Auto Lock Belay Devices

So I know that gri-gris are auto assist locking belay devices. What are some auto locking belay devices? I met a guy the other day who had one but I can't remember the name. I believe it was something with an s and it clamped at two spots as opposed to one like the gri-gri.

mammut alpine smart

Marty Wells wrote:So I know that gri-gris are auto assist locking belay devices. What are some auto locking belay devices? I met a guy the other day who had one but I can't remember the name. I believe it was something with an s and it clamped at two spots as opposed to one like the gri-gri.

The Faders Sum?

Also, check out the Edelrid Eddy

There aren´t any auto-lockng belay devices outside of climbing walls because the "official" term is assisted locking braking device for all the Grigri,Sum, Eddy etc.

Jim is right. The Smart is Auto-block which is not the same as Auto-lock. One review of the Smart can be found here - mountainproject.com/v/mammu…

For sport with single rope, consider the Click-Up too - climbingtechnology.it/en-US…

S. Neoh wrote:For sport with single rope, consider the Click-Up too

Man, that thing looks like a pain in the ass to use.

Actually according to people I have spoken to who own and use the Click-Up, it is easy to use.

Trango Cinch.

Almost got it, then settled on the GriGri instead. I've been really happy with it so far, especially because a climbing partner of mine is quite a bit larger than I am, so there is peace of mind for both of us in the event of a fall.

Khoi wrote: The Faders Sum? Also, check out the Edelrid Eddy

The Faders Sum is it! Thanks! Does anyone have any experience with it? I've only heard of one guy using it and he loved it.

Best on the market now, in my opinion are the Climbing Technology "Ups"

Single Rope = ClickUP

Double Ropes (better if sub 9mm) = Alpine Up

I have the click-up! I love it! Easy to use and hard to screw up. Works almost exactly the same as an ATC.

I have herd stories of the SUM being very easy to block the assisted breaking causing people to drop there partner. I personally have no experience with them other than seeing them at the crag.

I have the click up and I love it, hands down the best device for lead belaying and its pretty good for everything else. Also super easy to lower/rap on 1 strand. I've heard the alpine up is garbage though and not to waste your time. They tried to do too many things with it so it doesnt really do any of them well.

Jared Garfield wrote:I have the click up and I love it, hands down the best device for lead belaying and its pretty good for everything else. Also super easy to lower/rap on 1 strand. I've heard the alpine up is garbage though and not to waste your time. They tried to do too many things with it so it doesnt really do any of them well.

The Alpine Up really is for half ropes only. I've tried it with 10mm singles and it's just too much rope. It certainly is more complicated than its ClickUp brother. I need more time out with mine and the halfs to see if it will supplant my ATC Guide...

The CLickUP however, is fast on it's way to dethroning my GriGri...

the alpine smart work fine with the RIGHT 10mm rope and the RIGHT biner

this weekend on an el cheapo tendon smart 10mm 85 dollah rope and alpine smart ;)

Jared Garfield wrote:I have the click up and I love it, hands down the best device for lead belaying and its pretty good for everything else. Also super easy to lower/rap on 1 strand. I've heard the alpine up is garbage though and not to waste your time. They tried to do too many things with it so it doesnt really do any of them well.

I've been using the Alpine Up with 8.5mm half ropes for a while now. It is the best device for half-rope belaying and does everything else well besides. The extra features (non-autolock belaying and autoblock belaying of the second off the anchor) are effective and simple to use, and it is probably the best rappel device out there, providing autolocking when released without the jerkiness of the other gadgets.

I know a number of people who use it with 9.8mm single ropes and are just as enthusiastic. But handling seems to deteriorate fast with single rope diameters much bigger than 9.8, and I suspect the claimed upper limit of 10.5mm is ridiculous.

rgold wrote: I've been using the Alpine Up with 8.5mm half ropes for a while now. It is the best device for half-rope belaying and does everything else well besides.

I seem to recall you being a fan of the TRE Sirius, RGold... Do you like the Alpine Up better than the Sirius?

Been using the click-up for almost 3 years now, and always trying to win others over to its simplicity and quick function. Great price and definitaly worth the purchase for an auto lock assited belay. Does work much like an ATC when in non-click mode..you will love it.

Aric Datesman wrote: I seem to recall you being a fan of the TRE Sirius, RGold... Do you like the Alpine Up better than the Sirius?

I'm not sure Aric. In one sense the TRE might have been the best solution, because, by design, it slipped a small amount during the autolock process and so provided a slightly dynamic belay without any loss of control or burning of the belayer's hands.

The biggest problem with the TRE was the fact that it changed its behavior as it wore, and it didn't take an enormous amount of use to produce significant wear. A second problem was that the TRE didn't lock up well if the loads were not high; this sometimes made it hard to use for upper belays.

Edelrid now owns the rights to the TRE. It doesn't seem as if they will do anything useful with them.

The Alpine Up and the TRE have certain advantages in common. The main one is that all belay hand motions are identical to the ones used with ATC devices; the belayer is not obligated to keep one hand on the device and pump slack with the other. This requirement is, for me, a deal-breaker when it comes to handling half ropes, but even with a single rope, the fact that one hand may have to be tied up keeping the device from grabbing strikes me as far from ideal and a possible source of problems if the rope isn't perfectly stacked and without any kinks.

A consequence of the hand motions being the same is that you could belay palm-up with both devices without paying any penalty in holding power, as you do if you belay palm-up with an ATC device. The palm-up position makes the handling of half ropes considerably easier, in my opinion.

The Alpine Up locks up more reliably than the TRE regardless of the load, and the Up has no component whose wear would affect the locking properties---this is a significant advantage over the TRE.

All told, I think I like the Alpine Up better than the TRE. It would still be interesting to compare a non-wearing TRE and the Alpine Up head-to-head.

About the Click-Up, how does it lock catching a fall, less dynamic like a Gri Gri or more dynamic like an ATC?

Alex Mitchell wrote:I have the click-up! I love it! Easy to use and hard to screw up. Works almost exactly the same as an ATC. I have herd stories of the SUM being very easy to block the assisted breaking causing people to drop there partner. I personally have no experience with them other than seeing them at the crag.

I have a SUM, and I love it. You absolutely must be aware of a huge design issue, however, as if you use it with an inappropriate carabiner, it will not function. (It's pretty simple to choose an appropriate biner; you just need one that makes it impossible for the SUM's lever to get caught. I really like BD's Gridlock for this.)

There were some scary incidents posted about on redriverclimbing.com last year. It sounds to me like the users in those stories had defective equipment that they failed to check, but you may find the device sketchy after reading those threads. I would not recommend the SUM unless you consider yourself to be a fairly observant person, but I guess in that case I would also not recommend climbing.

Here is an example of an inappropriate biner. I find it mind-boggling that anyone would even consider this obviously bad setup, but apparently it seemed reasonable to someone. youtube.com/watch?v=VhGTt0h…

Thanks, RGold! Good to know there's an acceptable alternative should I ever wear out my pair of TRE's.