Trango Cinch Belay Device

I started using my buddy's Cinch a few months ago and am completely sold on it. I can literally throw rope out of the device while lead belaying a partner. You can also belay off the anchor with it. I've used the ATC Guide for years now and it takes too much effort when belaying off the anchor in guide mode or when lead belaying, especially with fat ropes. I also own a GriGri2 and it pales in comparison to the Cinch. I was taught how to properly operate it and have had no problems.

Watch this video from the Trango website to operate it properly. http://youtu.be/lkOVssfihn0

I used the Petzl grigri before, lost it, and bought the Cinch, because it is cheaper. I got used to it after some minutes of playing, and now, after two years of use, i won't touch a grigri again! It simply feeds so easy, is light and small, and feels very good in the hand. This is the climbing gear i am most satisfied with!

I haven't tried the new grigri 2, but it's basically just smaller and works with thinner rope than its former model.

Watch the technique video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9TO5ikqXwo

I weight 175 lbs and if I have a 110 lbs girl belaying me this thing locks up like hell. then she pries open that lever and the rope comes shooting out - it is dangerous and for my poor belayer hard on her hands.

This is a lighter weight and far less functional gri-gri 2. Just buy the new grigri!

I really like this little device. It's smaller and lighter than both versions of grigris, and feeds out rope easier and faster in my opinion. Feeding out rope also feels safer on the cinch than feeding on a grigri as you aren't pinching the cam down in order to feed rope fast.
While lead belaying with the cinch isn't intuitive at first, after a couple uses you'll get the hang of it and belaying with it will be second nature. Top roping or belaying a second is the same action as an ATC, so no learning curve. Watch Trango's video on how to use this and you'll be comfortable with it in no time.
The lowering seems touchy but again, it just takes a few uses to get used to it. You can also redirect the rope through a biner clipped to a leg loop to give even more control in the lower.
The device catches falls quickly but provides a measure of dynamic belay as well, which is always nice on a lead fall.
In all this is the best brake-assisting belay device on the market in my opinion. Take a little extra time to learn it and break the habit of a grigri and you won't want to pick up that grigri again!

by far better than grigri and atc. feeds super easy and w/o any effort at all. super light and small form factor. once used to it, it's easy to unlock as well, but yeah it does take a bit of time to get familiar with the device. same goes for lowering. keep your break hand on though, just like the grigri, the rope can go through it in some very rare cases.

...or this much fun. Belaying with the Cinch is easy, and feeding the rope, as some reviews have it on the nose, is "as smooth as butter".. really! It's almost effortless with absolutely no resistance whatsoever (assuming you have the Cinch angled the correct way). In fact, it has so little resistance that if I wanted to, I can literally "throw" rope out of the Cinch to feed to the climber if I needed to.

When the Cinch is locked off, it stays locked. So much so in fact sometimes it's a bit hard to get it to release the rope (you have to rotate the Cinch back into its belay position, with your thumb and index finger grasping the pivot hole), but that could be a nice back-up on its own - to not release the rope until the climber is climbing and the rope becomes slack enough again for you to resume belaying.

Releasing the rope IS a bit counter-intuitive, but it's very easy to get used to. The only flaw to the Cinch that I can think of is pulling on the release lever to lower the climber takes a bit of effort, and yet, it's pretty sensitive once it gets going, especially if you're belaying a heavy climber. A solution to this is to use a redirect to give your brake hand a bit of extra leverage in feeding the rope through.

The Cinch overall is a great belay device. Very light, small size, and cost less than a GriGri. However, the Cinch is one of those devices where you really need to read the instructions to use it properly, so make sure you don't just toss the box away when you open the package (instructional video can be found here: http://youtu.be/R9TO5ikqXwo).

Was I sceptical? YES! Am I happy with my decision? YES! My climbing partner and I have been using the Grigri and were pretty happy with that until now. This has a simple design that just works. I do suggest you watch the video of how to use it and practice, but after you've done that you'll never go back to the Grigri. When a climber is leading you just hold it in your hand at the right angle and watch it feed super smooth. If a fall takes place it will lock up quick and perfect and your hand naturally grabs hold of the brake end of the rope. I don't recomend using it as a ascender, but I had to at one point first trying the grigri only to find it impossible for how I needed it to work. The cinch did it like it was designed exactly for that! I'm telling you it's like magic. Small, light, WORKS!

The Cinch is great for everything--belaying leader, lowering, rappelling, and especially bringing up the second. I find the operation very smooth, much smoother lowering than the grigri's I've used in the gym. I'm so glad I finally got one of these!

Wow. Just a few days after the gri gri 2 was recalled, we went 2 the crag, and some chick had this. My friend and I asked her what it was, and she showed us the cinch, and let us mess around with it on the ground. Picked 1 up.
Pros: Lighter and smoother than the gri gri or gri gri 2, been out for a while, and it hasn't been recalled yet!

I love my cinch. Simple and easy to use. A little harder to use with fatter ropes (10.5mm).

Now that I've had this thing for a few months, it's my favorite belay device for toproping, lead, and multipitch (when I'm not worried about weight.) Belaying from the anchor and toproping are ridiculously easy. Feeding out slack is smoother than on any other device I've tried.

It does take some practice to get used to the Cinch, and it's awkward if you don't use it the right way. I'd recommend watching Trango's demo video before trying to belay anybody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9TO5ikqXwo

I ran into two problems when I first got this thing:

1) Locking the device while feeding rope for a lead climber. Avoiding this is mostly a matter of holding the Cinch by the pivot hole and not short-roping the leader in the first place. If you do accidentally lock the rope, you can reach up and pinch the device with your brake hand to unlock it. (Don't do this if it requires you to take your brake hand off the rope. Use your free hand instead.)

2) Jerky lowering. Redirecting the rope through a biner clipped to a harness leg loop helps smooth things out.

By now I've gotten to the point where these aren't really an issue anymore.

After reading a copy of "Accidents in North American Mountaineering," I was sold on the idea of an auto-locking belay device: it seemed that a huge fraction of disasters could have been averted if an auto-locker was used. (Note that Trango, for legal reasons, refuse to call the Cinch an 'auto-locker'.)

I've had my Cinch for about a year, and I love it. It is just like a Grigri, but lighter. It works with skinny ropes too!

The upsides are the same: improved safety (if a rock fall hits your belayer, you're still safe); improved convenience (grab that sandwich while your leader dogs the route). The downsides are similar: no double rope belay; jerky lowering (particularly with a slick new rope).

Like the Grigri, it takes a little getting used to. I highly recommend carefully reading the docs on the Trango website.

If you spend time belaying people that hang and hang, bolt after bolt, this might be the device for you. Compact, user friendly, and it works fairly well for solo missions. The handle is a bit small/hard to use with pumped hands, but it works well. A *5* as a lap-running/fixed rope-projecting device.

Light, small, and easy to use. It feeds out rope on lead extremely well and catches people just as well. A bit sensitive when it comes to lowering, small sweet spot. But still would take this over the large clunky models elsewhere.

Awesome belay device for anything! I've used it belaying arm burning sport climbs, and have also used it as a backup for jugging fixed lines. The Cinch glides up the rope as a superb big wall backup, and also locks up mighty quick if your buddy doesn't let you know he's going to whip. Great piece of gear.

I get the same impression from this device that I get from most Trango climbing equipment - a really good idea that almost worked. The Cinch has some big advantages over the Grigri, namely its weight, size, and increased rope diameter range. But the rope handling just doesn't hold a candle to the Grigri. It's easy to bind the thing up when feeding out rope, and once it's locked, it's pretty tough to get it feeding again. Especially when your partner is frantically tugging for slack. The shorter lever arm gives less mechanical advantage, which makes rapping with it jerky. But if you're a skinny rope user, this thing is approved down to 9mm, so that's a big advantage over the Grigri.