UKC

Hi All,

I was hoping someone here could shed some light on wether or not a Gri Gri 2 is worth the extra £20 or is it only really the difference in size weight that is affected depending on the model.

I have googled previous threads, and there seemed to be no real agreement with pro and anti camps popping up here and there. Has there been any consensus reached or is it still very much a love it or hate it scenario?

( I intend on using it for belaying sport, self belaying/ascending with a jumar as well as a few other things)

Cheers, Matt

In reply to Nordie_matt: The 1 will do all those things adequately!

In reply to Nordie_matt:

Gri Gri 1 can only handle 10-11mm ropes, whereas the Gri Gri 2 can handle 8.9-11mm ropes, meaning it's far better for the latest slim sport climbing ropes. It's also a good deal slimmer and lighter.

Worth £20 of my money. (If I bought one, which I won't, because I don't like them).

In reply to Nordie_matt:

I have both and find the grigri 1 a little nicer to use unless I'm using a rope thinner then 9.5mm.

On supper thin ropes 9.1 and lower I find the grigri 2 to fast and we use my mates cinch which is better.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Is the 1 still available?

In reply to Nordie_matt:

Personally I find #2 easier to pay out rope due to its smaller size and #1 easier to lower heavy people as the handle seams longer.

I got my #2 for the same price as the #1 though.

In reply to jon:
Cheers guys, I had considered the trango cinch as well, but I haven't actually used one in the past (I have used a gri gri 2 though).

And yeah, the Gri Gri 1 is available for about 34 quid at gooutdoors

In reply to Nordie_matt:

Has anyone used the cinch for self belaying/ascending? Or know if it's any use for this purpose?

In reply to Nordie_matt: I've used the gri gri 1 , 2 and the cinch.

they are all about even in terms of use. the gri gri 2 handles a wider range but the handle feels smaller.

the 1 is larger and a bit more bulky

the cinch kinks the rope less in use - think of it as more of a cam locking the rope than the traditional s shaped formed by the rope in the plate.

what it all boils down to is what thickness of rope your using and what device YOU prefer. oh and cost.

In reply to Nordie_matt:
Hi there!,

I have a Cinch and A GriGri 2.. my Cinch actually stopped locking after a while and started to 'auto lower' people.. not ideal! I first noticed it doing this when I was using it as an ascender/decender for photographing people climbing, I was sliding down the rope faster that I could go up!. There is no signs of wear or anything wrong with it and I cant work out why it's doing it. I needed to replace it at short notice for work so I bought a GriGri 2 and I've been pretty happy with it.. the only issue I've had is the cam rusting from being in salty air when working near the sea (more of a problem in the very humid parts of asia I've been recently).

I've used both for route setting, belaying, self belaying and ascending and to be honest the GriGri 2 is good at all of these.. the Cinch is maybe a little faster to pay out with but can be trickier to lower with. I'd probably go for the GriGri 2 if I had to choose..

I do love the cinch but I just dont trust it anymore, though I think it is just a problem with mine and not the design in general.

Gi

In reply to gi:

That's worrying, I've had nothing but reliable service from my cinch. Fancy posting a video or some photos?

In reply to gi:
The Cinch has a well-known problem with wear on the pin. There is a home repair but since the Grigri doesn´t have these wear issues the long-term solution is obvious!

In reply to jimtitt:
Isn't the pin made from steel? Or is it to do with the surrounding aluminum wearing away. I've noticed that the anodisation is begin to wear away just where the two meet.

What is this home fix solution?

In reply to talon_guy:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/981038/...

In reply to Nordie_matt:

Cheers for the responses I have decided to go for a gri gri 2, based on the the concerns about the wear on a cinch and for the greater range of ropes accepted than on the Gri Gri 1.

Hope you all got what you wanted for xmas, and have a good new year.

Matt

In reply to talon_guy:

There is incidentally another wear problem that can cause the Cinch to malfunction that I forgot to mention. If the central pivot wears the small stainless steel hook part which engages over the base plate starts to rub and wear on the aluminium backplate. This hangs up under load reducing braking performance. In the end the wear is enough that the hook on the moving cam doesn´t engage on the back-plate when you install the rope but lies on the wrong side and the rope can come out, there was an incident in Germany with this problem which was reviewed by the DAV at the time. I´ve got one like this which was found after the belayer threw it away in disgust!
If I remember correctly the view from Trango was that only a couple of years use was the price one paid for a light-weight device, there was a long discussion of the issues on rc.com a few years ago.