Favorite terminator for a positioning lanyard,  Tuesday, 20 November 2007 For the last 2 1/2 years I've been using a pair of these to terminate the ends of the double-ended positioning lanyard that I always bring into the tree.

They're a little bit heavy, and they rattle around a bit during a climb but I can't imagine climbing without them. Clipping on and off is more or less instant once you get the motion down (the locking/unlocking mechanism is very simple). I suppose the simple locking mechanism could be opened more easily by accident than a triple-action carabiner (which is why I put in the "4" rating for safety), but I've never had this happen, even in crowded settings with a lot of branches around. The weight can actually be made into a virtue when setting the lanyard onto a branch overhead; I just fling the thing up and the weight is usually enough to pull a few feet of lanyard line (10mm PMI sport rope) over the branch. They show only a little bit of wear on the inside of the hook after 2 1/2 years of use; I don't expect to retire them for another 10 years or so.

 Sturdy and nice,  Tuesday, 20 November 2007 I've been using these regularly since last May, as part of a yo-yo system or part of a Texas system for research and recreational climbs, especially in tall white pines.

These are sturdy, smooth-working ascenders that easily grab a wide range of rope sizes and types. I find the handles comfortable and easy to grasp (Gary Storrick in his review of these complains about the handles - I suspect his hands are a good bit bigger than mine). They're machined from a thick extrusion, and the beefiness inspires confidence - I don't imagine I'll ever wear them out in my lifetime. They're somewhat heavier than other ascenders I've handled (Petzl-type stamped frame ascenders), but only by a few ounces. I find the safety trigger on Petzl type a bit easier to use than the CMI safety, but that's mostly a matter of what you get used to.

Unless I decided to be a weight-reduction fanatic, I don't expect to be in the market for any other ascenders any time soon.

 My main saddle for research and play,  Tuesday, 20 November 2007 This has been my main climbing saddle for work (canopy research) and play since I started climbing 2 1/2 years ago (I use a Petzl Navaho as a supplemental/guest saddle).

I like having lots of loops to hang gear from, and I like having the side-D's for attaching a positioning lanyard. The saddle is comfortable for long hang times, either when chilling-out or taking samples; the oversize leg pads and wide belt are well worth the extra expense and weight.

Minor quibbles: It's a tiny bit more "fiddly" to set up than the Petzl saddle to set up (the latter doesn't require a screw link to hold the supports together). It's somewhat heavier than some other saddles I've used (the extra hardware and padding add up).

None of the quibbles has ever made me regret the purchase, and given that the saddle is showing no visible wear at this point, I expect to be climbing on it for a long time.

 Sometimes handy but flawed,  Friday, 09 November 2007 I used this a lot the first half year or so I had it. As Desi says, it's not a bad tool for pulling on the tail to go up DdRT.

Three main reasons it's been sitting unused for a while now:
- The rope pops out unpredictably when working around branches in the middle of a climb. Not a problem when you have your technique down and there are no obstructions, but how often do you have that in a tree? As a convenience in DdRT it's fine - don't rely on it for life support; it wasn't made for that.
- I haven't figured out a way to get the straps that come with the thing to work well; I was always fiddling with it mid-climb to get it snugged down again. I often climb in low-cut shoes, and as Desi mentions, it doesn't work with those.
- As soon as there's enough rope weight to slide 1/2 inch climbing rope through the thing (about 10-15 feet in my experience), there is also enough rope weight to single footlock to pull on the tail of the rope, and that's only a tiny bit slower than working the Pantin.

I'd like to see how someone who uses it a lot has solved the strap problem; it might also make a nice component of a rope walking system.

 Big heavy rope twister that works OK,  Thursday, 08 November 2007 I've had one of these for about 2 years. It has seen most use as a way to cut knot friction on a quick DdRT descent, but I've also used it some (and one of my grad students has used it a lot lately) as a standard SRT rappel tool.

It's big. This means it's a bit heavy and bulky to carry into the tree. This also means that it a) soaks up heat during a rappel pretty easily, and b) it's hard to see how it could ever be broken or damaged without dropping it 100+ feet out of a tree onto a rock.

It's a fixed-friction device; the only way you can change friction during a descent is to grab harder on the control end of the rope. In practice for tree climbers this isn't a big deal; trees are not big walls with huge changes in rope weight from the top to the bottom of the rappel. There are no built-in fail-safes when using it, so the user had better be pretty up on rappel technique before using it in SRT. As a backup to the Blake's hitch during a DdRT descent it is bulky and a bit fussy to set up (well, this could be said of any mechanical descender used in that context) but it can save a bit of wear-and-tear on a split tail.

The biggest objection to it as a rappel device is its habit, shared by all figure-8 type devices (including, I have heard, the Piranha) of twisting the rope. This can be annoying when flaking the rope for storage and when re-deploying the rope later.