Jul 2

Steel vs aluminum, so this is quite normal. I use a steel carabineer with the jul2, my partner uses one of those edelrid carabineer with a insert. That seems to work too, no wear at all. If the carabiners geometry doesn't fit the Jul, it can easily dent it like in you picture, steel is way harder th

Edelrid Bruce for the mega jul 2, any small offset D for the Grigri. You do not want to use an HMS. Petzl suggests the sm'd

If you only ever plan to do single pitch climbing with anchor hardware, it's fine. Very similar to the Ederlid Jul2, Ocun Bow, and Mammut Smart. However Petzl Grigri or Edelrid Pinch are better at locking off the rope if your partner is projecting and hanging lots, or if you have a weight difference

It’s not the tools fault. You switched to a new device that you’re not used to and now you’re having problems because you’re either not trained or not practiced enough with it. Don’t blame the tool, especially when you’re a new user of it. FYI, I proficiently use a Mammut SMART, Edelrid Jul2 and Gig

I think a lot of dislike for the grigri from people who originally learned to lead belay on an ATC comes from just not having enough practice with it to belay smoothly. I was a grigri hater for years (used an edelrid jul 2 as my ABD for a long time) and have switched to the grigri as of a couple yea