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Best assisted belay device |
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12-Feb-2015 12:40:17 PM
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Been following the thread on best device for rappelling thin ropes and have a similar question:
What is the best assisted belay device? Grigri seems the standard but I'm leaning towards the Mega Jul for price, simplicity and double rope capacity.
I checked out the Trango Cinch but it seems to have got bad press.
Can't find much on the new DMM Grip, and there is a whole host of Grigri style devices coming out; I read somewhere that the Grigri patent has expired.
Would I be mad to expect progress capture performance from the Mega Jul in lock-rappell mode?
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12-Feb-2015 3:28:48 PM
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Best is determined by a assessing a device against a matrix of priorities. What is your matrix? Do you want light? cheap? double rope capacity? thin rope compatibility? reliable? idiot proof? usefulness as an ascender? Familiarity amongst belay slaves? Left handed? moddable for use rope soloing?
I don't believe there is one candidate that is best for everyone.
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12-Feb-2015 4:12:23 PM
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Mammut smart alpine is becoming popular as the no moving parts assisted locking device. The Mega Jul is the same principle I think, so will probably also become popular.
Grigri is perfect for sport and popular for serious abseil "work" but not a first choice for trad & multipitch.
My prediction is within the next ten years almost everyone will be using assisted locking devices of some kind.
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13-Feb-2015 7:45:47 AM
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On 12/02/2015 phillipivan wrote:
>Best is determined by a assessing a device against a matrix of priorities. […]
>I don't believe there is one candidate that is best for everyone.
Yeah Philip I think my confusion is not in the various device capabilities but in the functions I'm after — matrix as you say. I'd like all those things in your list in one device! Now some of the current devices might come close or be moddable but you'd have to spend a bit of time with them to work it out. Sadly can't afford that.
Then there is the inertia some designs get like the Grigri, in becoming the standard it's function influences the possibilities, plus it gets modded because they are common.
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13-Feb-2015 8:17:28 AM
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Well, what kind of climbing do you do, or plan to use it for?
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13-Feb-2015 11:18:09 AM
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Multi pitch trad, top rope, aid, aid self belay, rappelling … even did a bit of tree climbing the other day and could have used some kind of progress capture device to back-up ascenders, (one guy had a neat home made device). Single and double rope… is all this too much to ask of one device!
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13-Feb-2015 12:27:36 PM
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>>is all this too much to ask of one device!
Yes.
>> Multi pitch trad
BD guide, petzl reverso, or similar. You want a device that gives a dynamic belay and minimizes force on the top piece of gear during a fall.
>> top rope, aid, aid self belay... some kind of progress capture device to back-up ascenders
The GriGri excels at this stuff. If you're going to do a lot of solo self belay and are willing to ignore Petzl's policies, you can mod your GriGri to do this better.
>> rappelling
BD guide, petzl reverso, etc. Most of the autoassisted belay devices can abseil on one rope, but generally aren't very good at it.
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