All the new Alien's will be made with the same raw material and the same machinery, guaranteeing the same ol' cams everyone is in love with.

hopefully with better quality control....

I would expect FIXE would improve the quality control. Climbing companies (along with companies in other industries) know that reputation is your most important selling point.

Have to say, when I climbed in the gunks I liked them but I destroyed them too quickly. Moving out west I migrated away from them and know I climb with black diamond C3's and C4's. I find there are routes I've done where only C3's work. When Mike Sokoloff and I went to free climbing with 100% gear of Shangri-la (5.12d) in Sedona, the only reason why you could bypass the bolts were because you could get C3's in the cracks (all other cams are too wide).

cant wait i just wish i hadnt jumped on the master cams. Aliens are so much more confidence inspiring

Fuc$K*& A! FINALLY a replacement for my old (12yr+) Aliens. Nothing, has come along that has been at least an equal replacement. If anyone thinks otherwise its b/c they have either never climbed enough/or hard enough with Aliens.

Since no one has died hanging off FIXE gear, the odds are good that Q/C will be top notch.

I've found C3's to be equal to or better than Aliens in the Gunks, but I still have blue, green, yellow, and grey Aliens on my rack, paired with but not identical to similarly-sized C3's. The green Alien in particular fills a C3 sizing gap.

The narrower C3 head width means they go where Aliens can't.

i've only used c3s in the gunks once but i find on california granite that aliens go in where c3s wont as often as c3s go in when aliens wont. c3s however tend to be a bitch to clean from certain placements (which i guess can be a good thing if its the only thing between you and bad fall) and in some placements i think they rotate more.

I've tried to love the C3s, I really have, and I carry and place them all the time, but I find they have a frustrating tendency to rotate and then one of the lobes pops. Or to avoid this I have to place them so overcammed that they're hard to clean. If reports show these new "Aliens" feel much like the old ones I'll probably buy a full set with doubles of green, yellow & gray.

Love my black aliens. I have two. I fell on one so I carry the newer one all the time. I also have C3s and I like them. I used them to replace my aliens but i missed them so much I carry them too. Now I carry all five C3s, black through yellow Aliens and 1-4 Metolius TCU.