I got it for free and I never would have paid for this thing but it's cool, makes belaying for sport/trad much safer and takes some of the danger out of rapelling but nothing beats the ol' ATC. I tried using it for top-rope soloing, but the rope didn't feed through very well.

wonderfull device alltough its not fool-proof, allways keep your hand on the belaying end !!!

i use it only in gym...

The auto-lock is great for teaching new belayers - especially if you've got a large group. However, it's real easy to feed the rope backwards - I've seen experienced climbers make the mistake and realize just before climbing. Also, it makes for a bumpy ride when belaying someone down and kids belaying their friends are somewhat encouraged to let them drop a few feet then stop them short - which really kills the rope. The tendancy of newer climbers to stop paying attention to the climber is also dangerous - if they ever switch onto an ATC it could be fatal. Finally, they're damn expensive.

A must for those who do a lot of Gym climbing. Allows for quick lowering and easier belaying/less friction/less resistance than an ATC. Also works perfectly fine for outdoor sport. Little tricky at first learning how to lead belay in a safe way.


worth the money.

THE standard for belaying. I took a random girl from the climbing gym out "lead" climbing one day. I always teach people to lead belay using the gri gri. I pretty much tie in, rig the gri-gri, clip it to them, give them some basic "feeding" and "lowering" instructions and then just go. At the end of the day, I tried to onsight a 5.10 (hard for me). As I went into the crux sequence, I looked down, saw a loop or rope extending from her, down toward the ground, then up to me...."Well, at least she won't short rope me", I went, missed and took the big whip...no big deal, she caught me, it was a soft catch, life was good!

I figure I'll get short roped on the first several clips, but then the newb will get the picture.

These things are beautiful.

Its also very nice to belay someone working something/falling a lot, you don't have to lock it off, just sit back in your harness and chill, very good indeed.

Also, I use it in combination with an ascender to take photos. Its fast, and I can lower off it.

They're pretty hardcore and hardy; I've had mine for almost 7 years now, I've beaten the snot out of it, I've used it to bungy jump with my climbing rope (similar setup as see in Masters of Stone). Its overall the best piece of climbing gear you can get for safety as well as easy of use.

For 70 bucks, its more than worth it for both safety and ease of use. Its almost down to 10 bucks a year now, I'll probably get one in another few years, so that's like 7 dollars a year of use, not bad!