UKC

Buying a new single assisted belay...reyt impressed at jul2...megajul ive used is sweet, just seeing if its pretty much the same? Ir i wait till next year for the Dmm grip..

In reply to Yorkieboy:
Hi Yorkieboy, don't want to hijack your thread but I'm really interested buying a mega Jul. My questions are, is it any good and does it auto-lock (as in it catches a fall without you touching it or the rope)?
Cheers for any help,
Greasy

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

There pretty sweet pal, i use normally a 9.8 ropewith a round beener and it still needs a hand on brake but gives a nice brake without it being harsh...cant say it auto locks up because for me it doesnt, but it makes it so i can hold rope on my pinkie finger

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

It's a very good belay device for sport, although I'm not a massive fan of the set up for using guide mode with the belay plate. It must be treated the same as a standard ATC style belay plate in terms of locking off as it relies on the force from your hand to pinch down on the rope. If you are looking for a belay plate which you can let go of the dead end of the rope I would suggest that you stop and reconsider that requirement in light of good belaying practice.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:


No belay device in the world is approved/recommended for catching falls without a brake hand on the rope.

In reply to Yorkieboy:

Thanks buddy they look good to me. And to clarify obviously I'm not planning on trying to catch falls without a hand on the break rope!

In reply to Yorkieboy:

I have used one a bit and the auto-locking feature is quite good. However, I have gone back to my petzl reverso as its much easier to use. The Jul requires you to belay in quite a specific way otherwise it locks which is really annoying if your trying to send slack out quickly. Feels like belaying with an old sticht plate but maybe stickier. Would be good if your climber is working a route on double ropes or some similar situation where it would be advantageous to have the plate 'locked' frequently.

In reply to Owen_P:

Yep, it will lock up basically hands free although Edelrid will never say that for obvious reasons, but the downside is that like a grigri if you try to pay out too quickly it will lock up on you that way. You end up keeping your thumb in the thumb loop. I've used the Mega and Micro Juls - not tried the Jul 2 but it seem to work the same way.

Morning,

I've been using a Mega Jul for several years now. Lost my 1st one an went and made the same purchase.
Its so safe. I had to hold my mate, big Chris on a fall with an old BD ATC. I only just managed to stop him.
I've held a few similar with the Mega Jul. No problem' really solid, confident.
I never bother with guide mode. Cant see any point on multi pitch. You have to rearrange everything when your parrner leads through. Waste of time.
I use the non-lock method for absailing, with a sling to get the device away form my body. Prusik loop on my harness. Really smooth. I was with a French mate on Mingulay this year. He showed me. Excellent idea.
Just got the single one for the wall and sporty climbing but not used it yet. I have habit of forgetting my harness and device when doing wall/sport then trad.
Yep, well impressed. Simple to use and very safe.

In reply to TobyA:

I've not used the jul2, but I did have a jul and it didn't always lock. On one occasion using half ropes (within the diameter range the device is designed for) the my partner took a fall and it didn't lock. I suspect this may have been because only one rope was weighted, but that is a bit of a guess. And when it didn't lock, it had very little friction and so made holding the rope very tough! Not too bad on that occasion as my partner was lighter than me and I could hold the fall, but would not have been fun if they were bigger.

I also found it an absolute pain to abseil on, particularly if you using a static rope.

Hopefully the jul2 has improved on these points. But for me the jul was a "jack of all trades, master of none" type device.

In reply to DaveR:

Eh? The Jul was a single rope device.

In reply to jimtitt:

Megajul I guess Dave means. The original Juls never seemed very popular in the UK.

In reply to TobyA:

Sorry, I meant megajul!

In reply to TobyA:

Megajul I guess Dave means. The original Juls never seemed very popular anywhere.
Corrected that for you