’d guess this is the most common device I see around. It’s about as simple and straight forward as they come. There is beauty in a piece of climbing equipment when there is nothing left to add or take away. Cheryl climbed with these devices for a decade or more, and she always caught my leader falls with style. I never thought they offered the smoothness of a Pyramid, but it was probably that I just never worked with them enough to figure it out. Every climber develops his or her personal favorite, and mine was the Trango. It’s a tough call to say one is actually better then the other though. I’d be happy with either, and my climbing guides prefer that I buy ATC’s for our guest to use because there is only one way to feed the rope through them. Simple and time tested... you gotta like that in your climbing gear.

Daryl Stisser
www.sylvanrocks.com

I have used this quite a few time with 11mm ropes and it seems to work fine and perform as expected. However when I use it on anything smaller it becomes quite a chore to lock off I end up having to use my muscle to hold the rope from slipping and not the belay device.(Unlike my B-52)

I love the ATC, I've never had a jamming problem on raps. although it gets a little strenuous to hold a hangdog.

The ATC is a good device, it performs adequate to most of the tasks you present to it. It does appear to be made of quite a soft alloy and blackens ropes faster than any other device I've tried. I'd suggest the trango pyramid or Wild Country Variable Controller as better devices for similar dollars.

I've never had a problem with this device and don't feel there is a need to buy a more expensive device.