Wild country REVO

New video with more Revo details:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3x6y-NnnbE

Dylan B. wrote:I don't like it, for all the same reasons other people complain about the Grigri. This device catches falls without any reliance on the belayer's brake hand. Over and over in that video, when he simulates a catch by the device, you can see that there's slack between the brake hand and the device. That means that any belayer that learns on one of these, or becomes accustomed to one, will be used to falls getting caught without their brake hand doing any work at all. They'll be completely unaccustomed to keeping the brake hand on the brake line, or doing any work at all in a catch.

Except the belayer shouldn't be relying on the auto-catch feature to begin with. Unlike a grigri, this device can catch a fall without engaging the locking mechanism. It works just like a tube, so I'd say it's far better than a grigri in this regard.

Dylan B. wrote:I don't like it, for all the same reasons other people complain about the Grigri. This device catches falls without any reliance on the belayer's brake hand. Over and over in that video, when he simulates a catch by the device, you can see that there's slack between the brake hand and the device. That means that any belayer that learns on one of these, or becomes accustomed to one, will be used to falls getting caught without their brake hand doing any work at all. They'll be completely unaccustomed to keeping the brake hand on the brake line, or doing any work at all in a catch.

I see your point, but it seems like under normal operation this device doesn't lock up. It only locks up when your belayer screwed up and failed to catch the fall with their brake hand. In the video, i think the presenter is intentionally introducing slack to demonstrate the locking feature (without going completely hand free). In normal circumstances, the belayer wouldn't introduce slack, and the device wouldn't lock.

The Gri-gri induces poor belay technique for 2 reasons.
1) Most people have to override the cam to feed rope fast enough for a clip. Some people get lazy and just sit there with the cam overridden the whole time.

2) The Gri-Gri isn't sensitive to hand positioning. It is common for Gri-Gri users to position the brake strand parallel to the climbers strand. This is perfectly safe on the grigri, but is unsafe for an ATC.

The REVO has neither of these problems. It is used exactly like an ATC.

Dylan B. wrote:Hmm. I see what you're saying. I suspect people won't belay with it like a tube, though. I suspect there will be rampant complacency, trusting the device like a seatbelt.

Indeed, that would be bad.

I'm optimistic though, it seems like it could breed less complacency than the grigri, but on the other hand I do sometimes underestimate the stupidity of people.

Dylan B. wrote:Hmm. I see what you're saying. I suspect people won't belay with it like a tube, though. I suspect there will be rampant complacency, trusting the device like a seatbelt.

I don't know. I'm sure someone will, be since the device let's out rope before it locks, I suspect a bunch of gym climbers will e upset they fall lower than the should, if their partner is letting that happen.

I wonder how it would act in a fall where multiple pieces blow during a lead solo fall? Would it reset & drop further? Great looking device

SS Minox wrote:I wonder how it would act in a fall where multiple pieces blow during a lead solo fall? Would it reset & drop further? Great looking device

That is a good question. Keep in mind that according to WC, the device won't lock under normal operation. When the device does lock up it is beacuse the belayer screwed up and lost control of the brake strand.

However, for the sake of argument, lets suppose the belayer does have control of the rope and somehow it does lock up, and there are multiple pieces that fail. It seems like there are 2 possibilities...
1) the belayer wan't holding the brake strand, or was only holding it lightly. As soon as the first piece impacts, the rope will zip through the device quickly and cause it to lock. The belayer is not providing enough tension on the brake strand to cause the device to unlock, so when the rest of the pieces blow, the device remains locked.
2) the belayer is holding onto the brake strand firmly, but for some reason the rope still manages to move through the device fast enough to engage the lock. The first piece blows the tension on the rope is suddenly released. The belayer is still pulling down hard enough to reset the lock. Then the next piece impacts, and the device completes another revolution and locks again...

I suppose the 2nd scenario could happen. but at worst case the device will go through 1 revolution before it locks again. So your climber will maybe fall an extra foot for each piece that blows.

Of course this is all purely conjecture on my part, and such a chain of events seems like a stretch of the imagination anyway.

Here's a thought.

The grigri, cinch, megajul, etc etc can easily be used for bumping up a rope in the event your climber needs to boink. In doing so, the device locks each time and the belayer can continue or hang until they're high enough up the rope to safely allow the climber to boink and generate slack.

Theoretically, how do you suppose this would work with the Revo? Doing this with a standard tube device is no fun, but it works because there is a bend at the biner to help lock it down. Do you think the jaws on the revo will have enough holding power? Or will the belayer have to continually drop themselves onto the device to get it to lock up and hold their position?

Sam Stephens wrote:Here's a thought. The grigri, cinch, megajul, etc etc can easily be used for bumping up a rope in the event your climber needs to boink. In doing so, the device locks each time and the belayer can continue or hang until they're high enough up the rope to safely allow the climber to boink and generate slack. Theoretically, how do you suppose this would work with the Revo? Doing this with a standard tube device is no fun, but it works because there is a bend at the biner to help lock it down. Do you think the jaws on the revo will have enough holding power? Or will the belayer have to continually drop themselves onto the device to get it to lock up and hold their position?

According to Wild Country, it functions just like an ATC, until the belayer screws up and looses control of the brake strand. Under normal operation, the belayer is relying on the friction generated by the "jaws" just like a regular ATC, and there is no reliance on the auto-locking mechanism at all.

Think of it this way... If the Revo's jaws don't generate enough friction to boink, then they also can't provide enough friction to lower a climber safely.

True, I guess you just click it into locked when you want to hang.

Is the launch date still early 2017? Anyone know if that means January, and available at all retailers?

I haven't talked to the rep for a couple months but the last I did, he said that for North America it would be Spring but who knows what it is now.

It really should be kind of obvious when it's coming out as there are pretty standard times for introducing new products, Spring/Summer release which happens in March and Autumn/Winter which is September. It's pretty rare things get released outside of those the only other time i can think of new products coming to market is November/December for Christmas.

Last year, La Sportiva said the Otaki and Skwama would be available "spring 2016" and that turned out to mean June for the North American market.

Noah Yetter wrote:Last year, La Sportiva said the Otaki and Skwama would be available "spring 2016" and that turned out to mean June for the North American market.

Who distributes la sportiva in the us? Lyon outdoors is the distributor in the UK and we get all our stuff the same time as the rest of Europe.

This says 1st May 2017 (approximate release for the UK at least): dicksclimbing.com/products/…

which is sadly later than I was hoping. I've sold my SP and I don't want to buy an Eddy until I try out the Revo 1st. Looks like it might be the perfect rope solo device.

Alexander K wrote:This says 1st May 2017 (approximate release for the UK at least): dicksclimbing.com/products/… which is sadly later than I was hoping. I've sold my SP and I don't want to buy an Eddy until I try out the Revo 1st. Looks like it might be the perfect rope solo device.

Well bollocks i'm pretty sure dicks climbing said that it was out in march a few months ago, i guess production has been pushed back :/

According to Wild Country it will be available for purchase in the US in May.

Backcountry Gear are taking orders.

That page is now 404.

Travis Provin wrote:According to Wild Country it will be available for purchase in the US in May.

According to backcountrygear.com: "Scheduled to begin shipping in July 2017. Now accepting pre-orders."

Sounds right if May is the release time for Europe, 1-2 months for US distribution seems reasonable.