REASONS TO BUY
Comfort
Built-in biner
Comes with keeper leash
Price
Cleaning ability
REASONS TO AVOID
Slightly on the heavier side
Wild Country Pro Key Review
If you drop things all the time, you should consider this nut tool
Credit: Amazon
RELATED: Best Nut Tools for Climbing
Our Verdict
The Wild Country Pro Key is a unique tool that features an extendable leash to keep ol' butterfingers from launching it down the Zodiac (a clean fall, all the way to the ground). Warmly embraced by some testers, reviled by others, the keeper cord sets this tool apart, but the WC Pro Key also shares some similar characteristics with our favorite nut tool, the Metolius Torque.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Wild Country Pro Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Nut Tool |  Good Balance of Performance and Weight | Lightest Nut Tool | ||
| Price | $19.95 at REI Compare at 2 sellers | $17.95 at REI Compare at 2 sellers | $20.00 List $19.95 at Backcountry | $20.00 List $19.95 at REI | $14.00 List $15.95 at Backcountry |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | The only tool that comes with its own keeper cord | If it ain't broke, don't fix it; but you could probably fix a few loose bolts with this classic design | Simple and effective for saving your stuck nuts and cams | Any lighter and we'd have some serious reservations about this tool's durability | This tool will do the job, but we prefer models with a built-in carabiner |
| Rating Categories | Wild Country Pro Key | Metolius Torque | Black Diamond Wiregate | Metolius Feather | CAMP USA Nut Tool |
| Nut Cleaning (35%) | |||||
| Cam Cleaning (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (20%) | |||||
| Durability (10%) | |||||
| Weight (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Wild Country Pro Key | Metolius Torque | Black Diamond Wiregate | Metolius Feather | CAMP USA Nut Tool |
| Weight | 3.84 oz | 2.30 oz | 1.62 oz | 0.74 oz | 2.64 oz |
| Length | 20.5 cm | 20.5 cm | 20.5 cm | 20.5 cm | 20.5 cm |
| Leash | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Clip-in Biner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Rounded End | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Show full specification details ▼Hide full specification details ▲
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Pro Key is in the rankings alongside the BD Nut Tool and the Metolius Torque. All three of these tools feature their own clip-in biner, a blunted handle, and a curved hook. The Pro Key, however, is the only one with a keeper cord.
Performance Comparison
This tool is a bit shorter than the Metolious torque by about a half-inch.
Credit: Matt Bento
Nut Cleaning
This tool does its main job well. The blunted end makes for a (somewhat) comfortable place to hit the nuts out with your palm.
The palm guard makes hitting stuck stoppers slightly more ergonomic.
Credit: Matt Bento
Cam Cleaning
The Pro Key's business end is hooked for snagging cam triggers if the cams have walked too far into the crack to reach with your hand. The steel won't bend or break when you're prying at cam lobes in granite and can bash a cam out of sandstone. Be careful as popular sandstone routes are becoming damaged (crack getting podded out and even changing sizes
Here we use two tools (the pro key in front) to free a cam that's walked far into a back of a crack.
Credit: Matt Bento
Ease of Handling
The Pro Key has its own clip-in biner, plus an additional attachment point for the extendable cord. In the ideal scenario, the second, pumped silly from hanging on by a measly finger-lock while he hopelessly tries to free a stuck nut without blowing the onsight, drops the nut tool so he can switch hands. The tool is caught by the extendable cord. Awesome! In practice, we find ourselves hanging from the rope more often than not when freeing stuck gear. In the case of a stuck cam, you really need to take your time, since bashing and thrashing with reckless abandon can get a cam even more entrapped. The cord coils up tightly and doesn't hang very low off the harness, but it can become clipped to other gear on your harness. All new aid climbers have experienced the madness of tangled daisy chains, ladders, and fifi hooks hooked where they were never meant to be. Do you really need another hindrance? Our testers are mainly free climbers in the sunny Sierra, and they say no.
The keeper cord makes it so you can't accidentally drop the nut tool.
Credit: Matt Bento
One more item of note, the end of the Pro Key is sharp, like sharp enough to puncture your tender thighs if you took a fall in the wrong way. We haven't heard of this ever happening to anyone, but it's something to consider for sure.
The hooked head is concerningly pointy.
Credit: Matt Bento
Durability
This tool is constructed of steel. Bash it, thrash it, throw it off the mountain (don't actually), this little guy will just keep on kickin'.
You might notice the Pro Key is on your harness if the keeper cord snags on something.
Credit: Matt Bento
Weight
The Pro Key tips our scale at 3.84 ounces with the cord attached. It's not as light and fast as the 0.75-ounce Metolius Feather, but surely more durable. If you dig the Pro Key but not the cord, you can purchase it without the cord. The cord is attached to the tool via a swage, so you can't just take it off and put it back on as you like.
The keeper cord adds some weight to the whole package.
Credit: Matt Bento
Value
For under twenty bucks, you get the nut tool plus the keeper cord. Maybe the keeper cord will really save you some money if you've been dropping your nut tool all the time.
Conclusion
The Pro Key has all the key features we like to see in a good nut tool; durability, its own clip-in biner, and a hefty bashing surface on the end. If you're psyched on the keeper cord, don't hesitate to go with the pro key.
—
Matt Bento
You Might Also Like
