Reviews You Can Rely On

Cypher Huevo Review

With their durable, easy-to-clean design and low price, these are perfect for folks building their first rack or wanting to carry a few extra pieces just in case
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cypher huevo climbing nut review
Credit: Cypher
Price:  $110 List
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Manufacturer:   Cypher
By Ian Nicholson ⋅ Review Editor  ⋅  Jan 6, 2020

Our Verdict

The Cypher Huevos are the latest iteration of classically curved nuts from Liberty Mountain's proprietary in-house brand, Cypher. For those familiar with the timeless Black Diamond Stopper, you will notice almost no difference, with the exceptions of price, color, and a slightly longer cable on the Huevos. The heads of the Huevos are identical to Black Diamond's Stopper, size-for-size, but for notably less money. While we like offset models for harder trad climbing, we certainly see the utility of this all-purpose nut. Their great price, durability, and an easy to clean design makes them perfect for climbers looking to build their first rack and worthy of our Best Buy Award. They are perfect for folks who want to carry a few extras for beefing up rappel anchors or to leave a safe amount of gear if you're forced to bail, too.
REASONS TO BUY
Price to performance ratio
Versatility
Available in several set options
Clean easily
Durability
Large range of sizes available
REASONS TO AVOID
Not as great in flared placements
Smaller sizes have minimal taper
Average in irregular placements

Our Analysis and Test Results

The Cypher Huevos are the best nut you can buy for the money and thus are the winner of our Best Buy Award. Essentially mimicking the timeless design of the Black Diamond Stopper without cutting any corners with the aluminum head, durable cable, or swag protection, it is hard to find anything not to like about this piece of passive protection compared to much of the competition. While we like offset designs a little better overall, this line of nuts is extremely utilitarian, versatile, and easier to clean than their offset counterparts.

Performance Comparison


cypher huevo climbing nut review - though they aren't our favorite overall nut they are durable...
Though they aren't our favorite overall nut they are durable, easy-to-clean, versatile, and the best nut you can buy for the price. Besides being the best price both per-nut and for the #1-13 set, they are also sold in a variety of other sets allowing you to customize what you want to buy.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

Flares and Pin Scars


cypher huevo climbing nut review - the huevos uses a more traditional curved design which isn't as good...
The Huevos uses a more traditional curved design which isn't as good for pin scars and small flaring pods but is very stable in more-parallel constricting cracks.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

This is why we rate flares and pins scars higher than other protections categories because most climbers tend to place cams first, but in these features have to switch to nuts because a cam just won't fit. This is also where offset models perform best. Overall the Huevos works mediocre at best in pin scars because its trapezoidal shape offers limited surface contact, which is the foundation of any piece of passive protection's strength.

cypher huevo climbing nut review - you can see in this photo how the curved design helps stabilite the...
You can see in this photo how the curved design helps stabilite the nut, and thus make it more secure in more featured cracks.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

More Parallel-Sided Cracks


Overall, the Huevos performs above average in more parallel-sided cracks and have a nearly identical design to the Black Diamond Stoppers. All three of which feature a similar curved/tapered shape to create three points of contact in more parallel-sided cracks. We think the Huevos are better in these types of fissures than most offset models.

cypher huevo climbing nut review - the huevo along with the essentially identical black diamond stopper...
The Huevo along with the essentially identical Black Diamond Stopper were some of the best preforming models in more featured rock types.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

Performance in Featured Rock

The Huevos are just okay in highly featured, more textured, or large-grained rock types. Their smooth sides just don't work as well in these types of rock compared to models like the DMM Wallnuts or DMM Alloy Offsets, which feature a small depression on their dominate use side that accommodates large crystals or irregularities.

cypher huevo climbing nut review - this model features a trapezoidal head which helps make it easier to...
This model features a trapezoidal head which helps make it easier to clean. Cypher opted to not make the head "too" trapezoidal so it still has a very functional secondary axis allowing the piece to be placed in two different ways.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

Ease of Cleaning


The Huevos feature a slightly trapezoidal design, which makes them far easier to clean than offset models. Also, the hard 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum that they are made of deforms to the rock less than brass or softer aluminum models, meaning they are less likely to get fixed after a big fall or while aid climbing. The trapezoidal design makes it easier to clean by pulling upwards on the cable, though it is still better for their longevity to back them out the way they came in. However, we discovered that they are plenty tough enough to pull up and out hundreds of times under the right circumstances.

Durability


After pretty extensive use, we found this to be one of the toughest nuts on the market and will last even the hardest users many many seasons of use. The cables that hold the nut in place are relatively high gauge and resist kinking well compared to other models. The swag that closes the wire loop and creates the clip-in hole is also coated by a thick plastic that is slightly tougher than average among models we tested. Additionally, the head of the nut is made of seriously strong, 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum that resists deforming as well as any model we tested. Overall, the Huevos are at least as durable as the Black Diamond Stoppers and slightly more durable than theCAMP Pro Nuts and Metolius Ultralight Asymmetric Curve Nut, both of whose cables are more prone to kinking.

cypher huevo climbing nut review - this photo shows a huevo placed along its less common, secondary...
This photo shows a Huevo placed along its less common, secondary axis. While this axis isn't as secure as the primary axis (as there is less surface area) it can be great in certain situations and if a little extra care is taken.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

Versatility and Use in Other Orientations


Like most pieces of passive protection, the Huevos can be placed in two different orientations and easily stacked for the rare occasion. They are stronger along the longer axis, where they get more surface area against the rock. Along their secondary axis, the trapezoidal design offers a slight offset that we found to fit a wide variety of cracks well. However, limited metal contact means placing them in this secondary orientation requires you to set them deeply.

cypher huevo climbing nut review - the huevos has one of the best values of any climbing nut out there...
The Huevos has one of the best values of any climbing nut out there. It's more or less identical to the tried and true Black Diamond, but a much better deal.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

Value


The Cypher Huevos are one of the best overall values when sold individually or in any number of sets in which they are available. We think for most climbers the alpine set of #4-13 is a great starter grouping and most people are unlikely to bring the 2-3 smallest sizes on a majority of trad climbs. Of note, they are a much better deal than their closest competitors; the near-identically designed Black Diamond Stoppers, and we think the best overall deal on the market.

cypher huevo climbing nut review - you can see in this photo how the heads of the cypher huevo's are...
You can see in this photo how the heads of the Cypher Huevo's are litterally identical to the Black Diamond Stoppers size-to-size.
Credit: Ian Nicholson

Conclusion


The Cypher Huevos are the winner of our Best Buy Award because they are the best nut you can buy for the price. They are solidly designed and perform equally as well as the Black Diamond Stoppers and the CAMP Pro Nuts but for significantly less money. We still like models like the DMM Alloy Offsets, Black Diamond Offset Stoppers, and DMM Peenuts better for all-around and particularly harder trad climbing. But we really appreciate the utility of the Huevos, and their price means you are less likely to hesitate backing up a rappel or leaving a few behind if you need to bail to avoid that precarious downclimb. This makes them our Lead Tester's go-to nut for climbing and guiding on more remote routes in the North Cascades.

Ian Nicholson