What is the opinion of the Petzl Mini vs. the Pro traxion for hauling?

I own a mini trax and have used it with success. However, before doing the Nose everyone said with a lot of weight you should really use a Pro. We borrowed one and it worked just fine. I'm thinking of just selling my Mini and getting the Pro - iff I do haul it will probably be with a big load.

Besides a bit more bulk and weight I can't think of a reason not to have the Pro. I also like the biner slot so that it can't open up.

Thanks.

If you don't mind the extra $, def. get a pro. I find mini-traxions (X2) are great for rope soloing, but for hauling, especially heavy loads, either use a pro or an ascender/pulley set-up. My .02

Protraction = ProCRAPtion

don't waste your money on that thing. They're heavy, expensive, weak, and prone to failure. The mini traxion is pretty good, but the pro is just crap. Get an old Rock Exotica Wallhauler or if you want the best of the best, get the Kong Block Roll (available through the yosemite mountain shop). I've used all three. The Block Roll rules for hauling heavy stuff, anything else and the mini traxion is fine. Single bag and portaledge (i.e. The Nose, Zodiac, Washington Column, Leaning Tower routes) go mini traxion. Otherwise get the Kong. You won't be disappointed. This has been discussed many times before. Do a bit of searching on this site, supertopo, and rockclimbing.com

More reasons the protraction sucks:
http://mountainproject.com/v/california/yosemite_national_pa>>>>>

If I recall, the digit was lopped off by the pro.

Personally I think a lot of the bad press about the protraxion is due to incorrect use or lack of familiarly with the device. Even on the clean walls dvd the protrax is being used incorrectly. I've used lots of different devices and the protrax is my favorite for 2/3 day routes.

Sure, if you are hauling heavy loads, which you won't be doing on the nose, other devices such as the Kong have their place, but the kong is a very heavy piece of equipment and I would never clip it into the back of my harness, but rather tag it up after climbing the pitch. Good for 5-7 days routes, etc.

Get yourself a protrax, use it as it was designed and it will work well for you. Make sure you use a short sling between the device and the hauling powerpoint, to ensure that there is plenty of freedom of movement and only use oval biners that fit the openings correctly and don't bind anywhere.

Shoot me an email and I can send you some pictures of how it should be set up.

Cheers

John,

The Pro is a great hauler. I agree with John, most of the bad press about it stems from incidents were people misused it. As for mini vs. pro, I've never used the mini so I can't give you a direct comparison. I can tell you, though, that I crossed paths with some guys above Mammoth Ledges who offered me money+trade for my Pro-Trax (in exchange for their mini trax which was causing them all kinds of hurt with their fatty pig).

I remember reading somewhere about the effect the smaller pulley diameter has on the force required to move X lbs. There are enough engineers here on MP, I'm sure one of them can recreate the formula toot sweet. I'd be interested to see it again.

A quick look says 95% efficiency for the Pro as to 71% for the Mini, but I don't know who/how did the actual testing

more fuel for the fire:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=423517>>>>>

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=246030

Don't know if this site is common knowledge, but I found it pretty interesting... it details various past and present hauling pulleys:

http://storrick.cnchost.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Misc/HaulPul>>>>>