Edelrid Giga Jul belay device one year review and can you abseil on it without a Prusik?

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[@arnoldkotlyarevsky383]

I finally have a neat trick I can share with you! For the MegaJul and GigaJul, when rappelling in assisted braking mode, you can make your life a lot easier by sneaking a narrow nosed carabiner into the eyelet on the side opposite the thumb loop to make a release lever. This DRAMATICALLY improves the control and ease when lowering yourself on rappel. Genuinely, give it a try and see how you like it. I promise you will never go back to using the thumb loop on long rappels.

[@JBMountainSkills]

I'll give it a go!

[@thecma3]

Just spent an hour trying to find this comment so I could come back and say it's brilliant! I'm blown away. My gigajul lives on my harness with a round stock belay carabiner and a petal spirit locker for guide mode. When I rappel, I put the device in assisted mode and throw the spirit into the nose as a handle like you suggested. It might as well be a grigri that works on two strands. My other tip is, if you're trying to get it to lock, you can twist the whole device a bit in the opposite direction as you'd twist to release it.

[@EmersonK-kj5kg]

@@JBMountainSkills Would love a video on this as I don't quite understand just from reading the above comment on how it works.

[@Littletass]

is there a picture to illustrate this set-up? sounds like a great idea but cant visualise it from just reading your comment :)

[@bazcardinal1176]

I find the Giga Jul to be an extremely versatile device, kinda like a Swiss army knife. It slices and dices for the right situation. I also believe that every climber should still know some old school rope techniques. Drop your belay device, then make the transition to the munter hitch for belaying or rappelling.

[@JBMountainSkills]

I like the Swiss Army knife analogy 👊

[@dkx927]

As an ex-arborist (tree surgeon), I think climbers should know at least ONE good friction knot (intrinsic to the rope being used, not with a separate loop) for use with dynamic ropes! The good old fall back is a Blake's hitch or a taughtline hitch, which are sliding friction variations of the clove hitch. It takes some practice to get it right every time, but it's well worth it to learn for those times when the nightmare of clanking metal components at the bottom of your favourite trad crag becomes a reality.

[@edelrid]

@@JBMountainSkills We do, too. 💚

[@dkx927]

Man, I just got one of these chunky beasts for my birthday and am totally looking forward to giving it a go! Thanks for a non-biased, real world review! Hope to catch you in North Wales at some point!

[@OutsideHathersage]

Glad it became your go to bit of kit! Thanks Jez

[@JBMountainSkills]

Cheers!

[@winston1daniel]

I am in love with the Kong gigi! I use it for top belay nearly every time. It's super cheap, super light, super simple. I also keep it on on my harness at all times so I can use it for rescues in case my other belay device is tied up.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Looking forward to using mine!

[@motatapu1]

Thanks as always for more great content. Jez your videos convinced me around 1 year ago to move to an assisted belay device having previously used an ATC. I started with the Giga Jul and used it for a few months. It definitely took a while to learn and while I agree it's incredibly versatile and is the best single all round device, to me it seems to cause faster rope wear and also causes a lot of rope twists! I seem to spend a lot more time untangling ropes than I used to. Whether or not this is just a personal thing I'm not sure. So as I mostly do single pitch sport climbing on a single rope I've since moved mostly to a Grigri for belaying but carry my ATC for abseiling off the route when stripping it. I do keep the GigaJul for occasional twin rope trad climbing though.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Thanks for sharing! Haven't noticed any rope twist issue myself. I'm definitely a GriGri fan for single rope stuff!

[@keiranw1101]

Hey mate, I have also noticed a lot of twisting in my 9.5mm Edelrid Eagle Light Rope whilst using the Giga Jul. I'm curious if the diameter of he ropes has an effect on the twisting. Any thoughts? Cheers

[@lewy5378]

Pretty sure Eldelrid recommend their own specific screw gate to use with the device. I have used mine for pretty much everything: trad, sport, abseiling and works great.

[@308tony]

It requires a lot of effort to abseil with Prussik and assisted mode however, I’ve messed up before with the modes and orientation. Set on assisted but got in the manual orientation. Luckily it still offered some breaking and the Prussik would’ve saved my life in any case.

[@jh1019]

Love the videos, love the new jacket as well! ;) Keep it up the great content

[@JBMountainSkills]

Thanks! Will do!

[@SethSchneiderw]

I abseil with the giga jul all the time. I put a carabiner in the "nose" hole to work as a lever for smoother descents. You got to find the right carabiner to lever right, but my Petzl AM'Ds work great. After I test my system, I take my lanyard off and clip the carabiner right into the nose and ride down. Best purchase of my life.

[@raphaelbeinhauer9242]

The Edelrid Mission carabiners even fit in all the way to the spine, they sit very nicely that way. I keep those on my cams, but when sport climing any other carabiner does the trick well.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Thanks for sharing!

[@pavlodeshko]

The thing I like about abseiling in assisted mode wih one of these is there's no point of "no resistance, rope going through" if I unlock it too much. The more you push it open (or go faster), the more resistance it needs to be kept open. Unlike with grigri, where you can push the lever all the way and wiz down the rope..

[@marinakyriacou6525]

I love my Giga jul, my go to device as well. I find my grigri plus slips a bit with my 9.1mm rope when I abseil on it but I think a thicker rope would lock up a little more.

[@edelrid]

thanks for your feedback! 😊

[@DougW.]

I've had mine for about two years. I use it for climbing and rappelling in dry canyons. I rap with it in assisted braking all the time with no back up prusik. I also clip a thin nosed carabiner to the lowering eyelet, which works as a fulcrum, so I don't have to use the thumb catch for lowering while rappelling. Lastly, I too think that the device is cumbersome to use in guide mode with ropes bigger than 9.5 mm. I wish there was a version built for 8.8-10.2 mm ropes specifically.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Thanks for sharing

[@TerryWintJr]

Hi, which thin nosed carabiner do you use? I'd like to pick one up to keep with me. Thanks

[@DougW.]

@@TerryWintJr I use a wire gate BD biner, it's one of their smaller ones that is climbing rated. I don't recall the model, but I like to keep 1 or 2 on my harness all the time for use with the Jul devices and for tight fitting bolt hangers/miscellaneous use.

[@dougschwarz9510]

Currently use ATC Guide, planning to move to GigaJul based on positive reviews. Was planning to use Edelrid hms bulletproof but read about compatibility ie excessive slippage with certain rope gauges. Thoughts on that and/or on other carabiners that might be better suited? I just ordered a DMM Ceros for my grigri. Thanks!

[@fellrunningjen2420]

Got a giga Jul after watching your first review. Found it too grippy so went back to my old pivot. You posted this just as I was heading to the Alps so took it along as mainly using thinner half ropes. Still finding it too grippy and too much of a faf. You all seem to think it's great - any advice - feel like I'm missing out on a good thing but just can't get it to work for me.

[@jameslincoln1]

I think more emphasis needs to be put on the carabiner you use. Elderid only recccomend the strike (which is only stocked in very few shops) the device is potentially dangerous with the wrong carabiner. I also feel that shops that stock thd giga jul should stock the recommended carabiner too. Someone won't test at home and will find out live that it slips like crazy with thd wrong one

[@logiconabstractions6596]

I've been using the Giga for ~2 years, and that pretty much mirrors my experience. Still use a grigri for cragging/single pitch stuff as well. But other than, other belay devices have been pretty much ditched for me. I pretty much concur about the prussik-free abseil as well, though by the looks of it I'm a bit keener on doing it than you seem to be. Cases where I wouldn't do that are: 1 - I expect lots of shenanigans for whatever reason (retrieving gear on the way with lots of superman positions for instance) 2 - if they're not my ropes and/or I haven't been been able to test the abseil on similar stuff. Like my mate's got say super thin 8.1mm, dry-treated twins for instance. 3- generally weird conditions, like wet ropes. That being said, I absolutely love the autoblock abseil. Especially if you need to get back up on slabby terrain - much, much easier to do than with other setup.

[@Govanification]

Agreed on all counts. Primarily use the autoblock rappel for single pitch after cleaning the anchor and just sending it down to the ground, not faffeing with gear on the way down since it can slip while you're hanging there using 2 hands to free a stuck nut or other gear. Also for multipitch rappels I tend to do standard extended setup with a 3rd hand backup and the gigajul in manual mode as it feels more secure for swinging around looking for the next rappel station.

[@iacamigevaerd376]

I'd never give up on a regular prussik because it is a backup from myself, making sure I have a second chance if I failed to feed the rappel device correctly.

[@jenyates3033]

I have that Kong plate. I tested it against a pivot in guide mode and it was not as easy to lower under load, not by a long margin! Be good to see how you find it.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Looking forward to playing with it :)

[@mattbaker1683]

I have one and they are very good, but a bit pricey. Mine came with a screwgate 'strike' carabiner, then I got a wierd self locking strike from rock and run, currently only £7.50! The wierd carabiner doesn't have a gate spring, but has an anti crossloading wire gate which has to be pushed up while pulling down the slide lock to open it, all clever stuff but a faff getting it off your harness gear loops especially when you put it right at the back. As a setup I rate the highly, but it does take some getting used to, feeding out rope when belaying on lead is strange keeping the right hand in the same spot. It felt wrong to have the brake hand touching the device, as usually you'd keep a good distance to prevent the device pinching your hand, definitely needs some practice. I tend to use the self locking one in the gym, but rack it for outdoor stuff with the screwgate.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Thanks for sharing! I tend not to have much patience for those crabs with anti crossloading features!

[@meehai_]

have you ever used it in mulitpitch setup on assisted braking mode ?

[@raphaelbeinhauer9242]

I love my Gigajul as well. I use it for all my recreational climbing ( at least for rappeling, I do love my Grigri for belaying single rope), my ATC Guide is only for mountain rescue now, because it is certified for that. I rappel single pitch in assisted mode without a prusik, using a carabiner in the small hole as a lever, much smoother than using the thumb loop, and you don't have the rope running over your hand in a weird way. The Edelrid Mission carabiner sits best in that hole, but you can fit at least the nose of most biners in there. Another advantage over the ATC is that it works well with 8.9mm ropes. I use 8.9 a lot, both half and single, and it can flip over itself in guide mode with the ATC (although it's unlikely). No Chance with the Gigajul of that happening. Have you used the assisted mode with half ropes? Haven't tried it myself, wondering if it's a good idea.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Thanks for sharing! Yeah most of the time that I use it in assisted mode, it's with half ropes, I really like it with halves :)

[@trillbrown3686]

I bought a giga Jul off the back of good reviews. I've used it single pitch sport climbing with a 8.5mm beal opera and it works great. With my thicker wall rope it feels sticky and can take some effort to get rope through when belaying a leader. I have tried using it multi pitch trad climbing with 2 beal operas and found it a compete faff, especially if you are on a small stance and can't have the rope exactly where you'd like them (I found the device easier to use when the ropes are coiled exactly in line with the device) I really wanted to like it due to the assisted braking but the faff made me go back to my Reverso. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with it. Perhaps a video on using it for multi pitch trad with double ropes??

[@MattyDredge]

I find my gigajul almost dangerously difficult to use on thick gym ropes (>10mm and fluffy) so I use an alternative

[@danc8791]

It takes you 5 seconds to screw a carabiner ? Well for most it takes 10 seconds to unscrew those autolock carabiners. Love the vids

[@JBMountainSkills]

😂 maybe 2 seconds

[@robfodder5575]

They look like a great device but I wasn't convinced the cut (steel) plates won't cause additional rope wear over say a machined aluminium block. And there is an additional point of failure long term. Would be good to hear your opinion of the Alpine up as that's a similar device.

[@hahne9]

Why would you think so, especially why should they be another point of failure? Shouldn't it be the other way round, as it is steel, it should be longer lasting?

[@robfodder5575]

@@hahne9 No because of the manufacture (otherwise you would likely be correct but not always depending on the specific alloy). Firstly and importantly, I haven't tested the device long term so this is just an opinion, others are available. Ultimately I'm just thinking about long term use. Anyway, the plates do not have a gradual transition in the same way as a machined ali device does. Even other devices that use steel fold the plate near the rope. That said the rope shouldn't spend much time orientated in a way that would cause a problem. On the second point, I wasn't clear but because you are introducing a point of failure other than that of the material its made from when you manufacture the device in that way i.e. two/three plates with pressed rods and a separate body in the middle (unless I'm missing something; feel free to correct me). Now the construction and testing may prove that this is not a failure mode worth worrying about but as an Engineer its the kind of boring crud my mind ponders when comparing devices 😉

[@drstrangelove85]

Edelrid's manual answers the question with the prusik: They claim that you do need one.

[@testboga5991]

What would they get out of not requiring one?

[@nickedwards6422]

Sound effects courtesy of the boy from 10:40, love it 😂

[@JBMountainSkills]

Haha!

[@climbing200]

My recommendation for repelling: take it off the break mode by sliding the blocker thingy, and just use a prissik

[@robertooo3]

Do you have any experience with this vs the Clickup/Alpine Up? Trying to decide between the two

[@JBMountainSkills]

I've used the Click Up a bit but only a quick play with the Alpine, the size puts me off to be honest.

[@meehai_]

have you ever used it in mulitpitch setup on assisted braking mode ?

[@JBMountainSkills]

Yes, quite a lot, I like it.

[@iancantrill5961]

Have you found you are able to abseil smoothly in assisted braking mode on a free abseil? This seems more difficult.

[@JBMountainSkills]

Yeah, not found it an issue.

[@marcushausch]

I tested the Gigajul once with a well used 10.0 mm rope... just a pain. I do not like to be forced to by skinny ropes, to proper use a belay device. I use ropes 8.3 to 10.3 half, and single ones of course, i use no single rope under 9.7, and i use them over years, so no fun with the gigajul at all. So, for me, it´s just a double rope usable device with skinny ropes, like the megajul already was. And still way to expensive.

[@MattyDredge]

Two points for you. First point: I used to use a Tri-ac with my device but whilst abseiling through the blowhole into Avernus at Swanage it caught on the rock and opened as I went over the edge. That was the last time I ever used anything other than a Screwgate for that purpose! If I was only using an assisted device with no prusic that would have been my single point failure compromised. Second is a question: I caught a lead fall on double ropes using my gigajul and whilst the climber was hanging off of one rope they asked for slack on the other and I found it almost impossible to do without lowering them due to the device locking. Any advice?

[@JBMountainSkills]

P1. I'd be wary of any crab dragged around on an edge. (Wait for a lower tide next time and scramble around from the main part of the crag. Actually, never do it again, climbing that slimy bird poop covered route once is enough!) If you've not done Astrid around the corner that's a good meaty test and Mellow Yellow is a little Gem too. P2. I'm afraid not, haven't needed to do that yet. Due to it being a geometry assisted device, I cant see a super simple quick way.

[@MattyDredge]

@@JBMountainSkills P1: I think it was my 4th ever trip outside so a large dose of inexperience was likely the biggest factor but it gave me food for thought - I like your ethos of it not being about the right way but being about sound decision making and that experience forms parts of my on going decision making. P2. No worries, it's probably a fairly rare occurrence. The only option I thought of in retrospect was to tie off one strand so I could release the other and then untie once I was done but it seems a bit faffy.

[@JBMountainSkills]

@@MattyDredge yeah tying off was my first thought as a solution at the belayers end.

[@iacamigevaerd376]

I started using a Gigi a thousand meters ago and am curious if any other belay/rappel device on the market also has a guide mode belay without adding extra friction. My elbows love the Gigi, I cannot go back to anything less than that

[@JBMountainSkills]

I'm going to do a video on the Gigi soon. I do like it, but with relatively skinny routes, I don't find the Giga Jul problematic.

[@iacamigevaerd376]

@@JBMountainSkills My experience was with double 8.7mm ropes, I noticed significant difference between the Gigi and the Reverso 5 when belaying from above. I'm looking forward to your gigi video!

[@RandoBox]

This video was suggested to me at random, and I understood a few of the words in the title.

[@3CH1DNA]

I find the Mega Jul twists the rope and it can get a bit annoying. Do you find this with the Giga also?

[@JBMountainSkills]

I've not found it twisty, no.

[@nirmalasokan1687]

The real test I want to see, is if you are rappelling with some momentum and speed and suddenly release the thumb, is the device going to stop you? That is the most realistic accident scenario

[@JBMountainSkills]

It does, as long as there is enough rope beneath you to add some weight.

[@ryanmoody8125]

I have that device and mine is different colour on the big loop

[@JBMountainSkills]

Good to know!

[@daniellambden1842]

Do you use the assisted breaking mode for trad route?

[@JBMountainSkills]

Often yes.

[@daniellambden1842]

​@@JBMountainSkills just for belaying seconds or for also belaying a leader? In my mind you'd want to use a more dynamic device (atc guide) for arresting a lead fall?

[@JBMountainSkills]

@@daniellambden1842 there are some impact force considerations in some circumstances. Petzl have some good figures on their website. If the gear is marginal maybe assisted braking devices aren't the best choice, if the gear is solid it won't really matter. That said the GigaJul is not so on / off as a GriGri and you can and should give a dynamic belay anyway, where possible.

[@ZacharyHuber]

Thanks!

[@JBMountainSkills]

My pleasure!

[@coreyhutchonson1368]

LMAO the thomas the tank engine at 5:24

[@federicoezequielmackin]

10:30 is the boy angry or is it just a dirt bike of some sort?

[@JBMountainSkills]

He was excited to see some people coming!

[@noelcarter7824]

Thanks

[@JBMountainSkills]

My pleasure 👊

[@cmrosell]

Today @HardIsEasy came out with a video on belay devices - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGnTdphrjZZggsU Like you, I often go for the GigJul. However, in his testing, the device received the lowest scores overall. He does say that his testing excluding many variables, like comfort of belay and giving out slack, the additional features, and that he hopes to tackle that in a future video. I am curious if your thoughts on the Gigi Jul have changed at all since this video, and after watching the @HardIsEasy video.

[@JBMountainSkills]

I skimmed through it. Nothing there to change my opinion to be honest. Used incorrectly any device can fail. If I’m using single ropes I’ll almost certainly be on a GriGri, if I’m using half’s or any other two rope set up it’ll probably be the GigaJul.