~ #0.3 Camalot (Feels about the same)
Yellow Totem ~ #0.4 Camalot (Totem feels slightly smaller)
Red Totem ~ #0.5 Camalot (Totem feels slightly smaller)