In reply to beardy mike:
> Haha - I guess that's opinions for you!
Indeed!
> Likewise I could say about the Megajul being stainless so scratching and gouging the hell out of your biners, just where you don't want them gouged,
I used the same carabiner, a BD gridlock magnetron and there is absolutely no scratching or gouging due to metal on metal contact. The only wear is from the rope. Other carabiners may be different?
> being made of stainless so they retain heat ever and a day, being small so they get hot easily,
Won't deny the braking area gets hot but only when lowering and after that it's hanging harmlessly from your harness. Being small they also cool quickly(!)
> being a pain in the butt to abseil on,
Yeah, I'll agree it does take some getting used to, especially on long stretchy ropes, but you do get somewhat used to it, finding the knack, and the benefit of being able to trust it to hold you while you retreive stuck gear outweigh this in my opinion
> having very variable breaking force depending on rope size (indeed according to a member of this thread having woefully inadequate breaking force).
Yeah, I'll agree the combination of a skinny rope and skinny carabiner does negate the braking effect, however the instructions explicitely advise the max/min rope diameters. Witch a chunky carabiner, which I'd expect anyone to use for belaying you can really push the limits too. If you're using really skinny ropes you should be using the Micro Jul which is specifically designed for this. In my opinion this falls into the category of 'pilot error'
> But it is lighter than an Alpine up.
So is my car
> Trust me - if I were using it you wouldn't struggle for slack, where as you'd be if I were using a megajul... hate the thing
Yeah, I guess my experience is based on my belayer not being used to the device. With the Mega Jul though I can't see why you would ever struggle. Your braking hand sits with your thumb through the yellow release loop and you simply pull slack through with your other hand. There is a good video of this on youtube. The only time I've ever 'short-roped' anyone was when they pulled through a load of slack to try to clip a bolt well above them then dropped the rope. They looked like they were going to come off so I took the slack in (obviously taking my thumb out of the release loop), at the same time they yanked the rope up simulating a fall and locking the brake. There was half a second where I transitioned from taking in to releasing the brake release loop.
Wow, epic post or what?! I know I've gone overboard here but I'm just trying to dispell some of the myths associated with the Mega Jul. Your experiences are very common but generally experienced by new users who haven't gotten used to it. For me the diversity and all the positives of the device far outweigh the negatives. I carry one tiny belay device whereas most people have to carry two or even three separate devices to cover sport, trad and abseilling.
Post edited at 07:45