Gimmick or game changer?

A solution in search of a problem?

Looks safe. Nice price. I'd trust a belayer who knew how to use it and had tested it in the field before I whipped on it. However, I am at the point in my life where I am not interesting in learning how to play with new toys. It seems that the climbing market is getting pretty saturated with new products that really don't improve much on the old. I'll probably just stick with the new grigri until my sport climbing days are over.

I have never needed more friction on any belay device I have ever used. Solution without a problem.

I would sure like to try it. Might be nice when my climber is hang-dogging to reduce the break hand force. The fact that it is only for a single rope makes it less appealing to me since I can't use it for rapping or with my doubles. Seems to operate in the same fashion as an ATC so I think getting used to it may take minimal time.

Will not work for twins/doubles. At 49 bucks makes an expensive toy. My ATC and Grigri 2 are svelte enough. I wish that people would put more effort into developing more convenient ways for hauling or a pig that carries comfortably and has detachable straps that can come out easy while the bag is fully loaded.

I think this is an ingenious solution!

Learn? What's to learn... it works just like any other tube belay device. Only process that might be affected, is when the leader unweights the rope and starts climbing immediately, from locked to feeding.

I see this being a solution for the belayer who doesn't like contraptions like the Gri or Cinch when belaying someone projecting. I think it's cool. Now what's the cost?... could be a deal breaker.

I suspect this is aimed toward sport climbing. I'd avoid it trad climbing.

Gimmick. It can only be used for single rope sport climbing.

You know... the Gri Gri and Cinch are limited to single ropes too? Do many climbers use these contraptions to trad climb?

Trad climbing, I learned that hanging on gear to rest was bad form. Get lowered or get back on the wall. Point being, belaying trad, I've found I don't catch many falls, and when I do the leader is usually quick to get back to it. Hanging around shaking out is for sport climbing ;)

We use gri belaying trad and aid. Especially aid. I also always bring ATC for when we need twins/doubles and for multi pitch and raps. I bring both because you never know when you may need a Gri Gri too.

In trad climbing unlike sport no one cares about your form. What everybody cares about is how efficient you are and how well you place gear and your rope management skills. You sit when you need to sit, you french aid if you have to French aid. It's between you and the rock.

Game Changer??? Strong words. For sure not another belay device. So what was the last TRUE game changer? I would have to say SLCD's. Other things certainly an improvement, but not to that extent.

I dont think its a gimick and its certainly not a game changer either. There's not a huge market for something like this, but there are lots of people out there who are interested in an easy to use, functional, performance single rope belay device for in a TR or sport climbing application. I can also see a lot of climbing gyms using them also.

theres a market for these suckahs ... whether itll be over crowded or not is a different story

I think it is a really interesting time. Belay devices have barely changed since the Sticht Plate 44 years ago, and although there have been various attempts at innovation over the years, the pace seems to have really picked up recently.

I think it is natural to expect that some innovative ideas will turn out to be a flop, other innovative ideas will be excellent but will fail to capture the consumer market, which seems to me to be far from sophisticated about its own needs, but ultimately solutions will emerge that are better than anything we have now.

I think assisted-locking devices are the wave of the future. The current crop seem to have sacrificed performance in extreme circumstances for everyday handling, but there is no reason to suppose that those limitations won't be overcome, and I'm looking forward to a new generation of belay devices that genuinely moves well beyond, say, the ATC-XP, in both handling and braking capacity over both the normal and extreme range of potential climbing loads.

The popularity of the Grigri ought to put to rest forever the idea that a device accommodating a single rope only is somehow not of great interest to the climbing public. Whether the Grip will turn out to be an advance or just another gadget in the pack can certainly not be determined from a photograph.

Eric Mountford wrote:Gimmick. It can only be used for single rope sport climbing.

I think it's a pretty cool concept, especially since their goal was to create an assisted braking device that doesn't require a new belay technique.

Do I need one? nope, I've got an ATC and a Gri Gri

Will I buy one? yep, I'll preorder one if it's possible just because I think it's pretty neat. That and I bet that sucker will handle fat fuzzy ropes with ease.

I found a video showing how it works.

Before watching the video, I wasn't impressed. After watching the video, I'm impressed with how smoothly it feeds rope. I'd buy one just for that.

It works really well. When I tried it out during Outdoor Retailer, I was impressed about how smoothly and easily it operates. It is not a necessity nor does it replace anything but it is still nice to have for sure!