[trango cinch - whats the verdict?]

On the cinch, you have to hold the rope straight down below where it exits the device. Less surface area = less braking.

I don't have the Cinch, but my thought on if you need more friction for lowering, you can wrap the brake end of the rope half way around one thigh, and use the added friction to control the lowering.

 

Works better if you're wearing thick long pants.

[Belay Plates]

I use the B-52 for multipitch routes, I also contacted Trango about some of these same questions I had myself.

 

So what would happen if you tried to belay the second with only one carabiner on the anchor?

 

If you're only using a single rope, you can hang the B-52 on the anchor using a single LOCKING biner, or two

identical non-locking biners with gates opposed.

 

So supposing you used two biners, only one would have to be locking, right?

 

If you have rope through both slots, then you should use two biners. Trango tech rep told me the important thing is that the B-52 should be hanging straight, free from jamming again rocks and other gear. The two biners should be identical, at least in length. But they do not have to be locking biners, non-lockers are ok if you oppose the gates.

 

They only show one locking biner on the anchor regardless of whether one or two seconds are being belayed.

 

Actually, in Trango's instructional sheet they do not show a diagram for belaying two seconds.

[Anyone know JOEY?]

Here's another person that got screwed by this "Joey".

 

http://www.rockclibming.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=65544&postdays=0&postorder=asc&topic_view=&start=0

 

That's three, counting the gentleman on backpacker.com. I hope you all can get this resolved to your satisfaction.