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If you're climbing fixed ropes regularly, especially with a frog system, your life becomes absolutely glorious the day you invest in a pantin.

The #1 killer of pantins is losing them after you take it off, so be careful that you don't drop it out of your pack or it fall off your harness gear loop!

The pantin shell will almost certainly wear out faster than the teeth. I wish that Petzl used a wear plate or something to help prevent that....

As a side note: frogging with a left foot croll pulls the rope leftward against the shell of the croll, which may cause the shell to be worn-out slightly faster than if using the right foot. This would only be seen after nearly a dozen *miles* of rope climbing on muddy caving ropes, so it is not decreasing the croll's lifespan for the average aboveground user. However, it is worth mentioning.

It's not a particularly great chest ascender, but it's on the cheap end without being from Wish.com so beggars (dirtbags) can't be choosers...

The two most glaring issues are..
1) the cam lock lever is a pain in the ass but adding a loop of paracord onto it helps
2) the cam isn't particularly snappy at catching the rope while frogging, costing you half of the progress of your stroke

It is a durable design though and handles abuse well.

Its the single most generic, bombproof helmet out there and perfect for caving.

Nevermind that Petzl refuses to remake the Ecrin Roc, so this is the best we'll ever get...

After two years of heavy use on muddy ropes (totaling easily a dozen miles-- maybe more-- of ropework per year), I managed to wear a pinhole through the stainless steel wear plate of the shell. I attribute the heavier wear on the shell, versus the cam, to the fact that I pantin left-footed.

As expected when using 11mm rope, the upper most teeth of the cam have worn down decently. However, the cam still caught readily.

For an aboveground setting, I cannot imagine this wear'n'tear happening in less than a decade of recreational use.

The mud slot along the body of the cam helps keep the device from becoming glazed.

The teeth are very aggressive.

The cam lever is very secure in a variety of body positions, but also ergonomic to open while executing a changeover mid-air to descent.

The cam does not become blocked by Omni biner (central D-link) when you're operating it in a scrunched body position (such as crossing a rebelay in an awkward tight canyon)

I'd give this 6 stars if Petzl would use a more abrasion resistant metal on the cam.