New Petzl belay device

Pat Light wrote: I’d expect a completely unmanaged NEOX to be much more of a liability, especially if adding 10-15 feet of fall distance would be catastrophic.

Say goodbye to this being certified for gym use (for those gyms who are scared for liability reasons), then.

Either that or this could mean passive ABDs would be given a second look. I'm okay with that too.

My experience was that it feeds better than a grigri but also felt more likely to catch a fall hands free

Pat Light wrote:

brother I used one and I felt this way a bunch, idk what to tell you — which part doesn’t sound right to you?

The EN and UIAA tests for assisted breaking devices are unattended and limit slippage to under 1.5m in a fall, both the grigri and the neox comply with the same standard. 

game on motherfuckers ;) 

Jk I love all this. It genuinely feels a little less idiot-proof-grabby in my hands than the GG, but if it isn’t then we all win. I’ll be in the thread after launch to chatter for sure

I haven't tried nor held one but by it's design I'd expect it's threshold to engage is higher. Giving it a less grabby experience when feeding out slack but once that threshold is met it should activate like a regular GriGri.

It may pose a problem catching [ fumbled or panicked hands-off ] low speed falls like when there is too much rope drag.

All these behavior claims about unwanted engaging vs liability to not catch are meaningless w/o specifying which rope was used.   Guys, you could be having this exact debate with any cam-based device (be it grigri 1, current grigri, Lifeguard, etc) - even if you were all using the exact same one - just by using different ropes.  Diameter is the main variable, but stiffness and sheath slickness matter too.  Probably best to specify brand+model+diameter+dryness+age (with the caveat that age affects different ropes differently, so comparisons involving old ropes would be tricky to interpret).

Pat Light wrote:

game on motherfuckers ;) 

Jk I love all this. It genuinely feels a little less idiot-proof-grabby in my hands than the GG, but if it isn’t then we all win. I’ll be in the thread after launch to chatter for sure

Maybe you guys in this debate were using different thickness/treatment of ropes and that would explain your differing subjective impressions?

I was able to use a Neox this past weekend. 

• Noticeably smoother feeding than GG.
• Still need thumb on the cam lever for feeding slack really quickly.
• Feels similar to the GG when yanking on the climbers side of the rope while standing on the ground with no hand on the braking side. Not sure if I can say if the Neox or GG is more "grabby". Likely depends on rope diameter. I also was using a prototype with a smooth "wheel" on the inside.
• Lowering is identical to GG.

Now I'm excited and just need this thing to come out!

Kevin Lockwood wrote:

• I also was using a prototype with a smooth "wheel" on the inside.

Can you say more about this? How is this different than the production Neox that we’ve seen in the videos?

In the images I've seen of the production Neox, the wheel on the inside has 8-10 flats to add friction. The one I used was a completely smooth groove. 

In other words, if you took a cross-section of the inner wheel, the production wheel would look like an octagon and the one I used would look like a circle.

I am also pretty sure the speed of the wheel does not affect whether it engages the cam (i.e. not like a Revo). Instead, the wheel itself pivots when loading is applied and some internal pins engage, which then rotates the entire cam body to pinch the rope.

I´m using a Grigri and it works. I dont really see any need to improve upon that?

Wictor Dahlström wrote:

I´m using a Grigri and it works. I dont really see any need to improve upon that?

Will probably make belaying from above nicer, and some are reporting easier paying out to the leader. 

How much benefit it will provide we'll have to wait to see. It might also be an amazing device for LRS. 

I still see a lot of people using the GG1, doesn't mean the GG3 isn't a legitimate innovation that has nice features and improvements even if the GG1 is super good enough for most people most of the time. 

Kevin Lockwood wrote:

I was able to use a Neox this past weekend. 

• Noticeably smoother feeding than GG.
• Still need thumb on the cam lever for feeding slack really quickly.
• Feels similar to the GG when yanking on the climbers side of the rope while standing on the ground with no hand on the braking side. Not sure if I can say if the Neon or GG is more "grabby". Likely depends on rope diameter. I also was using a prototype with a smooth "wheel" on the inside.
• Lowering is identical to GG.

Very interesting to hear this, since I think we got to use the same device (with the smooth wheel), but had different experiences with it! 

I never needed to put my thumb on the cam and had difficulty getting the cam to engage when jerk on the rope. Like you say, I can only imagine this difference must be related to rope diameter. 

Estimated shipping time may 5th on campsaver. No idea if that’s an accurate number or anything though.

Climbing Weasel wrote:

Estimated shipping time may 5th on campsaver. No idea if that’s an accurate number or anything though.

Is this for real, or a scam site? Pretty creative writing (translating??).

I'm definitely trying the NEOX, and hoping it's available earlier than July, but, whatever. That could just mean I hafta book a climbing trip somewhere in July. Boo hoo. ;-)

Campsaver is legit if thats what you're asking. 

maybe someone should email Petzl NA and ask when they anticipate availability in North America? 

Though not primarily a climbing company, Campsaver is a legit general outdoor company that's been around for years.

I doubt though that their date for availability is accurate though, given from what I've heard from other sources. 

I was able to order from OpticsPlanet.com. Which is a legit site I have used to order several hundred dollars worth of stuff from. Expected shipping date is may 9th