New Simond belay device?

[Jens]

I saw em' in a shop for 29 bucks yesterday. I played with it for a while. It looked cool. Anyone use one yet? How is it? Have you tried all the functions drawn on the back? It's to bad simond gear is so hard to get around here. It is better than Black Diamond. They have a hugely comprehensive line of gear and they sponsor the best climbers in the world.

[slothrop]

Maybe others could help you out with your evaluation if you told us which shop.

[Jens]

Anyone use this yet?

 

(bump)

[olyclimber]

no, but the bd guide looks to be the shizzle for me. i ordered one of those buggers.

[catbirdseat]

You must be talking about the Toucan?

Ever visit the Simond website? It really sucks. It's just a couple of huge PDF downloads.

[catbirdseat]

How about the Faders Sum?

at REI

It sounds like a GriGri, but there is a claim that it give "dynamic" catches unlike a GriGri.

[fenderfour]

[lisp]it's so bulgy! it's like a moose[/lisp]

[tradclimbguy]

Yeah, I've seen that thing at REI as well. It's supposed to be a reverso knock off. Basically the same concept but the swivel portion is supposed to allow you to unlock the device easier when top belaying someone with the device tied to the anchor. Personally when my reverso is anchored in and my partner is climbing up, the key word in that is "up".

 

My impressions: Large and bulky, possibly confusing for people to use if they aren't familiar with reverso style belay devices and I'm not sure about the swivel joint, seems like it could fail (probably not, but still...)

[jordop]

Tangent: Experiences with BD Guide:

 

-way more friction than Reverso, good for 8-9mils, but almost too much friction for 10+mil . . . gonna stick to Reverso for the fatties, so basically the Guide is the same for me as the Reversino . . .

[hemp22]

while on the topic of odd new belay devices, has anyone tried one of these?

Tre sirius

(available at mgear)

i was toying w/ one in the shop the other day and it seems confusing - but the features apparently include psuedo-auto-locking on 2 lines - i.e. for rappel or leading on doubles.

[mountainmatt]

 

I think my biggest problem with this thing would be that it would hook on everything. No thanks, I'll stick with my ATC.