• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Belay device

W

wingnut

Active Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2021
Messages
166
Doing some research on belay devices for rappelling and ran across this device I haven't seen before. It's called a Passive assisted braking device. I don't think it has any moving parts and works with a teeter motion. Lift the tag end of the rope like you would with a prusik tender and it rocks upward releasing the grip on the rope, let go of the rope and it tips down locking the rope in place.
rockandice.com

Mammut Smart 2.0

A new and improved assisted-braking belay device.
rockandice.com rockandice.com
 
This video gives an independent review. These passive devices are all trying to be as good as a GriGri. Might as well get one of the ones that WILL stop you instead of maybe stop you, IMHO.
 
The benefit of some of the ATCs is the use of rope down to 8mm. This one is 8.7mm or above, or at least that's what he said in the video. If you're gonna use 8.9mm or above you're within spec if the safeguard and I agree I'd go that route. We'll get to play with belay devices & ATCs tomorrow.
 
The Independent video Makes the claim if you leave your thumb on the device in the up position it will continue to let line out. That's pretty obvious because that's how it works. What I like about the way it works is, let go, it locks on the rope. Seems about as foolproof as it gets but then again fools are pretty ingenious. Another feature that I like is, you don't need an auto block. No worries about releasing line too fast and having it jam into your device. I'm sure the Safeguards work very well and could be a better piece of gear but with no moving parts and nothing to fail this belay has some merit.
 
I bought the Edelrid Giga Jul and couldn't get it to lock with any of several ropes I had. I returned it. I bought the Mega Jul and it does lock up with some ropes but not all I tried. I kept it as a general purpose ATC with the locking feature. I haven't used it enough to trust it fully which I have with several mechanically assisted belay devices. Here is a good video review of the locking action on the Mega Jul.
 
wingnut said:
The Independent video Makes the claim if you leave your thumb on the device in the up position it will continue to let line out. That's pretty obvious because that's how it works. What I like about the way it works is, let go, it locks on the rope. Seems about as foolproof as it gets but then again fools are pretty ingenious. Another feature that I like is, you don't need an auto block. No worries about releasing line too fast and having it jam into your device. I'm sure the Safeguards work very well and could be a better piece of gear but with no moving parts and nothing to fail this belay has some merit.
Click to expand...
If you get one, practice with it at low levels, it may be less foolproof than you think. If you are at height and start coming down faster than you wish, your natural reaction is NOT to let go. With enough practice, your reaction should become "let go".
 
Thanks for the feedback BJ always good to hear from someone with real world experience. Good advice CZ, practicing with a new system well before hunting season is something I'll need to do. What makes this device stand out to me is the simplicity of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top