The 11 Best single Rope Belay devices (2023 reviews)

There are several advantages of having a single rope belay device. Let’s take you step by step, type by type, and find the best single rope belay device for you.

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Our Top Picks:

Best overall: Buy: Petzl single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For climber: Buy: Black Diamond single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For Mountaineering: Buy: AOKWIT single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For Its purpose: Buy: Newdoar single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For beginner: Buy: Ito rocky single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For lead: Buy: Edelrid single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best With ATC: Buy: Triwonder single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best Belay Device: Buy: Petzӏ single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best With glass: Buy: Petzі single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For topside Belay: Buy: Conterra single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best For lead Climbing: Buy: Wild country single Rope Belay Device READ REVIEW

Best overall: Petzl single Rope Belay Device

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We are personally inclined towards petzl single rope belay device, it is not so pricy, but it overachieves its purpose and outstanding in important aspects. If you would like, The Petzl Reverso is compatible with most rope diameters. It functions perfectly but the "red" color is definitely more orange than red. Compared to the Grigri 2, it's easier to manage lead belays as it feeds smoother, it works with smaller ropes, and is much smoother lowering than the.

The Grigri is an assisted braking device, so with the correct rope size, it automatically adds friction to the belay to the point of completely stopping the rope. The cam in the device automatically cinches down to arrest the rope. It is easy to set up and clip in, and the operation is very similar to a classic atc.

Love the built in safety that this provides, and is especially convenient if you are projecting something, so that the belayer has an easier time keeping the climber in the same location.

• Rope, belay device and locking carabiner with isolation feature to prevent shifting or cross-loading
• Works great for both lead and top rope belay
• Will hold any human weight plus dynamic forces when lead climbing

Best For climber: Black Diamond single Rope Belay Device

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If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable device, black diamond single rope belay device is your end point. Among the four ATCs from Black Diamond, this one is the best for new climbers. It works quite well, and has been great for learning how to lead a climb. Unlike the standard symmetrical ATC, it has friction teeth on one side that aid in holding and lowering heavier climbers. It offers 3 times greater hold and stopping power than regular friction mode. It is great for reversible, use teeth or smooth side.

You'll never encounter that indoors, but if you've any intention of moving outdoors, it's a feature worth having. The guide does have somewhat more friction than the atc-xp and will be preferable if your partner outweighs you by a factor of 1.5 or more, or if you plan to use sub-9.5mm ropes.

• Very well made and fine quality belay device
• Works great with 9mm or 11mm rope
• Performs its function well, no troubles yet

Best For Mountaineering: AOKWIT single Rope Belay Device

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate device. The aokwit single rope belay device is exactly that - it's a simple device that hits all the right notes. The bent ear figure 8 has an obvious advantage that by wrapping the rope around its ear, it can help people hang in middle air to appreciate the scenery or work in high level. It can increase the friction and slow down the descending speed. It can be used in aerial dance, especially aerial silk to make a super safe anchor.

This is a large descender with bent ears. It is suitable for large diameter static tree rope lines. The breaking strength of this rescue figure is 11, 000 lbf (50KN/5000kg), so it is safe enough for you while climbing. It can be used to descend in the same way as the standard figure.

• Feels really solid and has a good ring to it
• Huge and the real climbers will laugh at you
• Great for beginners who are on a budget, seems safe and does the job

Best For Its purpose: Newdoar single Rope Belay Device

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The newdoar single rope belay device is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your regular usage. It is perfect for your home, outdoors, or in the studio. It is mainly used for working-at-height, technical rope rescue, climbers, cavers and sport rappelr. It is well built and is made for its purpose, for descending down from a high place w/o a belay person. It comes with this one you can tie off in multiple ways even going through the center hole between a wrap for extra bite. The 50kn rescue figure uses the friction between the rope and the descender device to slow down the descent or brake.

The material is lightweight, but it is a bit heavier than a standard 8 which may add to your overall weight. The quality of machining and finish are all good.

• Great quality with much more pronounced hooks and tie off options
• A nice larger descender which allows knots to pass through
• Good brand reputation

Best For beginner: Ito rocky single Rope Belay Device

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Ito Rocky makes beautiful and great device with classic and smartly choosen materials. It’s a very high quality peace to have for your sail boat. This will allow for a proper rappel style descent,one hand on the lever and one on the down side of the rope. By adjusting the pressure you place on both the handle and the rope being fed to the device it is simple and easy to adjust your speed.

The Self-breaking function allows you to easily stop and hold your position on the rope. This does stop completely, with no creep. It is suitable for work at a height and for emergency self evacuation. This is an extra barrier of safety, recommend. It is used for new climbers.

• Low cost, mechanically sound, performing well thus far
• Nice quality parts and the design is good
• Good safety item for climbing, solid and functional
• Easy to carry, attach, and safe

Best For lead: Edelrid single Rope Belay Device

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The edelrid single rope belay device's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. This is nice when your buddy is hangdogging all the way up a project or a project. It works perfectly for guide belay, lead and rappel. It comes with a flick of the switch, it loads as you would expect a guide atc, reverso, pivot, etc. It's also quicker and easier to "unlock" after a fall than the grigri or virgo.

This device has normal tube mode ( m and assisted ( a), can take two ropes of a wide range, be used in guide mode atop, and used for normal or assisted rappels / abseils. It should wear out slower than those lightweight aluminum devices since the wear parts are reinforced with steel. It is a great choice for double rope systems.

• Compact, but a bit heavy, and a design that's so-so
• Easy to use in both modes
• Easy to use, great for lead or sport, indoor or outdoor
• Would love an extra millimeter of room where the rope slides are

Best With ATC: Triwonder single Rope Belay Device

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The triwonder single rope belay device is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily usage. The ATC belay descender is suitable for. Design with 0.4cm rubber wire rope, the guide belay device is easy to store and easy to operate. It can be easily used with ropes. It is ideal for outdoor, camping, hiking, setting hammock and tarps or other outdoor activities.

The double-rope holes can be used with one rope or two rope, and the two ropes will not entangle each other when descending. The rappel device is smooth and lightweight, useful for your outdoor sports but not increase any burden, portable enough to carry anywhere. It is showing excessive wear plus it is easy to install anywhere on the rope.

• Very easy to use, hefty carabiner
• Easy to install anywhere on the rope
• One of the new comers and featured product

Best Belay Device: Petzӏ single Rope Belay Device

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention petzӏ single rope belay device for daily purpose. Compact and lightweight, it can be used with single ropes from 8.5 to 11 mm. It improves comfort while belaying, holding a climber or catching a fall. The design of the handled camming mechanism enables exceptional descent control. It is a belay device with assisted braking for indoors and outdoors. It can be used on all single ropes (8.5 to 11 mm in diameter) and optimized for 8.9 to 10.5 mm diameters.

• Great durability for intensive use, thanks to the stainless steel wear plate
• Delivers what they promise

Best With glass: Petzі single Rope Belay Device

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The petzі single rope belay device's superior materials makes sure that it ages well with use. This product is for mountaineering, rock-climbing industrial work and/or rescue use only. It allows the user to move around efficiently in a tree using classic prusik pulley system technique. It has a flexible positioning ring that helps keep the connector oriented along its major axis. The lower attachment hole with high-efficiency swivel ensures stable and correct positioning of the mechanical Prusik and optimal rope glide through the dev. It can be used on either double ropes or a single rope, providing great versatility.

The device locks automatically on the rope once the friction chain extends.

• Auxiliary attachment hole for adding a zillon lanyard or connecting
• Separated and curved side plates for better wear resistance
• New and hot release

Best For topside Belay: Conterra single Rope Belay Device

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Next on the list, we've got yet another device that manages to win our hearts. It's the conterra single rope belay device and it's widely considered as device that has the most suitable features. It comes with two models available (scarab ti not discussed here), and the scarab is the perfect choice for both fire/rescue and back country rescue environments. It's simple to use, smooth as butter, doesn't add twists to the rope like some devices can, and it's very intuitive to add and remove friction from the line as needed. It works well even for small diameter ropes. It's super easy to go hands free if you need to.

It's best for topside belay.

• Rope can be attached without unclipping
• Delivers what they promise

Best For lead Climbing: Wild country single Rope Belay Device

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If you want nothing but a device that is satisfactory, this wild country single rope belay device is certainly a best investment. It's got those protruding steel clicky things at the top,and it tends to drag on the rock,in a chimney,in a chimney,in a chimney. It's super smooth for both top rope or lead belaying. The beauty of the Revo is that it feeds rope better than anything else out there, bar none.

The Revo requires a lot more concentration to rappel with, so that category goes to the GriGri. It is bi-directional, and the locking function works regardless of the rope orientation. It has no method of over-riding the locking mechanism, during belaying, or when lowering a climber.

• You can catch falls and lower using your normal good brake hand movements
• Incredibly smooth paying out slack for lead climbing
• You throw rope as fast as you need to with no resistance
• Takes a bit of practice to lower heavy people