Belay Device Round-up Review - 2010 Editors' Choice Winners

Sport/Gym Belaying
The Petzl GriGri was our favorite device for lead belaying and the Trango Cinch was a close second. There was less friction when paying out the rope with the Cinch but the GriGri edged ahead because it had better lowering and better response in "short roping" situations. The Smart did not score as high because it did not pay out or take in rope as smoothly as most other devices.

While the auto-locking or "locking assist" devices (GriGi, Cinch, Smart) scored the highest, they were also the most prone to user error: dropping a leader, being put on incorrectly, etc. For quickly paying out rope to a leader, it is still hard to beat a basic manual or tube style device. All tube style devices scored well. The original ATC surprised us with how well it pays out rope to the leader. However, many people feel the ATC is not as safe to belay with when using lead lines under 9.5mm as with a device having teeth, such as the ATC XP, Verso or BRD. The BRD did not pay out rope quite as smoothly as most other devices but more than made up for this with its great lock off. We found we would gladly sacrifice a little smoothness for peace of mind. Overall, we liked the ATC XP the best of the tube style devices but it only narrowly edged ahead of the VC Pro II.

Belaying the second on multi pitch climbs
The GriGri is the smoothest device for belaying a (single) second while multi- pitch climbing. The Trango Cinch worked equally well for belaying off the anchor, but was not as smooth when lowering the follower or single-line rappelling. Neither device allows for belaying two climbers so you will need to bring another belay device for rappelling or retreating. For that reason most climbers prefer to bring just one of the auto-blocking devices mentioned below that are both light and versatile.

The Petzl Reverso 3 was the favorite auto-blocking devices for ropes thinner than 9.5mm. It allows for two partners to follow at once while in auto-block mode, provides the ability to smoothly rappel two ropes and still maintains a low profile. The Black Diamond ATC Guide is a great all arounder, but it is heavier and not as smooth in auto-block mode as the Reverso 3. The Mad Rock Mad Lock worked much smoother than the Reverso 3 or ATC Guide for ropes thicker that 9.5mm. However, in order to use skinny ropes, you need to add in a friction bar. That requires using a dime or screwdriver, which is just not that practical. Also you must keep track of a pin.

Durability
It takes a lot of heavy use to wear out a belay device. Just about every device we tested scored high for durability. The only devices that showed lots of wear fast were the Petzl Reverso 3 and Petzl Verso. However, they will still last a while and most people who use these devices find the lack of durability is more than made up for by other features. Of the manual style devices, the BRD was the most durable. The GriGi will eventually wear out and start to slip, but it took heavy use over 10 years to make this happen to us.

Lock off
What device is best if your partner is dogging that toprope for an hour? The auto-locking devices scored the highest: GriGri, Smart and Cinch. But they also raise a sticky question about what rope sizes are appropriate. Trango recommends ropes down to 9.4mm for the Cinch, but the Petzl recommends the GriGri for use only on ropes 10-11mm. This is a complicated and nuanced subject. Both companies say you can use their devices with ropes 9.4mm and thinner, BUT they don't recommended this. They say it is less safe to use skinny ropes because the belayer has to pay much closer attention when locking off and lowering. A conservative person might then say, "Well, since I use 9mm-9.3mm ropes, I will only use the Mammut Smart, which is recommended down to 8.9mm." However, in our tests both the GriGri and Cinch locked off better than the Smart on ropes from 8.5mm-9.3mm. When ropes got really skinny, the Smart didn't auto-lock (the rope would feed through VERY slowly until you applied pressure with the brake hand). So, unfortunately there is no easy answer to the question, "What is the thinnest rope I can use with this device?" All our testers felt comfortable with the Cinch or GriGri on 9.4mm (and a little thinner) but they also had lots of experience with the devices and probably a higher tolerance for risk. So you need to make your own judgment on the whole rope size debate.

Most standard tube style devices scored about the same for lock off. Devices with grooved teeth — the Black Diamond ATC XP, Petzl Verso and Wild Country VC PRO II — provided extra stopping control and had more friction control when rappelling thinner ropes than the ATC. That said, the BRD surprised us with the best lock off of all the tube style devices — and it doesn't have any teeth.

Weight/Size
The Verso was easily the lightest device and also the most compact. You hardly notice it on your harness. Second was the ATC. Most other devices after that weighed about the same (around three ounces). The Reverso 3 was the lightest auto-blocking device until we removed the pin on the Mad Lock and then that tied it for lightest. The Mammut Smart was by far the lightest auto-locking device and was also one of the lightest devices period. The Trango Cinch and GriGri were by far the heaviest devices. Of the two, the Trango is noticeably lighter and, more importantly, is in a much more compact package so it swings around less on your harness.

Lowering and Rappelling
The GriGri has a generous handle that makes it easy to lower a climber. Occasionally it will act a little weird if rappelling funky fixed ropes, but overall we would always reach for this if doing a single line rappelling or lowering. The Cinch was not quite as smooth — a smaller lever made it a little harder to control. Also, the lowering was almost too slow on really thick ropes in the gym when there is extra friction added at the anchor. The Smart lowering was okay at the gym but much harder to control when the ropes were skinny and we were outside. The Smart works, just not nearly as smoothly as the GriGri. None of the three devices mentioned above works for rappelling two ropes, so you will need an extra device if your descent involves rappels.

Among manualy belay devices there was one standout: the Metolius BRD. It had much more friction than any other device, which meant lowering on skinny ropes and rappelling was much easier on our hands. Most other devices with friction grooves handled about the same. The ATC XP seemed to work better on skinny ropes than most other devices.

The Bottom Line
We had two Editors' Choice awards: The GriGri and ATC XP. The GriGri is our top device for sport climbing, cragging and big walls. But because it is so heavy, expensive and you can't rappel two ropes with it, we felt we also needed to give an Editors' Choice to best all-around device. The ATC XP took the award, just narrowly beating the VC Pro II. We like the lowering with thin ropes more on the ATC XP, but otherwise the two devices are close competitors. The VC Pro is a lot cheaper, which is why we gave it the Best Buy award. The Reverso 3 is our favorite device for multi-pitch climbing with thin ropes. If we had one more Editor Choice slot, we would have given it to that. Those awards aside, just about every device excelled at a specific application. We even found that the old standby ATC still works great in most applications. If you have the money and can afford to buy the best device for each application, here is what we would get:

Favorite Devices for Each Application
If you are just starting to climb: VC Pro II
Sport Climbing and Gym Climbing: GriGri or Cinch
Big Walls: Cinch or GriGri
Alpine climbing: Reverso 3 or Verso
Multi-Pitch with 8.5-10mm: Reverso 3
Multi-Pitch with 10mm: Mad Lock
Rapelling with two ropes: Metolius BRD
All Around: ATC XP or VC Pro II