ATC (tube) style, autolocking, super lightweight and clean. Besides the possible uncomfortable wire this seems like THE new multi use belay device.

Looks like kind of a PIA to belay a leader.

UKC/UKH at Outdoor 2012 - The Micro-Jul from Edelrid

looks similar to a smart...

The Micro-Jul is designed for Edelrids new 6.9mm twin rope. For other ropes there is the Mega-Jul.
We shall see in practice how succesful this is!

one reason they are likely making it is that the (alpine) smart IMO seems fairly successful around here anyways ... quite a few people ive seen have it

I have the original size (mega?) Jul and it truly sucks for feeding a single rope through. Light, yes but not very functional as an ATC type device. It sits in the bottom of my equipment bin somewhere for last year or more.

How it looked to me was that when you pull the wire forward it lifts the device off the carabiner so it is almost in a no friction mode. That way you could pull slack through the top with your top hand, and the brake hand just hold the wire and loosely grips the rope.

As others have said, it works the same way as the Smart. There is a carabiner channel the locks the rope on one end and lets it run freely on the other end. In order to pay out rope to the leader, the belayer has to pull the device away from the harness attaching biner so that the biner is in the non-locking part of the channel. This means that rope has to be fed primarily or perhaps exclusively with the non-braking hand.

There is nothing else currently on the market that works with 6.9mm ropes.

I've tried the Smart with half ropes (where you want to pay one out and take one in simultaneously) and really dislike it for that purpose. It also sucks as a rappel device.

I recently acquired an Alpine Up which, although as bulky and heavy as a Gri Gri, is far better suited to half-rope belaying. Perhaps I'll post about it after I've acquired more experience.

Buddy (who works at mountain gear)got to demo this (and thier new 17 gram biner) and was very excited about it.

this is ridiculous, 17 grams...fuck me thats gotta be small and fiddly

I am pretty sure he meant 19 grams.

www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Climbing/Carabiners/StraightGate/PRD~>>>

The Petzl Reverso 4 weighs in at 59g and is a wonderful design. Is there any belay device lighter?

DMM Bugette 27g

one thing no one has mentioned is that it is made of steel, not aluminum ... so it might be more durable in the long run

and its listed at MEC for 30 smackaroos ...

if this thing works well, it will sell like hotcakes ...

the lowest price point of any assisted locking device (except the basic smart which is single slot) ..... and the lightest

and a single device that theoretically works on half/twins down to 7.8 and up to 10.5 singles ... unlike the smart where you need 2 devices

i may need to pick one up for a bit of testing ;)

Seems cool. I'll stick to the random tube style device I found at the base of Moore's Wall 5 years ago.

I saw the rep from Germany using one down in Moab and watching him use it; it will replace the ATC. Very slick as it auto-locks and can be used with doubles. Doesn't compare to the Smart.

My only question would be in a situation where someone is falling and you need to feed some slack while they are falling (coming under a roof, etc.) are you able to do that with these style devices? As much as I love my cinch, if I need to give a very safe belay which includes soft catches I dont use it because it just locks and then we are both along for the ride. Is this and the smart the same?