Moonboard vs Kilterboard... A noobs perspective

This week we compare the Kilterboard with the Moonboard. What's the same, what's different? How accessible are each of the boards and which one do I prefer?

Filmed at The Climbing Hanger, Edinburgh. Give it a visit if you're in the area.

Thumbnail by @Kim_Norrie

Filming by @Kim_Norrie and James Peart

Edited by Mike Boyd

[jerma]

I guess you have to make a video on the tension board next. After that, try a cheese board.

[LarsFL]

I think the biggest problem with the kilterboard is with the way that most people tick off the climbs. The default quick option is to tick it off with 3 stars and the same grade as what the author put it as. This means that 99% of gradings and ratings are just autofilled instead of genuine, which can be seen in the bar graph for the grading.

[magnusthechad]

YES MICHAEL!
You are make the exact style of climbing videos that I and many beginner/intermediate climbers eat up like candy.
This just hits the spot, because I many times wondered about this.

[SchrdingerYT]

Having a kilterboard fixed is heresy, one if not the main advantage is that you can change the inclination. Kilter's Holds are less injure inducing than moonboard's and the app is FAR superior. Kilter climbing tends to be more dynamic and can be morpho sometimes. LED ilumination is way better on Kilter. Benchmarks in Moon is an amazing feature that doesn't exist in Kilter. To sum up, Kilter is the better product for sure. But I agree that moon holds feel more like rock (I'm a resin climber, so no interest for me)

PS: Low grades in kilter at 50º are completely messed up for the simple reason that you can't have such low grades at that angle.

[xXSiamoXx]

To complete your board exploration, you should give the tension board 2 a go. It is brilliant!

[Ourodes]

Before this channel, I always watched your videos trying new skills and thought, oh that's cool. But now there's a dedicated channel for climbing, and now I'm watching these videos as they release and I want to climb.

[CodoKestis]

I really like your approach to climbing content. It all feels very educational documentary in an incredible way. Your pacing, writing, general structure, and topics are really really high quality.

[KilterClimbingGrips]

Thanks Mike! Glad you had a good session!

[ironmooss]

Nothing humbled me more in my climbing journey than board climbing the first time. I was pretty consistently climbing V7-8 within 3 tries depending on the gym I was at and I spent an hour and a half on a V4 on board 😂

[purpleye]

7:52 "A little bit of responsiveness" and the LEDs on the moon board quickly flashing in the background 😂

[Richie]

I didn’t even know they made fixed kilter boards until I started climbing at other gyms lol ours is able to changed in angles. The best angle in my opinion as a V5/V6 climber is 35°

I love the conclusion!
I'm so grateful to live in a place where I can climb outdoors after (or before) work during weekdays. Days are getting longer now and its possible to do training on real rock :D

[wellbornyouth]

With you finding yourself shut down by V2s, I wonder whether the route setters just climbed them at a nice angle and didn't bother upgrading the grade for the worse angles. 50 degrees is a bit of a wild choice by that gym to make the locked angle!

[EphefEll]

I tried your climb and got it in three attempts - did not expect that last hold to be so small xD Had to bring my right foot up after grabbing it to stay on. Was a fun climb!

[Mruk]

As a still relatively new climber (V4-5) I definitely prefer the feel of the Kilterboard. As a training tool though I have heard from higher level climbers that they get more from the Moonboard. Personally if I was going to buy one it would still be the Kilterboard, but maybe the moonboard would be a better long term investment. Either way you are right a spray wall would be a lot cheaper to set up and you can reset it when you get bored and put on new holds etc.

[Misstsuddel]

I just love how you're always at the same level as I am regarding progress at grades and trying different things. The last few weeks I've been into the Kilterboard and its fantastic. I tried the moonboards and for me its too "pinchy"

[jgjackson]

For me the Tension Board 2 (especially in the mirror layout to work on symmetrical weaknesses) captures the best of both the Moon Board and the Kilter Board. it has a good variety of hold textures and patterns, the lights are easy to spot quickly, and it is adjustable as well provided your local gym springs for that feature. And it has a very broad grade range, and in my opinion at least the grades feel mostly on target.

[fency]

I love the kilter board. I think the higher grades are soft though. I can send a kilter v6 with ease, but a v6 on a normal wall is a rare send. Great vid!

[Nolan-fnux]

I used to moonboard a lot, but i've found the tension and kilter board much better. For reference im a v9-11 climber. My experience with the moon board is that you are forced to generate from very unnatural positions, this is good for getting stronger and learning how to apply tension, however i've found that many of the positions on the moon board don't really exist in normal climbing you are very rarely forced to be as scrunched up or as extended as the moonboard asks you to be. The kilter board is definitely a fair bit softer but i find it to give a more realistic climbing experience. Nothing beats a good spraywall though.

[KilterClimbingGrips]

We are working on getting the grades sorted more for lower grades. We agree that at steeper angles anything easier than V2 isn't realistic, so probably the ones you did here are V2 and then the ones you were trying should be in the V3/4/5 range. We are working hard on making systems to fix this!