Trango Cinch and GriGri 2

I’ve been using the Trango Cinch as a belay device for 2.5 years, nearly every weekend and pretty solid for 6 months while in Mexico.  I like the fact that it was smaller, locked up better, and fed better than the GriGri.  In the past two weeks the Cinch has ceased to lock up on a rope smaller than 10 mm.  It started sliding through so quickly that I was holding the brake hand like an ATC just to get the climber to slow down.  It had to be retired.  The hardened pin had worn a ways through, but not too bad.  In my opinion this is a very short lifetime for a belay device.  GriGri owners have had theirs for 10 years and are still using it.  Luckily Petzl came out with the next gen of the GriGri, so it’s comparable in size and takes smaller ropes.  Hopefully this lasts longer…

And a little more info on failure testing:  Many people complained that the Cinch fails.  The genesis of that statement is here:
http://www.caves.org/section/vertical/nh/51/Hang_Em_High_Final.pdf
where the tester did two incorrect things:  1) Tested at a factor fall 2, which can only occur for multipitch falls caught at the anchor.  This device in not intended for multipitch.  2) The tester used a stopper knot to stop any rope slippage.  This unrealistically increases the force on the Cinch – stopper knots are never used when actively belaying.  So – if the tests are under unrealistic conditions, then the test is useless, along with it’s conclusions.

A few pictures to explain the wear and the comparison to the GriGri 2.