ISC Reflex

[Mick Dempsey]

Anyone using one of these yet? I’m thinking of getting my young climber one.

 

Like me he cannot abide the ZZ because of its self tending, so was wondering if it self tended at all?

[Mesterh]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

 

 

Like me he cannot abide the ZZ because of its self tending, 

Thats the best bit!

 

[Joe Newton]

2 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Anyone using one of these yet? I’m thinking of getting my young climber one.

 

Like me he cannot abide the ZZ because of its self tending, so was wondering if it self tended at all?

Any mechanical will self tend. It can be a double edged sword like that.

 

If your lad wanted the best of both worlds I'd suggest a hitchclimber setup with a 75cm e2e tied with a catalyst hitch. Requires a bit more user input but that not the worst thing in the world. 

31 minutes ago, Mesterh said:

Thats the best bit!

 

Until you want to pull slack into your system for any reason and the device just eats it.

[Joe Newton]

I personally think the Reflex looks awesome as a "one device does everything" affair.

 

I'll be giving it a few months while the keen kids are guinea pigs though. 

[Mesterh]

"Until you want to pull slack into your system for any reason and the device just eats it."

 

Yeah but you just put a bit of friction on the rope, use a foot or a knee against the tree. The bigger issue I found was when above the anchor point, it is a bit of a ball ache to pull the rope through it. IMO the self tending which allows way easier free climbing outweighs the negatives.

 

Horses for courses and I suppose thats why there are so many climbing devises on the market ATM. 

It would be interesting to run a poll to find out what the majority of people are using. I recon prussik loop would still be up there!

 

 

 

[Fredward]

I've come out of forum retirement to post my thoughts on the Reflex. I have only recently acquired it but have had some climbs on it already. 

 

My background: approx 15 years climbing. The last 10 has been mostly on a hitch climber and rope wrench; with a bit of doubled rope but mostly SRS. In the past I have tried: BDB, ZZ, all iterations of the RR and the akimbo 1 (none of them permanently, just borrowed). I wasn't in a hurry to get a mechanical, but my interest grew recently seeing devices that were designed for use of both techniques. 

 

The price also attracted me to the reflex. The throttle drew me in but ultimately just seemed too expensive to justify. 

 

My initial thoughts:

 

- Quite big and heavy, and feels a bit odd when you pick it up because a lot of the weight is in the stainless steel links, which flop around until installed.

 

- Took a minute to get it installed right but not too bad once you've done it before. Probably similar to RR in that regard but not as streamlined as the akimbo.

 

- Doesnt seem to run up the rope/self feed as well as other devices, possibly due to the weight.. But I didn't notice the weight as such once it's on the rope. It will likely self feed with enough rope weight but it's not like the zigzag in that regard. 

 

- Seems to descend great both MRS and SRS. Tried SRS 3 to 1 and that worked well (I think it's approved for that config). I think if you plan on doing any real amount of MRS a friction saver will be a must. 

 

- Did some climbing in the wet and it was quite jerky to get going, I'm assuming this is similar problem for other devices too. I think the addition of a wrench in this situation would be the only real reason to use one. However if you hold your tail at your hip like belaying, that seemed to be a work around. 

 

- Oddly the packaging was very basic, I could feel the device through the postage bag it arrived in at. Felt very basic. 

 

The real issue which I've only just been made aware of, is that the device is only rated to 12kn. I don't know how it can be life support with a 12kn rating, a friend was not allowed to use his at a recent climbing comp. He also told me in the manual it states that it's a class C device. I'm not sure what that means in real terms, it's designed to be used in conjunction with another climbing system? Two rope systems are not a mandatory requirement where I am in NZ. 

 

I just feel it's a bit strange that no one has mentioned that in any of the videos I've watched.