New vs older Petzl Reverso?

[payaso]

I have a Reverso that I bought a year ago and now they have changed the design to mimic the Black diamond belay device. What are the pros and cons of each of these and is this an "improvement?"

 

Thanks.

[Clarence]

In auto-block mode it can be levered in such a way to lower a second who cannot climb. With the old reverso it is near impossible to lower the second should this need arise.

[pms]

v slot friction adjustment is nice

[woodchips]

In auto-block mode it can be levered in such a way to lower a second who cannot climb. With the old reverso it is near impossible to lower the second should this need arise.

 

You can rig a piece of cord on the biner which the rope wraps around and gain some advantage by using one of your anchor biners as a "pulley". This gives you a 2:1 advantage, which usually is enough to allow you to lower the climber. That said, the new reverso seems to be improved in several other ways. It's lighter, works with skinny ropes, and shouldn't have the sharpening issue the ond ones did. If I didn't already have a reverso and a reversino, I'd definitely try the new one.

[payaso]

Thanks, I was just looking for some of people's observations on the two. The reason I ask is that the new one looks like a close of the Black Diamond device.

 

What is the "sharpening" issue?

[Hendershot]

The sharpening issue relates to the older reverso, solved by the new design.

 

One difference between the Reverso3 and the BD Guide is the orientation of the clip in point on the side. Reverso is horitontal while BD's is vertical. The reverso is supposed to be easier to manage while clipped into the anchor.

[tradclimbguy]

The back edge of the reverso's wears thin into a ridge. I've got one right now that is sharpening to a nice edge. Gonna have to retire it and get another one pretty soon.

[selkirk]

I talked to a Petzl rep last year who said they actually did a bunch of test drops and catchs on the Reverso's with a sharp edge and never saw any sheath damage (most likely due toe continuous feed direction).

 

I still retire mine when they get sharp though

[Alpinfox]

 

Anybody have experience with the new Reverso they'd like to share?

 

I need a new belay device.

 

I thought the BD Guide XP had too much friction. Don't like the sharpening of older Petzl Reverso, but otherwise like it.

 

Interested in Kong Ghost or new Reverso.

 

 

[Good2Go]

I switched from the old reverso to the BD guide because the guide is tested/approved for rapping using the non-friction side (i.e., threaded so that you brake on the smooth side), whereas the reverso wasn't. I hated rapping with the reverso. Way too much friction/heat on a standard single rope IMO. Otherwise, they seem to operate the same. After a buddy got the new reverso, we checked out the petzl site and could not find any testing/approval for smooth side rapping. The aluminum is much thicker on the new model (on the smooth side), so it's probably ok. But, I would prefer to have the manufacturer confirm that fact.

 

Also, it's an auto-locking (not auto-blocking) device, right?

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Also, it's an auto-locking (not auto-blocking) device, right?

 

grigri, cinch, et al. are auto locking

 

reverso, guide, b-52, et al are autoblocking

 

AFAIK

[Winter]

There is also this, which I haven't tried but have heard good things.

 

[wfinley]

I used the new Reverso on my last trip(s). I climb on double 8.5 ropes so the smaller size plus added ribbing made rapping a little smoother (I always felt I went a little fast in my older reverso). While rapping on fatter (10.1) ropes I noticed a bit of heat / friction buildup - but not anymore than normal. Also the ribbing on hand side is designed to aid in removing ice from ropes -- which should be good come winter.

 

Belaying 2 people up simultaneously with the autoblock feature was simple -- but it didn't appear to function any differently from the old Reverso (the exception being the extra hole designing for easier lowering which I never used; I can see how it would be a good feature given that the old method of simultaneously pulling the biner up and feeding out rope was a pain).

 

As for the sharpening - I can't say whether or not this is happening in my new Reverso. I didn't notice the sharpening until using my old Reverso for about 2 years so I can't say whether or not it will happen again.

 

 

[Alpinfox]

 

So you'd say the new reverso has slightly more friction than the older one? In rap mode? In autoblock mode? In belaying leader mode?

[wfinley]

Slightly more friction in rap mode. In autoblock and belay mode I can't honestly say I noticed a difference.

[Maxtrax]

I haven't used the old reverso very much because I always found it to not be as smooth when rapelling as an atc or atc-guide. I have an atc-guide which I replaced with a kong ghost when I found one of those over at Second Ascent and then I recently got the reverso3 to check it out too.

 

I would say the reverso3 is the most versatile of the devices, it has handled everything from 8.6 doubles to my fuzzed out 10.3 cragging workhorse with equal aplomb. The ghost is the lightest of the devices but it has pretty narrow slots so I don't like to use it with anything fatter than 9.7ish, otherwise belaying the leader and pulling slack through in autoblock mode becomes more work than it should be.

 

A couple things I really like about the new reverso when compared to other autoblocking belay devices:

the orientation of the device when in autoblocking mode makes it so that the rope strands are coming straight out from the wall rather than to one side or the other like the atc-guide or old reverso

the device itself is noticeably lower bulk and less weight than an atc-guide.

[Alpinfox]

Updating this thread.

 

I bought the newest version of the Petzl Reverso, the "Reverso III".

 

Having used the old reverso and the BD ATC Guide, I definitely prefer the Reverso III. It is smoother than the old reverso, doesn't chatter while lowering/rappelling like the old reverso (cable-keeper instead of rigid metal), doesn't have the sharpening issue of the old reverso, has more braking power than the old reverso, but not TOO MUCH braking power.

 

I think the new design is also more idiotproof as there is now a clear difference between the slot where you clip the anchor biner and the slot where you clip the belay biner. I've seen several people mess that up when using the old style reverso for the first time. Kinda scary.

 

I didn't use the BD Guide for very long, but I found that it had too much friction in rap mode, belaying a leader, and most noticably in auto-block mode where I could barely pull a ~10mm rope through the thing.

 

I'm very happy with the Reverso III and it comes in several colors so I can coordinate it with my outfit for the day.

 

 

[video:youtube]

[Jens]

Love it!

[Dane]

Looks to be a decent rig, they just need to cut it in half

[Alpinfox]

Love it!

 

That Euro-porn soundtrack is pretty sweet eh?