ATC

Most of the comments thus far aren’t aware of the differences between a standard ATC, and an ATC Pilot. You can’t go wrong with a grigri or Pilot but the Pilot is the better option for most first devices IMO. Unless you’re gifting it to someone. My recommendation is not as a former Black Diamond rep

Oh my God, I had this bullshit happen in real life. I was ice climbing (well, top-roping in the Ouray Ice Park) with my wife belaying me. Long story short, some dude walks by and accuses her of having an unsafe belay. In reality, she was properly using a BD ATC, but he insisted BD stopped selling th

or Black Diamond ATC Pilot. (the edelrid one is called the "Jul") Any of the mentioned devices will be a great upgrade from a basic ATC style, both in usability as well as safety.

If you weren’t having issues with an ATC, then I’d recommend switching to a different belay device. I use the Black Diamond Pilot, and I personally think it’s much better than a grigri! It’s much more intuitive, easier to feed rope, and in my (controversial) option is safer.

I still feel like I can’t give enough slack out quickly enough with a gri gri and I’ve been climbing for 10 years. I’m not tall and my arms aren’t long so when my climber clips high I struggle to get the rope out quick. I use the black diamond pilot or the mammut smart. They act a lot more like a st