2017 Belay Device Review: Wild Country Revo

As the first bi-directional assisted-braking belay device, the Revo promises that a climber will never misthread the rope, which eliminates one of the biggest dangers in assisted-braking devices. The Revo opens easily, and the rope can be threaded with the climber’s end coming out of either side. Testers found that the device never locked up while pulling out slack, meaning no short-roping, even on long and fast clips. Despite this, the device locked up quickly when climbers, both light and heavy, fell. Because the rope goes around a moving circular center, it slides through the Revo with little resistance. Lowering the climber only requires the belayer to pull the rope down into the brake position—no lever required. The locking mechanism can’t be overridden to leave the device open, which is great for new belayers but could be problematic for advanced techniques. It is slightly bulky, but testers agreed that it was one of the best assisted-braking belay devices they’ve used. Bonus: Because the Revo doesn’t rely on friction to brake, it performed equally well on thin and fat cords alike.