quick review: Edelrid Jul 2

The Jul 2 has been on the shelves at Earth Treks for a few weeks now so I picked one up. Not for any particular reason, other than "I like shiny things". I used it to belay my partner on 1 top-rope climb and 4 lead climbs. I used it exclusively with an Edelrid Strike FG belay biner, since I happen to have one and I figured that would be Edelrid's recommended pairing.

For perspective, I usually use an old style GriGri for both TR and lead belay, but I have also used various ATC-type devices, the Mega Jul, and the Mammut Smart. I kinda collect belay devices so I switch it up fairly often.

It feels quite heavy, though on paper it's only 20-some grams heavier than the Mega Jul. Still plenty lighter than a GriGri or any other mechanical device. It's stainless steel so it should last basically forever.

In TR the Jul 2 worked just like the Mega Jul, but easier, in two senses. Firstly it handles the fat, fuzzy, semi-static TR ropes that Earth Treks uses better than the Mega Jul does. The Mega Jul is rated up to 10.5mm, while the Jul 2 is rated up to 11mm, so this isn't a big surprise, even though ET claims these ropes are 10.1mm. Secondly, it locks off even quicker than the Mega Jul does, allowing no detectable rope slippage, but unlocks easier when you want it to. Lowering I don't really want to comment on because the rope/anchor we were at was fantastically stiff.

Lead belay with the Sterling 10.1mm gym rope that ET uses is where the Jul 2 really shined. With your brake hand thumb in the loop, paying out rope is near effortless. Better than a GriGri with the cam held down, equal to most ATC-type devices, and much better than the Mega Jul. Lowering, on the other hand, is difficult to control without gloves. Don't bother using the thumb-in-loop method to unlock for lowering, as your partner will start plummeting and become very cross with you. Even using the "gently rotate the device" method, it's still quite hard to find that balanced speed where the climber is coming down at a reasonable, smooth pace. Rather it tends to flip between "too slow AND jerky to boot" and "incinerating your brake hand". I expect it would do a bit better with even thicker ropes, on routes with more rope drag, or with gloves.

I did not have the opportunity to catch a lead fall with it tonight.

I'd say my preliminary judgment is, if you like the Mega Jul but find it overly tight with thick gym ropes, the Jul 2 is a good supplement. If you want a single-rope locking device and can't justify the cost of a GriGri, maybe the Jul 2 (or the Mammut Smart, same price) is for you. For my part I'll probably play around with it for the next couple weeks until the Mad Rock Lifeguard comes out.

Thanks for the comments, I'm gonna grab one. I've been "testing" the Mega in the gym, I like it in that context for both TR and lead belay. Except for the difficultly in handling superfat/fuzzy TR ropes, so maybe I'm the "right" user for this.

I'm curious what biners everybody else is using. I currently have it (Mega) on a BD Gridlock. Mainly because I don't feel that biner is worthy of being used outside (so annoying to handle!). The Mega wanders around and twists too much for my taste, partially because the Mega isn't symmetrically loaded when you belay a single rope.

Hiro wrote:... what biners everybody else is using...

Heavy but lighter than my old gri gri set up plus I actually use it. Something that never really happend with my gri gri. HMS Bruce Steel FG

The Mega Jul is very sensitive to the cross-sectional shape of the biner it's paired with, so it's worth trying everything you've got to find your sweet spot. My wife uses hers with a BD Rocklock which doesn't lock it up exactly 100% but lets it unlock easier. Ditto the DMM Rhino which is my preferred belay biner. I tried it for one night with a DMM Sentinel and that's just about the opposite: locks up like a vault, doesn't want to let go. The Edelrid Strike is in the middle. I have a BD Gridlock but haven't tried it yet.

I have a DMM Rhino on my GriGri, I'll give it a try next time. And maybe sell my GriGri. :)

WOW, my Jul2 arrived, this thing is a heavy hunk of steel. Pretty much totally unlike the MegaJul in terms of build (except that it is steel). Perfect for the gym, maybe just bought the last gym belay device of my life. Makes me want to get that Bruce Steel biner now. Ha ha

Lead belaying with the Jul2 is amazing as well. Because of it's larger slot design, it feeds well, feeling much like using an BD ATC. I didn't have to catch any falls, but have no doubt it'll lockup well.

I've also gotten used to lowering with it - a true pleasure even on the fat gym ropes (Movement). The larger, fatter lever of the Jul2 vs MegaJul make it pretty easy to control. The only time when it gets rough is if there are lumps in the rope. I seem to suck at lowering with a GriGri because my Jul2 lowers are so much better, I should win an award.

I leave my GriGri in my gym bag, but don't really plan on using it again. I don't plan on using Jul2 outside the gym because belay devices which you can't double rope rap on annoy me. If I were a big sport climber, I might be inclined to bring it (i.e. as a replacement for my GriGri), but you'd still need to carry an ATC. Ok, bye.

I recently picked up the jul 2, have used it a bit in the gym, a couple days trad, and quite a few sport climbing. Caught around 20 lead falls on it with a few ropes. I think it's a great brake ASSIST device for mid to fat ropes. If you want to stick with your tube device technique it's worth trying.

I have used a mega jul for the past year, for trad/alpine where rope movement tends to be slow it works well enough. For lead belaying sport with faster high clips I found it had too much drag and I couldn't pay out rope fast enough, I found myself slightly shorting leaders on unexpected high clips (a problem I don't have with an ATC). Gym ropes the mega jul flat out sucks.

Paired with the strike biner I've used the jul 2 with:

10.2 gym rope. Pays out nicely, even with the older stiffer ropes, still some resistance. Easy to take in slack. Easy to unlock. Locks off fully and fast.

9.8 edelrid boa/9.8 mammut. Pays out easily, with a thumb on the lever you can throw out arm lengths of slack with about as much effort as a gri gri. It locks off well, but this is no gri gri. After a soft catch while hanging I tried relaxing my grip on the rope, if I nudged the brake strand ever so slightly it would creep through the device. It's imperative that you treat this like a tube device, it cuts effort required to catch a fall to nothing with a 170lb leader, but for higher force falls or heavier climbers this may not fully lock off.

9.5 mammut. Pays out slack with zero effort. Would allow a climber to creep in locked of position ever so slightly. I think that holding the brake strand firmly with a slight bit of slack before the thumb loop of the device could let you make soft catches with no need for jumping.

This post is a combination of some of my other posts about my Jul2 experiences. I'm a big fan of Edelrid Jul 2 for sport lead belaying. I've seen two indoor full on (50ft) decks in the last year. Fortunately both climbers were okay. One with a GriGri and one with an ATC.

This is my take on sport belay devices.
ATC: No passive locking. In an ideal world, this would be sufficient but we've all seen situations where the belayer has let go of the brake hand due to poor technique, slammed against the wall, etc.

GriGri: All motions are downward and can lead to confusion.
1. Holding the cam down for slack.
2. Pulling down with the lever for lowering.
3. Pulling the brake hand down to catching a fall.

Passive locker (Jul, Mammut Smart, etc): Simple like the ATC but with passive locking.
Push up for slack
Pull down for catch.
Can feed out slack without removing braking hand from device.The Jul2 isn't great when lowering on beat up gym top ropes, I still use an ATC for that. For multi-pitch belaying where FF2 can occur, please read the-deadly-atc thread. Its a long read but has lots of good information about the limitations of belay devices.

I did have some issues with rope wear. After six months of climbing indoors 2 or 3 times a week on lead using 50M Metolius Monster 10.2mm Gym Rope, BD GridLock and a Jul 2. I noticed the middle of the rope was getting fuzzed while the outer ends were looking good. The right is from the middle of the rope where the device contacts the rope when lowering the leader from the top.

Rope wear
My theory is the Jul2 steel body wears the top of the carabiner. The gridlock is very squarish and when lowering, the rope runs across the scratched portions of the biner.
Jul2 in gridlock
It only wears into the top of the biner when there's little friction between the belayer and the climber. I contacted Edelrid and they recommended using HMS Strike FG or HMS Bruce Steel. Since, switching, the fuzzing seems to have not gotten worse. The top is narrower than the bottom on their HMS biners, which I think prevents the rope from running against the scratched portions.

These aren't my pictures but you can see how the Jul2 and the rope rests against the top edge.

The ATC rests against the lower edge while the rope rests against the upper edge.

I just switched out my indoor gym rope with the exact same type. Both I and my belay partner are going to use Jul2 on it so we'll see for sure if it is was the biner that caused the usual rope wear.

The Jul2 performance is directly effected by the shape of the belaying carabiner and the size of the rope. You should safely test out changes in your setup before taking big falls on it. After trying many different lockers, I decided on using the CAMP HMS Belay Locker instead of Edelrid's HMS.
HMS comparison

Dimensions in mm
Dimension Edelrid Camp
I-Beam height 12.7 13.3
Top Width 8 6.4
Bottom Width 10.8 11.6

I like the Camp HMS better because of how it rappels. I have to indirectly use the 9b situation while the leader takes a good fall and I get pulled off the ground. I found the "rappel" back to the floor easiest with the Camp HMS. By the way, the gridlock very jerky in this respect.

Note: These are rappel modes not belay modes
Jul2 Rappel