Wow. very thorough review ! I have the mega and microjul.I must say that my purpose use for the microjul is something i am truly loving with it.i use it for navigating down very steep terrain with a heavy pack. i can carry a much lighter 7.5mm rope and make full use of its brake assist where overbalance is a problem. i also haven't had the grabbyness that the megajul tends to give you.
I use this purely for lead belaying , with my double ropes I use in multipitch. (Beal Opera 8.5 mm) With new belayers, it gives me more confidence - especially with thin ropes. Works with normal biner, but best to use : HMS Bulletproof Screw FG carabiner.
I found that if you clip a small carabiner to the hole in the "nose" of the mega Jul, it can work like grigri lever, allowing for a nice smooth lowering action. I don't use the green lever at all for lowering, because the lever gives very rapid falls
Thanks for the review. I find that, if you just push the thumb up and not away from you, the lowering works just fine. Even with heavier climbers. However, the rope does burn the holding hand at times.
Great video. I also use this to provide to inexperienced belayers so I have confidence that it will lock in the case of a fall. Very easy for them to use and cannot be overridden as per the Gri Gri
Great review keep them coming. I used the Maga Jul of a couple months while on a climbing trip but eventually gave up on it as my main device. What made me give up on it was having to lower a climber when belaying from above. When you have it set up the correct way to prevent the ropes from flipping you cant ratchet the biner to slowly lower a weighted rope. This is an issue when escaping the belay. You have to use the nose of a biner to get leverage (less controlled) or redirect a sling(more time). I think your right that is a good secondary device for multi-pitch lead belay if your good with carrying two belay devices. I would love to see you do a video on the Mammut Smart Alpine if you have any experience with it. It may be the better device.
Thanks for the comment, I am planning on doing a video on the Mammut smart, I just need to get my hands on it. I played around with it before but I need a little more experience before I can make a full on review. Also thanks for adding that bit about rock rescue that fact would defiantly make things more complicated!
Thanks, good review! If abseiling in the self-locking mode, is it also necessary to have a prusik autoblock or can the self-locking be relied on for safety to go hands free?
Edit: I was too fast. You explained it as well after :-). 10:00: that's no longer what edelrid recommends. There is a chance of the ropes flipping which is super dangerous. So therefore you are supposed to clip the biner from the 'inside' of the mega jul instead of just through the rope. There are a couple of videos on youtube showing the the revised version.
What are the problems you've come accross with the edelrid sliders? I have about 8x pure sliders and use them all the time. I'm kinda worried now. To me it seems that it's really hard to open by mistake, maybe more then a screw or twist.
I've had them open by mistake before, but only like once or twice, and I used to use them a lot so you're probably ok with that. My main thing was after about a year of using them as my main carabiner I had the locking mechanism pop out of the gate of the carabiner and it would auto- lock anymore. The lock was completely loose and once time I lost it after it popped out when I was on a long climb. The carabiner itself didn't break it was just the locking mechanism. Its happened to me a couple of times with the pear shaped ones, but never the blue D shaped ones, so those ones seem to hold together a little better.
Awesome review! Do you think it would bite less with a rounder/fatter carabiner? I’m really interested in the Giga Jul as a replacement for everything. Thoughts?
What carabiner are you thinking about specifically? I would assume that as long as it fits in the notch that gives you the breaking power it should be fine, I also think that Edelrid would try to make it comparable with as many carabiners as possible. Maybe look on their website about it, they may have some suggestions, and experiment at the gym to see how the bitting power is. I know with my 9mm sterling photon the rope will slip through a little bit while I'm holding someone after a fall regardless of the carabiner. I used that carabiner in the video because It's the only one I own with that wire to keep from cross loading. I really want to try out the Giga Jul, It's on my to buy list, I hope that it will correct some of the issues of the Mega Jul, especially dealing with the belay from above aspect. You can look up another video on that, but I'm defiantly going to get one as soon as I can, I'll have more to say on it after messing around with it for a while.
I dont get how/why the ATC guide has less friction than the mega jul when belaying from above. The mega jul doesn't have ang teeth and seems to have less friction overall. Maybe your ATC is older or has some wear making it smoother?
look at it from the pulley perspective. It's not about the friction nor the teeths, but the angles inside the device. In ATC guide the "tube" is simply much higher/bigger and therefore rope runs more smoothly- simply because its a bigger pulley. Same story with Petzl Reverso, which is much smaller than the ATC guide and works terribly in this mode with thicker ropes. Yeah, ATC guide is chunky and quite heavy, but that's exactly why it works so well in guide mode.
I think a lot of people out here actually appreciate having a more detailed review, especially when it's coming from a guide using the device in a variety of scenarios.
Wow. very thorough review ! I have the mega and microjul.I must say that my purpose use for the microjul is something i am truly loving with it.i use it for navigating down very steep terrain with a heavy pack. i can carry a much lighter 7.5mm rope and make full use of its brake assist where overbalance is a problem. i also haven't had the grabbyness that the megajul tends to give you.
I use this purely for lead belaying , with my double ropes I use in multipitch. (Beal Opera 8.5 mm) With new belayers, it gives me more confidence - especially with thin ropes. Works with normal biner, but best to use : HMS Bulletproof Screw FG carabiner.
I found that if you clip a small carabiner to the hole in the "nose" of the mega Jul, it can work like grigri lever, allowing for a nice smooth lowering action. I don't use the green lever at all for lowering, because the lever gives very rapid falls
Thanks for the review. I find that, if you just push the thumb up and not away from you, the lowering works just fine. Even with heavier climbers. However, the rope does burn the holding hand at times.
Great video. I also use this to provide to inexperienced belayers so I have confidence that it will lock in the case of a fall. Very easy for them to use and cannot be overridden as per the Gri Gri
Great review keep them coming. I used the Maga Jul of a couple months while on a climbing trip but eventually gave up on it as my main device. What made me give up on it was having to lower a climber when belaying from above. When you have it set up the correct way to prevent the ropes from flipping you cant ratchet the biner to slowly lower a weighted rope. This is an issue when escaping the belay. You have to use the nose of a biner to get leverage (less controlled) or redirect a sling(more time). I think your right that is a good secondary device for multi-pitch lead belay if your good with carrying two belay devices. I would love to see you do a video on the Mammut Smart Alpine if you have any experience with it. It may be the better device.
Thanks for the comment, I am planning on doing a video on the Mammut smart, I just need to get my hands on it. I played around with it before but I need a little more experience before I can make a full on review. Also thanks for adding that bit about rock rescue that fact would defiantly make things more complicated!
Thanks, good review! If abseiling in the self-locking mode, is it also necessary to have a prusik autoblock or can the self-locking be relied on for safety to go hands free?
I just got one, but for half ropes use in multipitch.
Edit: I was too fast. You explained it as well after :-).
10:00: that's no longer what edelrid recommends. There is a chance of the ropes flipping which is super dangerous. So therefore you are supposed to clip the biner from the 'inside' of the mega jul instead of just through the rope. There are a couple of videos on youtube showing the the revised version.
He is talking about that 30s later
What are the problems you've come accross with the edelrid sliders? I have about 8x pure sliders and use them all the time. I'm kinda worried now. To me it seems that it's really hard to open by mistake, maybe more then a screw or twist.
I've had them open by mistake before, but only like once or twice, and I used to use them a lot so you're probably ok with that. My main thing was after about a year of using them as my main carabiner I had the locking mechanism pop out of the gate of the carabiner and it would auto- lock anymore. The lock was completely loose and once time I lost it after it popped out when I was on a long climb. The carabiner itself didn't break it was just the locking mechanism. Its happened to me a couple of times with the pear shaped ones, but never the blue D shaped ones, so those ones seem to hold together a little better.
@@ryantilley9063 thx for the reply. Been eating up all your videos. Great stuff! keep them coming
Awesome review! Do you think it would bite less with a rounder/fatter carabiner? I’m really interested in the Giga Jul as a replacement for everything. Thoughts?
What carabiner are you thinking about specifically? I would assume that as long as it fits in the notch that gives you the breaking power it should be fine, I also think that Edelrid would try to make it comparable with as many carabiners as possible. Maybe look on their website about it, they may have some suggestions, and experiment at the gym to see how the bitting power is. I know with my 9mm sterling photon the rope will slip through a little bit while I'm holding someone after a fall regardless of the carabiner. I used that carabiner in the video because It's the only one I own with that wire to keep from cross loading.
I really want to try out the Giga Jul, It's on my to buy list, I hope that it will correct some of the issues of the Mega Jul, especially dealing with the belay from above aspect. You can look up another video on that, but I'm defiantly going to get one as soon as I can, I'll have more to say on it after messing around with it for a while.
I dont get how/why the ATC guide has less friction than the mega jul when belaying from above. The mega jul doesn't have ang teeth and seems to have less friction overall. Maybe your ATC is older or has some wear making it smoother?
look at it from the pulley perspective. It's not about the friction nor the teeths, but the angles inside the device. In ATC guide the "tube" is simply much higher/bigger and therefore rope runs more smoothly- simply because its a bigger pulley.
Same story with Petzl Reverso, which is much smaller than the ATC guide and works terribly in this mode with thicker ropes.
Yeah, ATC guide is chunky and quite heavy, but that's exactly why it works so well in guide mode.
Most materials are alloys. Fun fact.
Great, THX!! especially from 9:27 to 12:31
Americans really like to talk a lot and over-explain things... :D
MANS4ON I have noticed that I have trouble understanding nine Americans because they don’t over explain. I’m used to having my hand held.
I think a lot of people out here actually appreciate having a more detailed review, especially when it's coming from a guide using the device in a variety of scenarios.