Your first carabiner - Gear Recommendations for new rock climbers #1

Recommendation for Your first carabiner: Petzl Attach at $12.95

My analysis criteria:
I think that your first carabiner should be locking and and it should be pear shaped or williams gate (great for munter if you ever drop your belay device). The wide opening makes it easy to clip into, and these babies are strong. After that I wanted to compare price to strength and weight.

I compared a PETZL SL william to a PETZL attach carabiner using EMS website (www.ems.com) comparison tool: http://www.ems.com/gridFrame/index.jsp?subtypeId=3739638&sortBy=priceDescending&cp=&prodList=pid_3667289.3665027.&categoryId=3739638

The PETZL attach is 0.5 oz lighter (good), a $1 cheaper (good), but holds 23kN vs. 25kN across the major access (closed). The Petzl attach also uses anionized gold, which helps you to easily inspect for wear and tear.

I recommend the Petzl attach over the PETZL SL william for your first caribiner for the following reasons:
The cheaper price and lower weight are better advantages to a beginner. It is very unlikely that this gear will ever be used near it's maximum strength. Beginning climbers are generally using this carbiner for belaying topropers. Since it is their first device ever, it will be good several years later to be able to see if/where the anionized gold is worn off, and to help with inspection.