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Version A
Version B
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I acquired my right foot SOB (AL-NASR) ascender from Gold Bucket on eBay in 2014, and my left ascender from Victor Jowison in 2015.
The SOB (AL-NASR) is 47 mm. tall, 75 mm. wide, 25 mm. thick, and weighs 90 g. bare and 133 g. including the supplied harness.
The ascender consists of a stamped, anodized aluminum shell, a cam assembly, and a set of straps and buckles. The rope channel is 16 mm. wide, and is 52 mm. from the cam pivot. Slots in the back of the shell accept webbing straps for the foot harness supplied with the ascender. One piece of webbing circles the ankle, another goes under the instep. There is also a 13 mm. carabiner hole under the cam pivot.
The cam is spring-loaded and has a (4)(1S1.2S2.1S1)(4)(1S1)^4(4) tooth pattern. The cam radius increases from 41 to 56 mm. over an angle of 39°, giving a 24° cam angle. There is no cam safety, although the cam was designed with provisions for attaching one.
The outside of the rope channel is printed with an up-pointing arrow with the word "UP" inside, "LEFT" (resp. "RIGHT"), and a Reading-Is-Dangerous icon. The rear is printed with the AL-NASR logo and "MAX 150daN.
The SOB is well made and seem to work reasonably well, considering foot ascenders such as this don't fit into the climbing systems that I commonly use. The carabiner hole allows using the SOB as an emergency hand ascender. It isn't as efficient as a standard hand ascender, but it works well enough as a backup.
[ Top | Version A | Return to Foot Ascenders ]
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| Left, Front | Left, Rear |
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| Right, Front | Right, Rear |
I acquired my SOB, Version B from Strade eStore on Amazon.com in 2021.
Version B is 47 mm. tall, 78 mm. wide, 25 mm. thick, and weighs 81 g. bare and 137 g. including the supplied harness.
The ascender consists of a stamped, anodized aluminum shell, a cam assembly, and a set of straps and buckles. The shell and harness are the same as for Version A
Version B uses a new cam design. The cam is spring-loaded and has a (3.4)(1S1)(2S2)^2(1S1.2S2)(3.4.3) tooth pattern. The cam radius increases from 37 to 55 mm. over an angle of 34°, giving a 33° cam angle. A spring-loaded manual safety hook is attached to the side of the cam. There is no cam safety, although the cam was ddesigned with provisions for attaching one.
The outside of the rope channel is printed with an up-pointing arrow with the word "UP" inside, "SOB," and "LEFT" (resp. "RIGHT"), and a Reading-Is-Dangerous icon. The rear is printed with the "SOB" and "MAX 150daN.
Version B has a new cam with a single long mud slot replacing the two slots on the Version A cam. I don't think this makes much difference: heavy mud easily overwhelms any mud slot that I've seen on any eccentric ascender cam.
The large projection for mounting a safety at the bottom of the cam is there because the same cam is used on some other Chinese ascenders, such as the Camnal Version A handled ascender and the Camnal Ascension and Wildken chest ascenders.
The SOB, Version B is identical to the NewDoar foot ascender.
[ Top | Version A | Version B ]
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