Ohmega for lighter climber, heavier belayer

Note: If you don't believe in the concept of a soft catch, please keep scrolling. I'm trying to reach people who are climbers who employ dynamic catch techniques (or have had these techniques used on them) and also have the Ohmega.

Typically, when I give my partner a soft catch on sport routes, I employ the sensor hand technique. Basically, you, as the belayer, grab a bit of slack between you and the climber. When the climber falls, you attenuate part of their fall with your hand and the rest of the fall with your body weight + a traditional dynamic catch technique (jump, running towards the wall, etc). This has the advantage of:

1. Lowering the impact force of the fall on the climber partly with your hand

2. Greatly increasing the accuracy of the dynamic part of the belay. 

Unless there is a lot of friction in the system the second point (accuracy) is the main benefit. But I have noticed that when there is a lot of friction in the system (via rope drag), I can arrest basically the entirety of my climber's fall just with just my sensor hand (the hand ABOVE the belay device).

Enter: The Ohmega

The Ohmega provides a set amount of force between you and the climber- essentially introducing 10kg, 20kg, or 30kg to your belay set up based on how you configure the device. So here's the question:

Has anybody used the omega with a HEAVIER belayer LIGHTER climber set up + using the sensor hand technique? How were the falls (soft/ hard/ unreliable)? 

Note: This has the additional benefit of providing a soft catch to a lighter climber on sport multipitches, where giving a dynamic belay is often difficult/impossible due to static belay locations. 

Edelrid posted a video of this technique with Tommy Caldwell. I don’t have the link handy but yes it’s a valid technique that I have not tried yet. 

Just so you are aware, the 10kg, 20kg, 30kg "settings" are kinda relative & depend on rope type/texture/age/diameter/material etc.  I have one rope (9.7 unicore) that won't catch the ohmega at all unless belayer is at some perfect angle to first bolt & if it does the 30kg setting is closer to 10kg.  Then I have a 9.5 older more used/frayed rope where on 30kg setting & my 30kg lighter belayer I have to nearly push myself down the wall when being lowered, especially if there is a little friction in system. (So we almost always use 20kg system since the older rope is our usual rope).  YMMV (tho Edilrid is clear in stating rope condition impacts forces with device (even humidity).

My boyfriend and I have been using the Ohmega when he climbs since it came out. 

Today we tried it with me as the climber. I tested a normal fall, a low fall, and pulling up rope quickly to clip. My falls were announced, so I'll have to try unannounced ones at the gym next. 

My biggest fear was a hard catch where I swing in and hit the wall. I've been given hard catches by others in the past, to the point where it felt like I could've broken my foot. My boyfriend gives a great catch but has anyone uncovered any risks to using the Ohmega as the lighter climber? We have a pretty significant weight difference. Any new system introduces new failure modes, and there haven't been years of test cases yet, so I hope others chime in here.

If it makes the chance of a hard catch higher even at its lowest setting, I don't want to risk it. Since I'm not a big person, it's easy for me to break bones. I've broken my foot in three places including the calcaneus swinging cleaning a route, and another time in two places bouldering.

Alaina Gwrote:

My boyfriend and I have been using the Ohmega when he climbs since it came out. 

Today we tried it with me as the climber. I tested a normal fall, a low fall, and pulling up rope quickly to clip. My falls were announced, so I'll have to try unannounced ones at the gym next. 

My biggest fear was a hard catch where I swing in and hit the wall. I've been given hard catches by others in the past, to the point where it felt like I could've broken my foot. 

Edelrid "sensor" technique is perfect for this. Very simplified - ohmega acts as belay device

EpicTV put together a really nice video comparing traditional and ohmega centric belay techniques -

Edelrid covers this as well -

Alaina Gwrote:

My boyfriend and I have been using the Ohmega when he climbs since it came out. 

Today we tried it with me as the climber. I tested a normal fall, a low fall, and pulling up rope quickly to clip. My falls were announced, so I'll have to try unannounced ones at the gym next. 

My biggest fear was a hard catch where I swing in and hit the wall. I've been given hard catches by others in the past, to the point where it felt like I could've broken my foot. My boyfriend gives a great catch but has anyone uncovered any risks to using the Ohmega as the lighter climber? We have a pretty significant weight difference. Any new system introduces new failure modes, and there haven't been years of test cases yet, so I hope others chime in here.

If it makes the chance of a hard catch higher even at its lowest setting, I don't want to risk it. Since I'm not a big person, it's easy for me to break bones. I've broken my foot in three places including the calcaneus swinging cleaning a route, and another time in two places bouldering.

How were the falls? Thank you for the response! 

Thanks, amarius!

Jonah S, they felt the same as they do without it. I'm less than half his weight, but he always gives me really good catches. We'll have to try it out more.