Mega Jul *sport* vs Jul 2

Do they belay a leader in the same smooth way?
Both are declared compatible with ropes up to 11mm, but maybe the Jul 2 pays out slack better?
Just wondering.

I was about to buy the Jul 2 (for sport climbing of course) when I found a site that sells the Mega "sport" at the same price. So if there aren't drawbacks I'd get that, it may come handy in other situations. If it pays off slack (or lowers) just a bit worse I'd still get the Jul 2, since my main use would be for gym/sport climbing. Thanks :-D

I contacted Edelrid and they told me that the "2" feeds better. I reply here for the sake of others that might be searching for the same answer.

The same Edelrid person also told me (about another question) that the eddy is aluminium though, while it's alu/steel ( ​source​​​ )so I don't know how much the above could be reliable 

Hey Febs,
I have both devices. I started with the Mega Jul because I liked the idea of using it for multi-pitching as well (two ropes, abseiling etc.) and I really liked it except for lowering a climber down to the ground. It was jerky and I had to use quite a bit of thumb strength to tilt the nose up so that the rope runs smoothly. But it would keep catching the rope which made it jerky. I never got it to lower smoothly. So I've got the Jul2 instead and even though they work the same way, lowering is so much smoother. That is because of the longer metal nose part on the Jul2 that allows the rope to slide over.

In terms of feeding and taking slack both felt the same (fantastic!).

Seb M wrote: Hey Febs, I have both devices. I started with the Mega Jul because I liked the idea of using it for multi-pitching as well (two ropes, abseiling etc.) and I really liked it except for lowering a climber down to the ground. It was jerky and I had to use quite a bit of thumb strength to tilt the nose up so that the rope runs smoothly. But it would keep catching the rope which made it jerky. I never got it to lower smoothly. So I've got the Jul2 instead and even though they work the same way, lowering is so much smoother. That is because of the longer metal nose part on the Jul2 that allows the rope to slide over. In terms of feeding and taking slack both felt the same (fantastic!).

Thank you for your reply! 

They're both the same geometry, it's the regular megajul that'll feel less smoothly. The only difference between the 2 and the sport is the double rope capacity.

adeadhead wrote: They're both the same geometry, it's the regular megajul that'll feel less smoothly. The only difference between the 2 and the sport is the double rope capacity.

They are not the very same geometry to me looking at the pictures

Febs wrote:

They are not the very same geometry to me looking at the pictures

You are correct. The Jul sport will take a thicker rope (11mm vs 10.5) a bit better than the original Mega Jul, but the same as the Jul 2. 

The deciding factor between the Sport and the 2 is all in the extra bit of steel that protects the skin during rope movement. the Jul 2 is the most comfortable of the 3 products for belaying, full stop. 

The MegaJul is a pain in the as for belaying from above, and the Sport works more comfortably in tuber mode when dual strand rappelling. Learn how to rig a single stand rappel and the only reason to buy the Sport is if you expect to belay with 2 ropes.

Febs wrote:

Thank you for your reply! 

Just to be sure, do you own the mega jul SPORT, or the mega jul? Since you didn't mention 'sport'.
Thanks again

Sorry, late reply. I was indeed talking about the Mega Jul Sport.

Well, why not add another late reply. I've been using the mega jul (not sport) for years and was quite happy with it, the only drawback being that I felt like due to the geometry of the device I was twisting and kinking the rope when lowering someone as it was difficult to feed the rope straight into the device. The jul2 takes care of this problem. By geometry I don't mean the axis of rotation around the carabiner but essentially what you see if you look at the device from above.

Might only be a problem because I don't use my thumb for unlocking the device but rather grab around the whole device and rotate it just enough so it unlocks, but it disappeared with the jul2 nonetheless.

I ended up buying the Jul 2. I can't compare with the others, but I like it very much so far. Sturdy and nicely feeding and blocking.
I did a few easy tests with self-belay and it worked nicely so far.