Petzl Verso Review

Likes
The Petzl Verso is super-light, compact and has excellent rope handling. We like how the thick clip-in loop stays out of the way when rappelling and belaying a leader. It has tighter friction grooves than most devices, which provided great control of the rope, especially when belaying on thinner ropes. It also has a flat surface–to–belay–biner contact point, which allows the biner to snap and lock firmly during a catch.

While the Verso is only an ounce lighter than most other devices, we did notice a difference when it was clipped to the side of our harness. The small clip-in loop means it doesn't swing around much. If you combine this with a light belay biner, you can hardly feel it.

Dislikes
This belay device is expensive and not that durable. The friction teeth wear down faster than on most other belay devices. It is more of an elite device than a workhorse. It also doesn't provide the same amount of friction when lowering as do some of its competitors.

Best Application
The Petzl Verso excels when you want the absolutely lightest device for trad or alpine climbing situations. We like to belay off the anchor when climbing multi-pitch routes, so bringing a guide’s device like the Petzl Reverso 3 is our pick for those situations. The Verso is compact, smooth to rappel with and has excellent rope handling. It works especially well when belaying two ropes. We caught several leader falls on twin 8.5 mm ropes and were surprised how fast it locked. This smooth action is probably due to its well designed friction grooves.

Personal Stories
Chris Van Leuven took the Verso on hairy, runout climbs in Tuolumne with twin ropes. It was his device of choice because of its small profile and excellent rope handling. His partner whipped three times on the Bachar-Yerian (on lead) before they bailed. Once the partner almost fell on Chris. The Verso caught all three falls fast. He rapped on the Verso, which was very smooth yet held the 8.5mm ropes firmly. It also worked great on recon missions up and down Washington Column's Quantum Mechanic.

Value
A price of $26 is a lot for a manual belay device considering that highly rated devices cost only $15. So whether this is a good value depends on how important the light weight and compact features are to you.