Carabiner with a 'Roller Device' on them

I saw a new style carabiner the other day (can't recall who was offering it tho) that had a 'roller' device built in to one end of it. Looked like the end that clips into your belay loop.

Can anyone enlighten me on WHY and WHAT advantage(s) these might offer someone and if we really NEED such a model carabiner?

DMM Revolver?!

Rack as an emergency pulley.

Not really new. Made by DMM and $$$, I believe.

Some people use them to reduce rope drag, though at the price and weight, it's hard for me to see an advantage. I don't own any so someone who does may comment.

Other people use them in self-rescue/hauling situations instead of a separate pulley.

Ah OK....Thanks!

I've started carrying one on my harness to have my "rescue kit" on. I have not had to use it in a real-life rescue scenario yet but have played around with it a bit. It seems that it does greatly ease the ability to haul by reducing friction and is an interesting idea. My big gripe is that it is so small on one side and shaped bulkily on the other. That makes it hard to put several things on it and be able to handle it easily. I only carry 2 short prussik slings, a tiny knife and a tibloc and it barely fits and even when it's just right, then the gate doesn't open all the way.

It'll be interesting to see if I continue to carry it. It would make my life much easier in a hauling scenario and that would make carrying it worth it, but in all reality that kind of situation rarely happens. That said, it does happen and I did find myself hauling an inexperienced partner through a crux section once and would have killed for one of these at the time. Bottom line though is that I would NEVER carry these to replace normal carabiners.

Yeah - when I first saw it I thought - "OK, does this new design attempt to solve a problem that doesn't really exist?"

I bought two of them years ago, don't really know why. They can come in handy if you're on a route that makes some hard direction changes where you would normally want double ropes, or in a rescue/haul situation... I carry them setup as a normal quickdraw and 99% of the time it doesn't matter that they have the roller on them.

Hudon refers to those in a video on hauling

i own and use 2 of em to reduce drag ... there are certain climbs/pitches that even when extended with a long sling the rope has a sharp bend ...

of course you could use doubles, but for double the price and wear (i got through ropes every few months) id be poor ...

you dont need it ... but they do work ... and as mentioned if you need to make a quick adhoc pulley it works well for that

NYClimber wrote:Yeah - when I first saw it I thought - "OK, does this new design attempt to solve a problem that doesn't really exist?"

I thought BD had a corner on that.

Although I don't own any, I have used them when a climbing partner had one or two. They are actually quite useful, in certain situations. They are a specialized piece, and no one would (or, at least, should) buy an entire rack's worth of them. Having one or two, to use in the right situations, might be worthwhile. No one "needs" them, of course, but they are just another trick up one's sleeve.

A great application is for the sharp bend created in the rope for the piece at the beginning of a big roof. Extending the piece helps only so much if the roof is large; the revolver helps a lot here. If I were a Gunks climber, and thus climbed a lot of roofs, I would definitely keep one or two revolver biners on the rack for this use.

bearbreeder wrote:i own and use 2 of em to reduce drag ... there are certain climbs/pitches that even when extended with a long sling the rope has a sharp bend ... of course you could use doubles, but for double the price and wear (i got through ropes every few months) id be poor ... you dont need it ... but they do work ... and as mentioned if you need to make a quick adhoc pulley it works well for that

+1

I have two as well and have found them well qualified for ledgy traversing trad lines where you may want to minimize the fall factors of double length runners, etc.

They do however rotate easily making them ineffective- a simple hair tie or rubber stopper opposite the rope bearing serface did the trick nicely though to keep the rope seated on the roller.

I have 2 of the wiregate version and 2 of the locking.

I have used the wiregate ones on traversing routes and found them useful.

The locking ones I use as my toprope setup, but they require a third biner in the middle to separate them. Otherwise, the two wheels grind against each other. This drastically decreases the amount of aluminum oxide on my rope.

Now cue someone getting all bent out of shape about how they're not supposed to be used for toproping. To which I reply: the worst that will happen is someone gets lowered too fast (yet to happen in my case), and the bearing/axle assembly overheats, melts, and siezes the mechanism. Now you just have a very expensive non-rotating wheel biner.

Charlie S wrote: Now cue someone getting all bent out of shape about how they're not supposed to be used for toproping. To which I reply: the worst that will happen is someone gets lowered too fast (yet to happen in my case), and the bearing/axle assembly overheats, melts, and siezes the mechanism. Now you just have a very expensive non-rotating wheel biner.

YER GONNA DIE!!!!

I use one as a top biner for RADS (Yo Yo) rope juggin'. Shortens the throw and seems more efficient rather than adding a biner and a pulley.

Never saw it intended as a 'rescue' pulley device. It's supposed to be for hard rope drag, (usually trad climb related),,and yes it costs a bundle and is more weight than most sportys want to carry around with the available 23 gm. 'biners out there now days. It's been around for well over 10 years by now,,I got one just to try it out but not a needed piece of gear.

I have two of them and use them in various ways on trad routes and sport routes, especially when the route changes directions. They work great for reducing rope drag on long pitches.

I would caution against using them at the top anchor as they reduce the friction too much. I have personal experience with that. If you do, tie the belayer down to a tree or something and you should be OK.

I was given one as a gift. When I deploy it, it is inevitably before or after where the route actually changes direction.

i have three set up as alpine draws and use them alot linking pitches. there is a drastic decrease in rope drag on long trad routes...I would use them in emergancy rescue your hauling in conjuction with my Mirco trax but for the most part they are a slick way to make going up 70ms in a row easy

Tzilla Rapdrilla wrote:I have two of them and use them in various ways on trad routes and sport routes, especially when the route changes directions. They work great for reducing rope drag on long pitches. I would caution against using them at the top anchor as they reduce the friction too much. I have personal experience with that. If you do, tie the belayer down to a tree or something and you should be OK.

My belayers must weigh a lot more than me. I've actually not noticed this problem.

+1 to the YER GONNA DIE post!

They're useful gear for glacier travel where there's a risk that you might have to haul someone out of a crevasse.