LittleHammer will shine in aid climbing / big wall climbing. All the jammed nuts and RP’s from bounce testing and being fully weighted are tough to get out without LittleHammer. With LittleHammer the second can clean the pitch quickly without drama. Gear like beaks, peckers, and tomahawks can be freed with the reverse impact, a capacity unique to LittleHammer. You could also use the forward impact to firm up the placement of this type of gear if you are hammerless climbing.

19/2/2016    Just got this feedback from “M9”, a very experienced climber and aid specialist:

A bit more unsolicited feedback, on the reverse-hook feature of LittleHammer…

I recently cleaned (by using a LittleHammer), a hand placed BD Pecker #3 that had been vigorously bounce tested and body-weighted during an aid ascent. It was in a deep and secure placement, and wouldn’t unseat with the usual tugging on its quickdraw, or scraping it with the hook function of the nut tool.

On this climb I didn’t take an aid hammer or funkness device (which based on my previous experience probably would have removed it with one shot), but relied on the LittleHammer to see how effective it would be for removing such recalcitrant aid protection…

This particular placement took about 8 ‘shots’ using the reverse-hook feature of the LittleHammer, however I’m pleased to report that it did retrieve the Pecker.
The first and second of those shots were misfires due to my unfamiliarity with using that feature; and many of the subsequent shots were me getting used to not causing the protection to tend to pivot somewhat in its placement, i.e. lining up the ideal vector to free it.
Up until this incident I had slight reservations about the LittleHammer reverse hook feature for removing anything other than smaller size esoteric aid pieces, because it (the reverse hook) visually appears to have only a slight ‘catch-notch’ for this design feature.

A Pecker #3 is a significant sized bit of aid gear when its full tang is engaged in its placement as this was within a narrow granite crack, rather than just the tip of its beak, and the leader who placed it was learning aid so was extra vigorous in the bounce testing of it, so it was indeed well seated!
With further experience (on the part of that leader), that placement would have sufficed without being tested in that manner and would likely have come out with only one or two well aimed LittleHammer shots…

I was pleased that I didn’t have to return to the car to fetch a heavy hammer to get my gear back! ☺

In summary; the reverse hook feature works once the user gets used to using it.

Thanks M9, great feedback like this helps evolve LittleHammer.