DMM Belay Master Screwgate > Reviews > not quite the belay master

Author's product rating:   

Durability	Very durable
Design	Average
Value for money	Average

Advantages:	safe bit of gear, great forwall use and beginners
Disadvantages:	can just be awkward and annoying  -  especially outdoors

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

just before i begin, just like to point out those who dont climb might not understand much of what im taking about. sorry, it just really helps if you do.

i brought the belay master to help keep rope and stuff that little bit tidier on those long multi-pitch routes.

it basically consists of two parts, an HMS screw gate and a strange little plastic bit that clips over both sides to divide the crab in half along its length

the HMS screw gate is actually that little bit heavier than other gates on the market (only by a few grams, but it all adds up!). but feeling it in your hand, it becomes clear that it is a strong robust piece of kit. and it does what every screw gate on the market does, and is built to a very high standard. however, compared to other HMS gates this one is a little smaller and so the gates opening arc is a little restricted

now for the plastic bit. dividing the crab in half means that once used in the system and the plastic clip lock on, the bottom half is attached to you and the half contains the belay plate and rope. and it does one simple, but useful thing, now the crab cannot move round to the side and become cross loaded (where the rope pull is on the crabs width), so there will be no reduction in strength. because, if your not careful crabs can flip around on their side and reduce the force they can take. so it sounds like a nice life save device.

on the other hand, its really annoying, in order to stop the plastic bit sticking out and flapping around it has to be clipped across both sides of the crab,and to do this the screw on the gate has to be locked. however, when you've got it crab clipped to you gear rack, or you taking it on and off, this means pulling the plastic bit back and unscrew the gate, then to put it back do the gate up and clip the plastic lock into place. it may sound lazy, but when your high up you really dont want to be doing any unnecessary fiddling around. also on trad routes it can get knocked off.

with that in mind, its aimed more for beginners and wall climbing, and does the job well there. it provides that extra safety in the climbing wall and stops beginners not noticing that the gate has flipped round. so i personally would happily use it indoors, but just get a standard HMS gate for outside.