RE Akimbo setting and rope

Been lurking for a while without posting. Not an arborist, love the idea of it but have another job I'm better at currently. Prune trees around the house really slowly & rec climb ( really just learning/practicing techniques).

230 without harness/climbing gear. Should be about 190 but I've gotten fat.

E5 on scandere , B2 on vortex with a backup ddrt off a secret weapon since its non approved rope. I have cevian too but haven't tried yet, probably too thin.

Happy with it, still dialing in. Neck tether (magnet) pops out a lot but that's partly poor technique, may try a chest tether. The SW ddrt system wieght exacerbated that.

Where do I find the rubber nubs folks are adding to the upper beak of the akimbo?

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Bruty said:
Been lurking for a while without posting. Not an arborist, love the idea of it but have another job I'm better at currently. Prune trees around the house really slowly & rec climb ( really just learning/practicing techniques).

230 without harness/climbing gear. Should be about 190 but I've gotten fat.

E5 on scandere , B2 on vortex with a backup ddrt off a secret weapon since its non approved rope. I have cevian too but haven't tried yet, probably too thin.

Happy with it, still dialing in. Neck tether (magnet) pops out a lot but that's partly poor technique, may try a chest tether. The SW ddrt system wieght exacerbated that.

Where do I find the rubber nubs folks are adding to the upper beak of the akimbo?

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Welcome Bruty.
I was surprised to read you used Vortex with the Akimbo.
I have a hank and haven't bothered to try it believing it was too thick.
How are you getting along with it?
 
Also, thank you all for all the information! It seems sketch to learn such things from the internet, but using ideas deliberately low & SLOW, being willing to call it quits for the day, & making & learning from mistakes when redundancies are in place have been invaluable along with all of your input.



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I honestly liked the vortex better than the scandere. I was concerned it would be too thick, too soft.

its a brand new akimbo though, so maybe it'll be different once worn in a bit.

I did start the settings on the akimbo with the scandere as the instructions suggested. With the vortex I did the opposite & started at A1. Upper & lower arms were touching on descent break. B1 the same. B2 was good.


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I like vortex too, easy to grip & work with, besides the wieght of it.

I am not endorsing it's use with the akimbo however. That's just me experimenting with the ropes I have, & a backup system in place.

From what I've read about mechanicals (never used any others), they work better with a firmer rope, & the vortex seems relatively soft, squishy. I was afraid I'd flatten it, but perhaps it's so squishy it rebounds or something. Anyway, I assume its deforming vortex quite a bit & perhaps compromising its strength, but that's just me wildly speculating & I suspect I would still be well within a safe working load. I have no idea really. Climb on the approved ropes is what I mean to say





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I've been using old cougar blue and new xstatic, almost wide open. It seems jerky so far, but the more left hand love I give it, the more flexibility I have to make it run smooth. Currently 193 lbs. with boots, about 213 for pruning, and 230 for removals. I rec climbed twice, used it as a lanyard adjuster once, and work climbed with it yesterday for the first time on a small prune. Noticed the slackening when it's not weighted, which is fine but takes getting used to, coming from a rw system. I'm using a 4srt to tend, with an accessory biner attached to the chest harness and a Trango Phase quickdraw attached between the biner and the Akimbo.
 
My crew has a communal akimbo we all share. Luckily, only 2-3 of us are down for mechanical devices, so we wont have to fight over it...yet.
I'm probably close to 200 with gear and saw on HTP addiction, well used.
C3 is my setting, both srs and mrs, and it is really nice and smooth.
I haven't used it on my new mercury yet, but I will share the results when I do.
 
I’m about 175 without gear.

I have a relatively new akimbo and tried giving it a fair chance on Scandere (med wear) since it has a higher WLL rating. I really couldn’t find a setting I loved, everything that worked well was closer to wide open. I think that slightly more friction on the lower jaw was preferable. Ascent is smooth but I had to pull hard to descend. And then it would jerk and fall fast. I really had to watch my pressure on the top jaw for a smooth descent. Not the most confidence inspiring for one handed descending while moving laterally in the tree.

I did one climb on Xstatic and found that a big improvement. However, it started to rain and the akimbo starting behaving miserably. Any similar experiences climbing on wet rope? It may just not be the best tool on rainy days.

Also, several people on here talking about running 11.0 ropes (km3/max and velocity). There’s a stamp on the side of mine that says 11.5-13.0 ropes only. I do take that stuff with a grain of salt, think many of us are skilled/cautious enough to safely bend the rules and identify when a product is or is not behaving in a safe manner.
 
shankenstein said:
I’m about 175 without gear.

I have a relatively new akimbo and tried giving it a fair chance on Scandere (med wear) since it has a higher WLL rating. I really couldn’t find a setting I loved, everything that worked well was closer to wide open. I think that slightly more friction on the lower jaw was preferable. Ascent is smooth but I had to pull hard to descend. And then it would jerk and fall fast. I really had to watch my pressure on the top jaw for a smooth descent. Not the most confidence inspiring for one handed descending while moving laterally in the tree.

I did one climb on Xstatic and found that a big improvement. However, it started to rain and the akimbo starting behaving miserably. Any similar experiences climbing on wet rope? It may just not be the best tool on rainy days.

Also, several people on here talking about running 11.0 ropes (km3/max and velocity). There’s a stamp on the side of mine that says 11.5-13.0 ropes only. I do take that stuff with a grain of salt, think many of us are skilled/cautious enough to safely bend the rules and identify when a product is or is not behaving in a safe manner.
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I can tell that I use dragonfly and that’s 11.5 I think. It runs exceptionally well with it.
 
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Ordered some voyager. I have yet to see a decent review on it yet. However according to nice guy Dave it works extremely well with it. I shall let people know after I try it
 
I’m on workpro 12.5, 160 lbs, a1. Pretty new rope, few picks.

It’s still pretty tight and finicky after about 6 months. I’ve just accepted that the jaws clack shut pretty frequently which apparently isn’t great, but I use the brake hand.

Also the jaws bite my palm/finger flesh sometimes, but I don’t wear gloves so that’s my problem. Hoping it will get a little smoother as the bollard wears down a little more because I love the rope and I love the device. And I’m stubborn.
 
Acerxharlowii said:
Ordered some voyager. I have yet to see a decent review on it yet. However according to nice guy Dave it works extremely well with it. I shall let people know after I try it
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So voyager works but definitely not as smooth as fly or drenaline. It was hard to find a setting that worked well. The akimbo was to jerky or not grabbing enough. It could be that it was brand new rope and maybe had to milk a little bit and break in. Side note the rope runner worked really well with it.
 
Acerxharlowii said:
So voyager works but definitely not as smooth as fly or drenaline. It was hard to find a setting that worked well. The akimbo was to jerky or not grabbing enough. It could be that it was brand new rope and maybe had to milk a little bit and break in. Side note the rope runner worked really well with it.
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try running the rope through the wash once or twice. the lubricants from manufacture can make it slippery. the akimbo is a finicky bit of kit.
 
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