Hydrobot Descender

I've used the Hydrobot Descender for canyoning.

Pros

• Super quick rope attachment/detachment
• Very easy to lock off, and then also to escape from the lock while under weight 
• Does not need to be detached from the harness to attach to rope so you can't drop and lose it!

Cons

• Not particularly friction variable (other than varying rope thickness)
• Not really enough friction to use on a single 9mm rope

Final Result

This is the best canyoning device I have ever used. It’s super quick to get on and off the rope and has the backup safety of the magnetic gate closure. If you’re treading water in a pool at the bottom of an abseil you can detach the device without looking and without taking it off your harness. Myself + pack probably weighs 85kg on a usual canyoning trip, and the friction is totally adequate when abseiling on 2x9mm wet canyon ropes. The self braking hauling and ascending options the device gives you add some handy options in canyons.

Dom

Dom has spent a few years with Mountain Equipment, floating between Chatswood and the City stores like a loose lily in an amber stream. Half Ninja, half honey-badger, half poet-laureate, he's 1.5x the outdoorsman. He enjoys climbing, hiking, canyoning, mountain biking, and carrying heavy packs uphill through the snow, barefoot, carrying a wasp's nest in his teeth. Dom's future will see him settling down to a quiet life of Sudoku and taxidermy, but until then, there is gnar to be shreddeth. Quote: "The first rule of climbing: Looking Good."