Edelrid Mega Jul?
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Just got a Edelrid Mega Jul in a lot of gear I bought from a buddy that is a tight spot. I already have a ton of belay devices, and might sell it. I have mostly BD gear, beside my GriGri 2. Is there anything special about this thing that I should hold on to it for. Seems like it could promote a lazy belay, especially with my wife that's pretty new to climbing. Don't want to build bad habits if I don't have to. |
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That MegaJul will make your girl way more lazy than the Grigri... |
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I use a megajul and really like it. It's lighter, simpler, more functional, and more affordable than something like a grigri or an ATC guide. In terms of assisted breaking, it essentially works like a gri gri in that you don't have to pull hard on the break while your partner is taking a hang. Once it's locked no force is necessary. It can also be used to belay from the top in guide-mode (with relatively simple lowering) and for dual-strand rappelling. Rappelling can be done either in normal mode just like any other tube style device or in back-up mode, with the green thumb loop in front, which is nice if you expect to go hands free and don't have a prussik / etc. I have heard complaints about rope feeding during guide-mode belaying being strenuous compared to an ATC guide or reverso but I've never been bothered by it, although I haven't used those other devices for this purpose. |
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I love it for alpine climbing. If the route is a walk off bring one mega jul and a kong gigi. If there are rappels I replace the gigi with an ATC guide. The mega jul belays a follower ok for skinny ropes, but it still has a tad more drag than a reverso. Easy of pulling for a follower: gigi, ATC guide, reverso, mega jul. |
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Nick Drake wrote:Easy of pulling for a follower: gigi, Alpine smart, ATC guide, reverso, mega jul.Get an alpine smart instead. If you do stick with the mega jul, use a big HMS with a smooth roundstock cross-section. Also keep in mind, the biner basically acts like the cam in a gri except its Al so the mega jul will wear out your biners faster than an ATC |
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I was a hardcore atc fanboy until I tried a mega jul. I'll never go back now. We anchor from two pieces, tie into two points and use locking carabiners for redundancy. One thing that is often not backed up is the belayer. If I pull a rock off and brain my belayer it's nice to know I might not die. |
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I've been using mine in the gym, I like it quite a bit, even on the 10.x fat ropes. Considering selling my GriGri. Not sure if I will like it as a multipitch tool... |
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I like mine. Downside of the plaquette/guide mode for this is that you have to reverse the side of the device you belay from, the biner goes on top of the slots. |
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Well I've decided to sell the thing. $30 shipped to you. Anyone interested? |
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eli poss wrote: Get an alpine smart instead. If you do stick with the mega jul, use a big HMS with a smooth roundstock cross-section. Also keep in mind, the biner basically acts like the cam in a gri except its Al so the mega jul will wear out your biners faster than an ATCWhat did you like about the smart over the jul? Just belaying the second in autoblock? I hadn't tried it since the jul is lighter and smaller. I have been using the new petzl attache to belay the leader, it is I beam, but has a nice radius for the rope. I made the mistake of trying a very squared off BD vapor before, when I had to pay out quickly for a high clip (using the thumb loop on the jul) it was a drag. I have a metolius element that's fully round, but I rarely use it because of how many turns the stupid gate takes. I wish petzl still made the original attache. |
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I didn't like the mega jul over the alpine smart because of 3 reasons: |
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Nick Drake wrote: I have been using the new petzl attache to belay the leader, it is I beam, but has a nice radius for the rope. I made the mistake of trying a very squared off BD vapor before, when I had to pay out quickly for a high clip (using the thumb loop on the jul) it was a drag.Wait...you were belaying a leader in GUIDE MODE? |
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Recently dropped mine about 200 ft and shattered the thumb loop (although the wire still seems to be in tact). I was looking for a replacement and was actually considering getting something like the pivot. While I enjoyed the autolock I was having such a hard time bringing up someone in guide mode with both thin double ropes and my 9.7 bluewater that I couldn't justify getting another. However, I was using bd neutrinos as the breaking biner. I'll have to give the thing a test with my rocklock and see if it improves at all. |
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the megal jul, jul2 and the thicker (8.9-10.5mm) smart/alpine smart devices are unsuitable for belaying on ~9mm ropes despite it being "within" the manufacturers range i own all versions of the smart and personally i wouldnt go below 9.4/5 mm on the thicker versions ... and even then youll need to be careful ... just do a single line rap on a slick new 9.4mm and youll see why which is why learning and staying current on tubes is so important ... when the braking slips and the rope starts running through the ONLY thing keeping yr partner off the deck with these devices on thinner ropes if your SOLID BRAKE HAND ;) |
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I'd ditch the megajul personally. I gather it locks up hard under low forces, but under high force performs worse than devices like the ATC-XP (see previous discussions here for instance). If that is the case, I don't see the point in owning a megajul - catching low load falls is easy, it's the high load ones we need assistance with. |
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I don't agreed with all y'all fuddy duddies and your insistence on belaying with the least forgiving belay devices available, as if it were a right of passage. |
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Stephen Felker wrote:...a mega jul (or gri-gri) will statistically catch more falls than an ATC in the hands of any human being, period.Do you have a source for that statistic? (I'm genuinely interested to know, I found this DAV study recently where they tried to measure the number of mistakes they considered people were making with various devices, but that's one step removed from a study of falls actually caught vs not.) |
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r m wrote: Do you have a source for that statistic?Call my evidence anecdotal. But climbers on the more experienced end of the bell curve overwhelmingly prefer brake assisted belay devices (and for good reason). Raw impact forces and small "n" controlled lab studies are only part of the equation. Available data is incomplete. Belay errors, as I have witnessed them over the years, even the serious ones, have been vastly underreported. I hypothesize that the science will catch up in another decade. Dispense with the groupthink involved in the support of traditonal tube style devices over modern brake assisted devices! It's like claiming that antilock brakes or electronic stability control encourage lazy driving technique. No, they save lives and have become the standard in 21st century automotive technology. |
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Stephen, I think reality is a bit more nuanced than you are suggesting. Before saying more, I should add that although my age qualifies me as one of the fuddy-duddy's whose opinions you are trying to disqualify, I have been a proponent and almost continual user of some of the assisted locking devices for many years now (except in the gym, where I still use a modern tube.) |
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rgold wrote:I think reality is a bit more nuanced than you are suggesting.I agree. Just this week, as a result of a balancing of factors under a specific set of circumstances, I chose a munter hitch as my preferred belay "device". I could also name half a dozen people who have been dropped with a cinch. A lot more goes into a good belay than just the device. My point is to challenge the base assumption (overwhelmingly presented by a vocal but inexpert segment of our populace) that tubes rule. In more circumstances than not, brake assisted devices offer everything an atc offers, plus an element of redundancy. Ultimately I think everyone (from 5.6 man to 5.14 droid) will flub the brake hand at some point, and I'd rather be on the sharp end with a mega jul or gri-gri when it happens. rgold wrote:...my age qualifies me as one of the fuddy duddy's [sic]...I disagree. Fuddy duddy is all a state of mind! |
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I wish all the belay device manufacturers were required to publish a set of braking effeciency numbers. |