How did the Fuse Jammer and Freebell work on real pitches?
Auto-feeding for lead soloing involves keeping the brake strand light. This is typically achieved by managing a small “cache loop” of rope ready to feed through the device. While pre-caching multiple rope loops onto carabiners is a lot of bulky rope on your harness, it does add backup knots to the brake strand of the primary belay device. When relying on the off-label use of a primary belay device, backups are wise!
A single continuous cache loop is another method. A progress-capturing pulley can hold the weight of the excess rope, allowing a smaller loop to be managed with arm strokes as you climb. However, using a Micro Traxion-type device adds no backup redundancy if the primary device fails to engage.
Until now! Two new devices on the market offer progress-capturing pulley functionality with velocity-based cam engagement to lock onto the rope if a primary belay device fails to engage: the BCG Freebell and the EDELRID Fuse Fall Arrester with the Bliss Jammer add-on.
I tested both on real pitches. Below are my initial findings. I think only one will earn a permanent spot in my LRS cragging pack...
Freebell
Pros:
Well-made by a small business
Lighter (344g), though overshadowed by rope drag
Cons:
SIGNIFICANT Rope Drag
Less rope feed distance per arm stroke
Only purchasable through Kickstarter with a long leadtime
The rope comes in and out of the same side of the device - this forces awkward downward arm strokes, or pivoting the device upwards which adds rope drag
Bi-directional progress capture is confusing and unnecessary
EDELRID Fuse + Jammer
Pros:
Almost NO rope drag when feeding upwards (the most ergonomic cache feeding direction)
Fall arresting mechanism was designed by large, reliable company with PPE device experience
Rope does not have to bend through the device - easy to feed upwards
The device does not pivot when feeding, which gives more rope feeding distance per arm stroke
Easy to unlock with one hand after an engagement
Cons:
Very expensive!
Jammer add-on is not always available on the Bliss webstore
Jammer add-on requires DIY assembly
Fuse is a heavy and overbuilt industrial device
Difficult to open
My conclusion:
A continuous cache management device needs to do two things well: capture the most rope possible per arm stroke and do so with minimal added drag. These new devices both adequately add a third velocity-based cam engagement, but the Freebell does so at a significant performance cost to the two primary functions.
The Freebell forces awkward arm movements and creates significant drag. If you feed with an upward arm movement, there is a huge drag penalty. If you feed downward, your arm simply doesn't pull as much rope, so your distance per stroke is halved. This leads to more "pumpy" and distracting arm strokes while free climbing.
The Fuse with Jammer add-on performed exceptionally well. Feeding the rope with upward arm movements felt like zero added drag; the device was stable and allowed for flowy free climbing. However, this combination is incredibly expensive and remains a heavy, overbuilt industrial device.
With adequate cross-load protection, I am personally no longer concerned about a GriGri connecting carabiner "exploding." I wish there were a device like the Fuse + Jammer that was optimized for engaging the GriGri brake strand without the structural bulk of a full fall-arrest device.
These continuous cache backup devices are an exciting direction for LRS climbing, but current versions have serious drawbacks. Since I've already made the steep upfront investment, I expect to use the Fuse + Jammer occasionally while cragging, but my go-to setup will likely remain pre-cached rope loops.
Derek Averill has pursued an exciting direction with a small friction-adding device that runs on the rope inline with a Traxion. It adds a reliable amount of brake strand friction—enough to rip a chest fuse and engage the GriGri in the case of a delayed engagement zipping past the cahced rope. This method is experimental but holds a lot of promise.
