http://mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302690857&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442278225
And what is a chalkbag brush used for?
and is it better to use a powder chalk, or a chalk ball?
do you prefer fine or chunky chalk? why?

Personally, l hate chalk. It stains the rock and highlights all the good holds, taking some of the challenge away.

The chalk brush is for brushing away the excess chalk on a hold. The are completely unnecessary.

Chalk balls holds the chalk so it is less messy and your chalk will last you longer. But if you like a ton of chalk on your hands, you will hate the ball.

In my mind, finer chalk is always better, but it is more expensive.

That chalk bag is as good as any other.

The chalk brush ''toohbrush'' is used to brush gross clumped chalk off of holds to make them easier to use & less slippery.

You seem to be starting off in the climbing world, so l suggest a chalk ball
it is easy, & if u accidentally leave u chalk bag open, u wo not get a huge mess.

l prefer chunky loose chalk because it feels better on my hands, & l actually have a prana chalk bag pretty similiar to the one shown above ^

I've been climbing for 6 years & it works just fine for me
:]

Welcome to the climbing community & enjoy yourself!

Most chalkballs r much of a muchness, that one seems fine, u can get cheaper ones elsewhere probably that r just as good.
Toothbrushes r good at climbing walls where loads of people use the holds really frequently, so all the grip gets filled in with chalk & sweat & rubber. They're not unnecessary as one answerer mentioned, but they're not altogether necessary either, & less so outdoors than in.

l prefer chalkballs because u can throw them at ur non-climber friends that r not expecting it. No but seriously it is cheaper & easier to use than loose chalk.

That bag looks pretty good. l use one of these: http://madrockclimbing.com/koalachalkbag.aspx
l love it because it is really light weight & easy to reach ur hand into quickly & getting chalked up.
You just want to make sure it is easy to reach into & take ur hand out without delay.

When it comes to ball chalk or loose chalk, it depends where u r climbing. At almost all rock gyms they wont let u use loose chalk. l like the loose chalk better when outdoors because it actually coats ur hand. But the ball works fairly well also.

The only bad thing about the loose powder chalk is that it tends to be more expensive. So l buy a block of chalk & then use a rubber mallet to break it up into a powder. It saves a lot of money because u can normally buy the block chalks in large amounts.

Hope that helped!

The PrAna chalk bags r great, l have two of them. They r smaller than some others so they do not hold as much, but l do not use a lot of chalk so l love them.

l prefer the very fine chalk in a chalk ball - u will use less chalk (which leaves less on the rock) & u will never drop any - both good for the climbing ''environment''. Keep in mind that most chalk washes off the rock each winter so there is not really any permanent damage to anything.

The brush is used mostly for bouldering to clean exessive chalk off of holds on problems that get climbed a lot.

Good Luck