Oval: Symmetric. Most basic and utilitarian. Smooth regular curves are gentle on equipment and allow easy repositioning of loads. Their greatest disadvantage is that a load is shared equally on both the strong solid spine and the weaker gated axis.
D: Asymmetric shape transfers the majority of the load on to the spine, the carabiner’s strongest axis. Offset-D: Variant of a D with a greater asymmetry, allowing for a wider gate opening.
