360°

Excellent piece of protection. The minimal size of the hanger makes it possible to place 360° in a featured ice where you would have to chop much ice in order to be able to place a screw with conventional hanger. Superbly polished shaft and long crank make 360° screw in astonishingly fast (much faster than BD Express), even when the ice is very hard. Unfortunately, on thin ice this very fact makes it easy to screw it on rock with so much force, that plenty of file work is called for;-(

The downside of the crank is somewhat cumbersome racking. Also, the crank of the 12 cm model is as long as on longer models. This makes it consideranly more difficult to place, as you cannot start the screw with crank folded in, then fold the crank out when you have the screw established on ice.

Verdict:
-17 & 22cm: 5/5
-12cm: 4/5

Not a bad piece although I still prefer the BD express. I find the 360 much more difficult to rack and start. Once started it is no problem and is somewhat quicker that the BD. I still use them as I bought several for about half the price of the BD's. I trust them just the same even if they are a bit bulkier.

Easy to get in and super easy to get out of the ice. The only down side I have found is that the 360 degree handle tends to get tangled with my other pro or hung on my jacket. Despite some pounding, I have had good results with the handles staying intact.

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. I found the Grivel screws extremely easy to place. Two turns and they were started. Then comes the fast part. The speed in which you can screw even the 22cm model left me ready to climb more. Their placement is almost effortless. I have two complaints with these ice screws: Racking and price. The do not fit together well on a rack. These screws are a must for racking them on separate biners. A minor complaint but a noticeable one. Also these screws are the most expensive I have used. What is a good fast placement worth? I think $50 is acceptable.



I summary give these screws an A+ for placement, an A- for racking, and a B for price.



I highly suggest these screws

Ok they do go in the fastest of any ice screw out there and they are made to a very high standard but to me they do have some drawbacks.

First like everyone else said they do tend to get caught up on other things in your rack and are hard to rack more than two on a bineer.

The Mexican Bandito Bandoleer is suppose to take care of this but I haven’t tried it yet.

Second in any confined space or uneven surface where you can’t get a 100% free turn on the handle they are rather hard to place usually the only good option it to use another screw, chip away a lot of ice or screw them in manually.

With these two points and their high cost I have droped them from my rack and only go with a single type of screw that goes in slower but works better in hard situations. It is a trade off between ease of use and speed.

If you need speed then go for these if you need flexibility go with a more trad design.

The other reviews here are quite comprehensive, so I'll just add one small point.



I find it much more difficult to clear the ice out of these after I remove them than my BD ice screws. I often find myself spending quite a bit of time whacking these against the ice or with tools to clear them out.



It's a minor quibble, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.



Other than that, they are great. I have some of these and some BDs. I use them all with total confidence.

I have had the racking issue but if I rack 2 per biner, I rarely have any problem. But biting the ice, speed going in and coming out, I prefer these to the BD. I have a easier time getting in started cuz I find the hanger less akward in my hand to turn as it bits..

Starts well, but I just can't get past those big handles and the racking issue. BD Turbo Express are superior in those respects.

At the beginning I was impressed by the quality of finish. Of course this can be of no importance when using the screw. But this product works fine. It is easy to use and of top quality as BD Turbo Espress. Price a bit high but in some stores Grivel grants special discounts to Alpine Club members.

These screws are hands down the best ice pro on the market. I have used helixes and BD Express Turbos and some old Smiley/Omega Pacifics. All of the screws are functional and will do the trick, but given a choice I will go to 360 everytime.

I prefer them for several reasons:
- versatility. These screws can be placed anywhere with negligible cleaning for clearance.
- efficiency. Nothing starts as quickly are provides as much leverage.
- quality. All screw manufacturers are producing great stuff right now, but these stand out compared to the competition.

The 360 in the short length is tough to start so I keep two BD Turbo Express for thin placements. Beyond that it is 360 everytime.

As for the racking issue? I can fit 4 on an ice clipper and would prefer to have a screw that places like the 360 vs the BD which racks better.