Pinch

I'm old school and have fully switched. I use the Edelrid Pinch and the Edelrid Giga Jul. Good form and diligence are hugely important, but predictably fallible.

All of those that you mentioned do exactly the same things: belay with single or double ropes, rappel on single or double ropes, and "guide mode" belay from the top anchor. They're all great, so you could pick any of them and be fine. Alternatively you could look into getting an assisted belay devic

Most versatile is definitely the edelrid giga jul. It's got assisted and standard modes, 2 rope slots for double ropes or rappelling, guide mode, and is pretty affordable. This is good if you want one device for literally everything. If you're only going to be doing single pitch sport, it's hard to

I was single pitch ice cragging the other day and switched from a Edelrid pinch (ABD) to my dmm pivot bc the ropes got icy and it was safer to use the pivot (ATC style). I usually bring my pivot with me when multi-pitching and leave the pinch in the car. TLDR: ATCs haven’t been replaced. Icy ropes a

Dmm phantom or camp photon are small/light. Also petzl attache or whatever (Smd?). I have rope soloed with the pinch on my Cadillac with a 19g looped through there as a backup but yea, it’s wide and I wouldn’t recommend it. If I use my pinch (only for LRS/ascending) it is with the Edelrid Bruce stee

If you're sticking edelrid then gigajul is the obvious next step assuming you dont want to go to a grigri/pinch style device. I end up using a grigri most of the time because it's fairly low effort and it's convenient for a number of tasks, though I have an ATC with me. Does take some extra brake st

A couple of questions really need to be answered to narrow down the options. Do you care about weight? Do you want an anti panic function? Do you want to be following manufacturers instructions? There are (to the best of my knowledge) no devices desgined to be used on a single rope abseil that when

I find using the pinch on an edelrid harness with the thinner belay loop is much easier to attach without snagging fabric. It also works better in general. I like it a lot and will look out for this issue.

I think a nice upgrade over the DMM Mantis would be a Mammut Smart or an Edelrid Jul2. If you wanted to get something fancier and a different 'style' entirely. An upgrade to the Petzl Grigri+ or Edelrid Pinch would be great.

personally, i do not mind spending the money on thin ropes like the edelrid kinglet 9.2mm. under these circumstances and especially when you prefer belaying tube style, the combination of the edelrid pinch and a rope diameter below 9.5 mm is the best belaying experience i know. and i know many. even