REASONS TO BUY
Snappy clipping action
Wide sling is easy to grab
Light for a sport quickdraw
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Still a little heavy for trad climbing
Petzl Spirit Express Review
The best overall draw for sport specific climbers
RELATED: Best Quickdraws for Climbing of 2024
Our Verdict
The Petzl Spirit Express has been one of the most popular draws on the market for as long as most of our testers have been climbing, and for a good reason! They are lightweight for a sport draw, have excellent clipping action, and are easy to handle and grab. Petzl last updated these draws in 2023, offering three hollow spaces on each carabiner to lighten the overall weight and the nose shape has been redesigned to offer a wider curvature to make the draw easier to unclip. Petzl also modified the flat surface on the gate to enhance comfort while clipping. After 30 years on the market, these are one of the lightest sport climbing specific draws available, making them perfect for your onsight attempts. This is the original keylocking quickdraw, and steep sport climbs are its natural habitat — there's nothing for your rope to snag on when unclipping. While they aren't the flashiest draw on the planet, they are surely the most loved, and easily win our award for the best quickdraw when it comes to clipping bolts. Check out our review of quickdraws to see how it ranks versus competitors.
Editor's Note: this review was updated on June 27, 2024 to provide new recommendations for similar products as well as updates to reflect the latest design.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Petzl Spirit Express | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Quickdraw for Climbing |  Best Overall Lightweight Quickdraw | Best Quiver of One Quickdraws |  Best Bang for the Buck | Best Buy for Lightweight Draws |
| Price | $24.95 at Dick's Sporting Goods Compare at 3 sellers | $19.95 at Backcountry | $28.95 at Backcountry Compare at 2 sellers | $18.95 at Backcountry Compare at 4 sellers | $13.50 List |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | Our favorite option for sport climbing | Weighing only 2.6 ounces, this quickdraw is perfect for those seeking lightweight performance in alpine environments or multi-pitch rock climbs | The most versatile quickdraw in our review is light and easy to use | This sporty quickdraw offers solid performance at a relatively affordable price | A good value pick for trad climbers or anyone looking for an inexpensive option |
| Rating Categories | Petzl Spirit Express | Black Diamond Litewire | Petzl Ange Finesse | Black Diamond HotFo... | Cypher Firefly II |
| Ease of Clipping (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Unclipping (25%) | |||||
| Portability (20%) | |||||
| Handling (15%) | |||||
| Ease of Grabbing (15%) | |||||
| Specs | Petzl Spirit Express | Black Diamond Litewire | Petzl Ange Finesse | Black Diamond HotFo... | Cypher Firefly II |
| Weight | 3.2 oz | 2.6 oz | 2.6 oz | 3.5 oz | 2.6 oz |
| Sling Material | Nylon | Dynex | Nylon | Polyester | Dyneema |
| Available sling lengths | 12 cm, 17 cm | 12 cm, 16 cm | 10 cm, 17 cm | 12 cm, 16 cm | 11 cm, 16 cm |
| Width of sling | 25 mm | 12 mm | 25mm | 18 mm | 10 mm |
| Non-Snagging Top Biner | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Non-Snagging Bottom Biner | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Unique features | Sling is wider at the bottom to facilitate grabbing, stiff sling | Double hot-forged wiregate with a rubber keeper on the lower biner | MonoFil Keylock gate, comes in four options with different length slings and carabiner sizes. | Visual patterning designed to easily catch the eye while climbing | Double wiregates with a rubber keeper on the lower biner |
| Forging method | Cold | Hot | Not disclosed | Hot | Hot |
| Manufacturer Warranty | 3 year | 2 year | 3 year | 1 year | At Cypher's discretion |
Show full specification details ▼Hide full specification details ▲
Our Analysis and Test Results
New Colors
For 2020, Petzl is only selling the Spirit Express with black dogbones. While the ones in our review have grey dogbones, the product is exactly the same. For 2023, the updated design features three hollow spaces, a redesigned nose shape, and a flatter surface on the gate to enhance comfort while clipping.
For 2020, Petzl is only selling the Spirit Express with black dogbones. While the ones in our review have grey dogbones, the product is exactly the same. For 2023, the updated design features three hollow spaces, a redesigned nose shape, and a flatter surface on the gate to enhance comfort while clipping.
The Petzl Spirit Express has two cold-forged Spirit keylock carabiners, the upper one with a straight gate and the lower with a bent gate to facilitate clipping. They come in two different length options - 11cm dogbones, or 17cm long versions. The 11cm long sling is 25mm at its widest point. It tapers at the top to sit securely in the upper carabiner.
While these draws are an optimal choice for sport climbing, there's no reason you can't take them traditional climbing occasionally too, although we generally prefer a lightweight option for that, as you can save up to an ounce per draw going that route. Be warned, you may not want to leave them on a popular project overnight because they might not be there the next day. These draws retail for a little bit cheaper than some other high-end options, but not by much!
Performance Comparison
For onsight attempts on sport climbs at your limits, Petzl Spirit Express draws can't be beat. Here Davy giving it his all on Mothership at the Fins, while hanging his Spirit draws.
Ease of Clipping
We gave this quickdraw top marks for ease of clipping. The Petzl Spirit carabiners have a fast springing action in their gates. They feel snappy when you click them and clip fast and efficiently.
The stiff sling also allows you to clip the draw into a bolt even when extended. Some dogbones are a little floppy, but this one is stiff and our favorite to use on reachy clips. This quickdraw has keylock carabiners on both ends, a setup that most top climbers seem to prefer.
With a partially bent bottom gate that has great smooth action and plenty of gate clearance, the Spirits are one of the easiest and most pleasurable quickdraws to quickly get clipped.
Ease of Unclipping
The Petzl Spirit Express scored near the top of the pack for this metric as well. Unclipping a draw from the rope or a bolt can sometimes be a fraught experience, particularly for new climbers or on steep terrain. This quickdraw was designed with steep sport climbing in mind. Our testers didn't have to wrestle with it when seconding or cleaning a steep sport route. The rope easily slid out of the bottom carabiner thanks to the keylock design, and the upper carabiner didn't snag on the bolt either.
Most of the wiregate carabiners in this review have an exposed notch in the nose that can snag on any number of things. Wiregates tend to be less expensive to manufacture, which is why some models cost significantly less per draw. However, the notch in the gate can make life more of a hassle when cleaning routes. If you climb on steep terrain or hate wrassling with your draws at every bolt, look for a draw with keylocking carabiners instead.
The full-sized keylocking gate carabiners on the Spirit Express make them an absolute breeze to remove from bolts and from the rope while seconding.
Spirit biners, with their keylocking nose, were the original keylocking quickdraw carabiners, which revolutionzed how easy it is to unclip a biner from a bolt hanger. With no notch to catch on, these draws easily slip right off, even when under tension.
Portability
The current Spirit carabiner was updated several years ago now and uses the latest “I-beam” construction to reduce weight. At 3.2 ounces per short quickdraw, it's about one ounce lighter than most of the other high-performance sport draws out there. That means that you'll save about half a pound with a dozen of the Spirits on your harness instead of the other ones.
While the Spirit Express is light for a sport draw, as you can see from the chart above, there are a lot of lighter options out there for alpine or long multi-pitch routes. However, for an onsight sport rack, the Spirits are hard to beat.
92g for a single shorty Spirit Express, or 3.2 ounces for those who prefer that measuring method. These are among the lightest sport specific draws that we tested.
Handling
We like the way this quickdraw handles, and it is again a standout performer in this category as well. The full-sized carabiners feel great in all hand sizes, and we never experienced any cross-clipping on our harness like we did with several of the wiregate quickdraws.
Petzl uses their “String,” an exterior rubber positioner, for the bottom carabiner. This keeps the dogbone from wearing out in that area and prevents the carabiner from rotating into an unsafe position. The String is lower profile than CAMP's exterior positioner, which makes them sit better on our harnesses. The good side of an exterior positioner is that you can replace it once it's worn out, but the downside is that it leaves the potential for user error. The Spirit Express comes pre-assembled with the String, but you should always double-check that the bottom carabiner is inserted through both the sling and the rubber String before using it for the first time.
The Petzl String is the white rubberized piece that keeps the bottom carabiner securely in the correct position at all times. It does a nice job of protecting the sling at a wear point, and if it wears out, it can easily be replaced.
Ease of Grabbing
Petzl has engineered the Spirit Express with this metric in mind. While for the most part climbers never want to grab a draw, sometimes you have to. Maybe you are too pumped to clip off a bad hold and don't want to take a big fall, or you want to clip up a bolt or two and work out a tricky section on top rope. Ethics and style points aside; the Spirit Express is the most natural draw to grab because of its wide sling and tapered section at the top. Our testers found that they could grab the lower part of the sling with most of their hand, then wrap their index finger and thumb tight around the upper section and clip with ease. The tapered upper section also makes the sling sit securely in the bottom notch of the upper carabiner, minimizing any potential cross-loading.
If you are heading up a long route that has an A0 bolt ladder on it, like the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral in Yosemite National Park, you might want to consider bringing along a couple of these draws to help you overcome that section. It's never fun to try and grab your way up something on skinny 10 or 11mm wide slings, and the extra weight from a few of these draws would be negligible.
The Spirit Express has a tapered dogbone that is thinner at the top than at the bottom, making it more ergonomic and comfortable to grab when needed.
Grabbing a quickdraw in order to make an awkward clip can be a very good idea in lieu of taking a potentially dangerous or long fall. Here appreciating the comfort of the fat, tapered dogbone found on the Spirit Express.
While you could bring Spirits with you while trad climbing (they only weigh 3.3 ounces for a shorty), they are best used strictly for sport climbing.
Should You Buy the Petzl Spirit Express?
There's no doubt that this quickdraw is on the expensive side, though not the most expensive that we tested. The updated design offers more comfort while clipping, hollow spaces to lighten the load, as well as a redesigned nose to ease unclipping for your loyal climbing partner that has accompanied you to your project. While you can find draws that retail for less than half the cost that these will set you back, the Spirits easily outperform all the other quickdraws that we tested.
While they aren't the cheapest draws you can buy, they aren't nearly the most expensive either, and the well loved and long lasting Spirits would be a solid value in any experienced climbers book. Here Kevin follows the amazing jug-hauling third pitch arete on Golden Road, Index.
What Other Quickdraws Should You Consider?
No one quickdraw can have every feature or be best at everything, but when it comes to clipping bolts at your limit, the Petzl Spirit Express is our hands-down favorite. It clips and unclips better than most other draws that we tested, and the ease of grabbing can't be beat. They are not the lightest, but they'll shave some ounces off your harness compared to other sport draws, and won't weigh you down as much when you go for that hard on-sight attempt. If you're looking for a more affordable quickdraw that doesn't disappoint at the sport crag, check out the Black Diamond HotForge Hybrid or the Black Diamond Hotwire which are also popular for these ease of handling and solid performance. If cost isn't an issue, check out the Edelrid Bulletproof that is perfect for your first clip or setting up a top rope anchor on your favorite sport climb.
Sport climbers the world over prefer Petzl Spirits, and there's a good reason! Testing draws on the fine stone of the Fins.
—Cam McKenzie Ring and Trish Matheny
You Might Also Like
