I'm angling for a saka to pair with my pantin.
I just want a grab for ddrt style limb walking while rigged to climb fixed rope, primarily. If it does multiple tasks, great.
So, if I'm reading you right, your primary purpose for the basic would be to combine it with a biner and an inexpensive pulley in order to create a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage system to make it easier to come back in from limbwalks when climbing SRT, correct? That is a great use for the Petzl Basic.
I use a Gibbs style ascender for the same purpose, which doubles as a backup to my primary climbing system. I use the Gibbs style ascender above all of my other gear on the rope during my initial, long ascents. The Gibbs style ascenders use a cam instead of teeth, which I think makes it safer to use at the top of everything else. I just attach a biner to it and run a long endless loop sling through the biner to my side "D's". I hook a thumb through the wire to advance it. Once I get to the top, it comes off, and gets stored on the saddle until I need it for a 3 to 1. I'll try to post a link to the item I'm talking about.
One big advantage of these Gibbs type ascenders is that there are actually two holes in the cam for the quick-release pin, so the device can be adjusted for different sizes of rope. They never show the device with the cam removed, so it might be tough to understand what I'm saying. Here's a link.
Ok, this link is for an item that is not exactly like a Gibbs ascender, but I think it is about as close as REI gets to offering one. Here's the link.
https://www.rei.com/product/471126/petzl-rescucender-ascender
Also, I'll try to give you a link to a product on Amazon that is closer to what I'm talking about. Here is that link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0045...SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=cmi+ascender
Also, I find that one can always use more biners. Here is a link to one of my favorites, that REI sells.
https://www.rei.com/product/737865/petzl-william-ball-lock-autolocking-carabiner
One person that climbed a lot of pitchy pine trees did not like the ball-lock design, however, as they felt the pitch made the ball-lock unreliable. I don't or haven't yet climbed the pines, and have never had an issue with the ball-lock. I have had a biner that was pull and twist to open, open up on me accidently when it was pressed hard against a trunk. My ball-lock biners have never opened on me by accident.
Tim
