Mad Rock Lifeguard Review

The Mad Rock Lifeguard is made entirely of aircraft grade hot-forged aluminum and stainless steel. No plastic on this one! It can accommodate ropes from 8.9 to 11mm in diameter.

Performance Comparison

Catch/Bite

We felt like this device mostly acted like other assisted braking devices in the catch department (locking off quickly and not needing as much force to hold on to the rope as you do with a tube-style device). We knocked it down a few points though because while the catch is similar, the "bite" is not. This unit worked well when top roping most adults over 100 pounds, but when we tried belaying children with it the cam would not engage fully. There's no minimum rating (to our knowledge) for cam engagement in belay devices — usually it's the breaking force we are worried about — but in this case, we were concerned with the lack of camming action. This might also be an issue for lighter adults in situations where there is a lot of rope drag that reduces the weight of the climber being held by the device.

Lowering/Rappelling

The Lifeguard did not lower as smoothly at the Black Diamond ATC XP or Guide, and it felt jerkier than the other assisted braking devices as well. Some might appreciate the metal handle though, which inspires slightly more confidence than the GriGri's plastic handle — not that we've ever had one break on us though!

Feeding Slack

When it comes to feeding slack, we weren't that impressed with the action on the Lifeguard. Mad Rock recommends the classic tuber-style lead belay (one hand pulling the rope up out of the device and the brake hand pushing the rope in), and this works for paying out small amounts of slack. When your partner goes to clip and you need two large arm-lengths, it did tend to lock up on us though. For those situations, we preferred to use the typical GriGri belay, with our brake thumb depressing the cam (and the rest of our hand still wrapped around the rope), but the action there wasn't as smooth as the GriGri either.

We think the difference is because the rope is enclosed inside the GriGri and the track helps it feed smoothly, whereas there is no bottom track for the rope in the Lifeguard. Also note that some of our big-handed male testers found this device uncomfortably small to use, but those with smaller hands might prefer it over the larger GriGri.

Auto Block (resistance belaying a second)

The Lifeguard provided more resistance in auto-block mode (when belaying off the anchor) than the GriGri+, but not as much as the tube-style devices. This concurs with our findings about pulling slack through the device; it is just not as smooth a pull as the GriGri.

Weight/Bulk

Here is one area where the Lifeguard beats out the GriGri+ and 2. It's not that much lighter, but it is certainly more compact.

Durability

Our main durability concern for this unit is partly a situation of user error. Most of our testers are accustomed to belaying with a GriGri, and when you go to lower with that device, you bring the rope around to the right on the unit where there is a rounded rope-bearing surface that's made to withstand wear. The Lifeguard is designed so that the rope runs off the front of the device, but you know the saying about old dogs and new tricks. We kept trying to remind ourselves to do it the other way, but it just doesn't feel as natural, and you can see where we already wore off the anodizing after only a few uses. More importantly, we don't think it's the best for our rope to run over this sharper edge when lowering.

Best Applications

The next time we head out on a multi-pitch route we're taking the Lifeguard with us and not the GriGri. But for sport cragging purposes it didn't blow us away enough to make us reconsider our Editors' Choice pick.

Value

The Lifeguard retails for $89, which is $10 cheaper than the GriGri 2 and significantly less than the GirGri+. While we didn't find ourselves instantly reaching for this device over the GriGri when given a chance, if you are looking for an upgrade to your tube-style device but haven't been a fan of Petzl's assisted braking devices, this might be what you are looking for.

Conclusion

The Mad Rock Lifeguard is a compact belay device that does fill a niche need for those who prefer to belay with an assisted braking device no matter the situation but want something a little smaller for long routes.