rangerdanger
TreeHouser
I went looking for the Unicender thread Burnham started about the loaner uni that he's been floating around. I've had it for a few weeks now and haven't used it a ton. I think I'm just too set on hitch's to gain the full benefits of the Uni. I mean, it's great for SRT, being able to ascend and descend with ease, making it a great middle or upper ascender, so in the event of an emergency, you can bail quick.
But for regular climbing, SRT and DdRT, where a lot of up and down is required, I still prefer a hitch for various reasons:
1. The fairlead on the Uni needs to be reworked in a such a way that the rope has a tough time escaping it. The way it is now, it's tough to tend slack when returning from a limb walk or other things.
2. On DdRT more than SRT, the Uni is VERY VERY touchy. It would take a lot of getting used to to descend on this with one hand operation, like a hitch. Especially on a swing, where I would have to descend during a swing, I feel like I have no control over how fast it slides through.
3. The price. I know I'm not often one to care about the price of a piece of gear, but for what this device does, I could buy a ton of prussic cord for the same effect. And that roll of prussic cord would last a heck of a lot longer than the Uni I think(by that I mean the time till it needs to be rebuilt)
Overall, the Uni is a great device to play around with and for those that can get used to it, I'm sure it fits their purpose like a glove. But for others like myself, the Uni just has too many draw backs right now to get me enthused about it.
But for regular climbing, SRT and DdRT, where a lot of up and down is required, I still prefer a hitch for various reasons:
1. The fairlead on the Uni needs to be reworked in a such a way that the rope has a tough time escaping it. The way it is now, it's tough to tend slack when returning from a limb walk or other things.
2. On DdRT more than SRT, the Uni is VERY VERY touchy. It would take a lot of getting used to to descend on this with one hand operation, like a hitch. Especially on a swing, where I would have to descend during a swing, I feel like I have no control over how fast it slides through.
3. The price. I know I'm not often one to care about the price of a piece of gear, but for what this device does, I could buy a ton of prussic cord for the same effect. And that roll of prussic cord would last a heck of a lot longer than the Uni I think(by that I mean the time till it needs to be rebuilt)
Overall, the Uni is a great device to play around with and for those that can get used to it, I'm sure it fits their purpose like a glove. But for others like myself, the Uni just has too many draw backs right now to get me enthused about it.