Petzl GriGri2 Belay Device

My first time lowering a friend off a multipitch route and the rope fed through perfectly every time with no snagging. The assisted braking gives me way more confidence when belaying someone heavier than me.

The lever action is so smooth that paying out slack feels effortless, and the assisted braking kicks in exactly when I need it without any hand strain. I've used it on a weekend of gym routes and it's handled everything from thin to thick ropes without a hiccup.

The assisted braking actually caught a fall on my first lead attempt and it held without me having to grip the rope hard at all. Feeding slack out is smoother than my old tube device, though it took a couple sessions to stop over-gripping the brake strand.