Let's look at it first in its dynamic belay mode. When using the Reverso to belay a leader we found that the rope ran through the device very smoothly. There was no tendency for the rope to bind when giving slack or taking in rope. This is because the Reverso has a wider angle between the points where the rope comes in to it on one side and out on the other side than a typical tube type belay device. At the same time, the Reverso provides plenty of braking action and it stops a leader fall with friction, not abrasion. There is a wear bar on the brake side of the device which has a pretty large radius when compared to the edges of most other belay devices which are designed to belay a leader. This provides for a good amount of friction and no unnecessary wear on your rope. We also liked the fact that there was no cable or keeper cord to interfere with the rope while belaying or rappelling.

At the top of the pitch, you can use the Reverso to belay one or two seconds in a static belay mode much as you could with a Gi-Gi (not Gri-Gri) or other plaquette device. Used in this fashion the Reverso is a hands-free belay device (which is the only safe way to belay two climbers simultaneously). If one climber is hanging on the rope, its possible to safely use both hands while you continue to belay the other. The Reverso appears to have a couple of advantages over other plaquettes when used to belay the second or seconds. First, and this is a big safety issue, when belaying in the auto locking mode with other plaquettes it's possible if you are using a single thin rope (9mm) that the brake carabiner on the plaquette could rotate and the rope could accidentally switch into the lowering mode. On the Good/Bad Scale, this is way down near the bad end somewhere. There is a metal fin on the back of the Reverso which prevents this from happening. The other advantage we liked was the fact that it was possible to transition from belaying to lowering while the device was loaded without much effort compared to other plaquettes. With a little instruction and practice this is easy. (If you have any questions about plaquette or Reverso use, please feel free to go to the Ask a Guide page.) If the rope (or ropes) are not loaded, there is a very smooth, easy transition into a lower.

The Reverso also works great as a rappel device. Unlike some other multi-function devices this one was made to rappel with. There's no need to add two or three braking carabiners to make it work right. The device gives a very smooth and controllable rappel just as it is. If on a very low angle rappel, it is very easy to put a spacer carabiner into the device to decrease the braking action. This little trick works better with the Reverso then any other rappel device we've seen. While rappelling, it's the wide radius wear bar on the brake side of the device which again makes for a very smooth braking action and minimal wear on the rope.

The Reverso works on 8-11 mm ropes, weighs in at 81 grams, and only costs a few dollars more then your average tube style belay device, but it does a whole lot more.