Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my CanyonZone Zone 8 from CanyonZone.com - Gertjan van Pelt in 2020.

The CanyonZone Zone 8 is milled from aluminum alloy plate and then soft anodized. Mine is 132 mm. tall, 93 mm. wide, and 10 mm. thick. The rope hole is 42 mm. high and 57 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 10 mm. The shaft length and width are 41 mm. and 12 mm., respectively. The auxiliary hole is 46.1 mm. high and 12.7 mm. wide. The eye measures 14 mm. by 14 mm. The ears are 21.2 and 28 mm. long. My CanyonZone Zone 8 weighs 111 g.

The front of the Zone 8 has the Canyon Zone logo incorporating their URL "CanyonZone.com."

Comments

The Zone 8 is an unusual T–side eight. It is one of the following closely-related designs:

Image Eight Construction CanyonZone Zone 8 Milled Kailas Canyon Forged Kong Oka (805.08.B) Forged Kong Oka-X Forged

These vary in size and construction, with the Oka being the lightest and the Canyon the heaviest. The Oka was the progenitor, with the others following,

The unusual shape of the rope hole allows for a taller hole without increasing the height of the eight.

The slot between the T-horns is suitable for belaying.

The lower spur does not appear to serve an essential purpose. Perhaps it is a result of the aversion some canyoneers have to rigging a figure eight in the standard manner. I prefer the location used on the Canyon, as it points away from me and cannot poke me in the stomach.

The eye is small and there are many normal carabiners and maillons that will not fit through it. This restricts versatility, and eliminates the option of using two carabiners for redundancy. The eye has an annoying o-ring insert that keeps the Zone 8 from moving freely on the carabiner. It makes attaching and removing the Zone 8 more difficult. The ring catches in the notch in some of the carabiners that will fit. Removing the o-ring is a straight-forward option, but it still leaves a device with a small eye. Plan on dedicating a carabiner if you want to use your Zone 8 without a lot of hassle. I see too many disadvantages to the small eye design and no advantages (reducing the chance of dropping the device in one unlikely scenario by adding another doesn't count). The eye alone is sufficient for me to eliminate the Zone 8 from serious consideration.