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Birdie vs Grigi vs Safeguard

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007hunter

New Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
23
I'm looking to make some changes to my setup and would like to be able to test them during the late season here. So I'm looking to get one of these devices and replace my short tether with my rappel rope. It would appear that the Safeguard is the more popular option, why is that?

Also does anyone backup with a prussic?
 
I use the Grigri Plus for SRT climbing, but when I get to hunting height I swap it out for my Ropeman 1 or a prusik with tender. The Grigri is just more large and flashy, and more noisy. I've not tried the Birdie or Safeguard, so can't say whether they'd be any more "discreet".

I especially like rappelling back down with the Grigri Plus. It's a very controlled descent with adjustable speed and an "OH $#!+" emergency brake.
 
I have had both
The gri gri + is larger more expensive a bit nosier weighs more but is smoother.
I prefer the safeguard


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I use the Beal birdie to reppel and it is very smooth. Its hard to beat for 50 buck to my door. Especially when the safeguard has gotten so hard to find for under 100
 
Figure eight is all you need to rappel you can back it up if needed but it’s not needed. So smooth to come down I tried all the mechanicals above and have settled on the figure 8 after watching @phatkaw video and it’s so stupid simple and extremely quiet I use my Kong duck to ascend on a separate tether and switch over to a rappel rope when I’m done but you can use your rappel rope with Kong duck if you didn’t want to switch from separate tether and easy to switch at height Oh did I say it’s stupid simple the cost of a good figure eight can be had for less than $10 and maybe a high of $20 to your door and it’s a lot less than the the others above especially the Madrock
 
First you have to decide exactly what you want the device to do. If it’s simply for rappelling down afterwards any of them will work fine and as mentioned, even the simple figure-8 will work great for rappelling.

If you want the device so that you are using your rappelling rope as your tether for the climb as well as attachment at hunting height, then the GrIgri + or the Safeguard is the best choice. The regular Grigri, the Birdie, and the Lifeguard all have a spring that causes the cam to open up as soon as weight is taken off of the rope. This is because of their intended design of belaying a climber so that rope can be fed through easily and quickly. For us that can cause the device to slip on the rope when we take weight off of the device.

The Grigri + and the Safeguard either have a mode that disables the spring (the Grigri +) or doesn’t have a spring in the first place (the Safeguard) which makes them hold on to the rope better for our purposes.

I don’t like having to switch devices or setups between climbing and hunting that’s one of the main reasons I use the Safeguard. For me it’s also a safety issue. Using the Safeguard and rappel rope as my attachment during the climb gives me the ability to rappel down at any point if there was an emergency or injury. Just a bit of piece of mind plus less to carry and to fiddle with in the tree.
 
Free if u have a prusik and biner already....nothing mechanical ..no springs or levers...learn to tie and use even if u don't use it as a primary if u are gonna start rappelling....monster munter+prusik backup....i did upgrade to a big mouth biner since this photo and it is much betterScreenshot_20211213-070012~2.png
 
To the OP, what is your goal for changing setup? I understand its all testing and trying to find what works for you. What is your current setup, what don't you like about it or what aspect do you want to improve? One of the rabbit hole that happens a lot is we (saddlehunters) like to go off the rail and start advocating our own personal preference instead of solving the original question! I'm very guilty of this! So trying to give you a few difference view points here.

If goal is reduce # of items in your pouch. The Safeguard is the jack of all trade and master of none (my view). It does not rappel or SRT or act main tether as well as other devices. BUT it can do all of that. If you are using your rappel rope as your tether, all you really need is rope, safeguard, carabiner and retrieval rope to hunt. Well also your preferred climbing up method.

If its cost, then the figure 8 is hard to beat and easy to learn. But I think a ATC is more simplistic and new user friendly. Same price but you also need an additional prussic rope.

If a sense of safety is what you're looking for. Having multiple redundancies is not bad or that inconvenient so you can get your preferred devices for that method. Personally, I like a traditional prussic for my main tether to one stick climb and sit. While I also have a dedicated rappelling setup with a GriGri. The Grigri is smoother than the safeguard, but it slide very easy with slack which make it horrible for actual hunting without a backup.

Bonus note: Once at hunting height. Also consider making a backup 'disaster' knot with your rope. I can't remember what it was call, but its basically using your main rope as a stopper with another carabiner to your bridge, if your main device failed or slide, it would stop you from completely falling.
 
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