Black Diamond ATC Belay Device – Ruby (Red)

Full Description

3 Reviews

1. I’ve been using this belay device for indoor climbing. It’s almost perfect. Of course, loading is extremely easy, and the rope moves VERY smoothly. It’s a significant improvement over a Mad Rock model that I have also used frequently. It’s also true that it will stop a fall with little effort.

   The only minor issue that I have with it is the fact that sometimes it seems to allow the rope to slide a little TOO easily. Once you stop a fall, you have to maintain significant downward pressure on the rope to keep it from continuing to slide slowly through the device.

   For example, sometimes on a harder route, I might come off the wall accidentally, and instead of immediately jumping back on, I might hang there for a few seconds to get my bearings and come up with a plan of attack. If my belayer doesn’t maintain downward force on the locked-off rope, the belay device is so smooth that the rope will slide – slightly but noticeably – adding up to some lost progress on the wall.

   If you want an absolutely solid lock off, you will probably want to consider something like the Black Diamond ATC-XP Belay Device, which has a higher friction side that should help to maintain the hold on the rope.

   In the end, I took off one star for that minor inconvenience (if it can even be called that, since whether or not it’s an issue at all will ultimately depend on your style and your belayer), but otherwise this is a great device. And while my girlfriend may benefit from a device with greater holding power, I still like my ATC for its super smooth rope flow.

   Hats off to Black Diamond for yet another excellent product.

2. I’ve been climbing for the last 5+ years and my BD ATC is only thing I use. It works great. The rope runs through it smoothly and like I say its lasted 5 years for me so its durable. BD is one of the best climbing companies and I would recommmend anything by them. I also use it to repel which it works good too. If you have really think ropes like 11mm or so and its gets wet so it swells it can be a little tuff to get the rope through the holes. A figure 8 might be better in that situation or you probably can muscle it through.

3. This is the simplest belay device out there. It is also one of the best. I don’t like some of the belay devices out there that autolock or bite the rope on lock-off as it is hard on the rope. This is nice to the rope while at the same time being quite safe.I’ve used this with several ropes and I would suggest not using it with anything over 10.5 mm as it will be hard to feed rope quickly. I think it says it works with ropes up to 11 mm, but I start to notice some drag with a 10.5 mm. My 10.3 mm BlueWater rope feeds through quite well.