Wondering if I should fork out the dough on a unicender.

[truestory]

Hi, I've been pondering upgrading to a mechanical Hitch for some time. I like the self tending abilities of the ART Lockjack device, and have recently looked at the Unicender by Rock Exotica. Seeing as I already use a rope wrench for accessing SRT but usually switch to Ddrt to work the the tree. It seems that with the Unicender there is no need to swith over as the device serves for both and is already on the rope. So here are my questions :
1) Is it necessary to have a thether going from the Uni to your harness ?
2) If no to number one, can it be SAFELY set up similarly to a VT/hitchclimber combo. carabiner directly on harness.?
3) Is the handling while work climbing similar to a VT/ hitchclimber combo ( I am aware that UNi must be way more sensitive than a pulley and Hitch.)?
4) While on Ddrt does it self tend , like a spiderjack or lock jack?
5) Whats the durability on this thing, can parts be swaped out? I climb on average 4 out of 5 days in the week, so probably would put it through medium to heavy use....

Thank you for any info! Won't be buying until I've gotten some feedback!

 

[DMD]

Have you heard of the rope runner. If not you tube it.

 

[gorman]

Treestuff is taking preorders for it

 

[truestory]

I've seen the Rope Runner , looks pretty sweet, is it good for DdRT as well , sort of the Zig-Zag ?

 

[Pelorus]

Uni durability is the deal breaker for me.
For a product that expensive, I'd want stainless steel wear points instead of aluminum.

 

[DLCRL]

I like a VT something w/moving parts clutch pads and such to wear out, I like that I can see how much wear and tear prusik line is taking.

 

[Ryan Shaw]

Hi, I've been pondering upgrading to a mechanical Hitch for some time. I like the self tending abilities of the ART Lockjack device, and have recently looked at the Unicender by Rock Exotica. Seeing as I already use a rope wrench for accessing SRT but usually switch to Ddrt to work the the tree. It seems that with the Unicender there is no need to swith over as the device serves for both and is already on the rope. So here are my questions :
1) Is it necessary to have a thether going from the Uni to your harness ?
2) If no to number one, can it be SAFELY set up similarly to a VT/hitchclimber combo. carabiner directly on harness.?
3) Is the handling while work climbing similar to a VT/ hitchclimber combo ( I am aware that UNi must be way more sensitive than a pulley and Hitch.)?
4) While on Ddrt does it self tend , like a spiderjack or lock jack?
5) Whats the durability on this thing, can parts be swaped out? I climb on average 4 out of 5 days in the week, so probably would put it through medium to heavy use....

Thank you for any info! Won't be buying until I've gotten some feedback!

1) no, not necessary. I've used it without. But having a tether just shorter then the length of your arm reach is nice because then you can footlock, lift yourself, then advance the unicender as far as possible. It's much more comfortable, I find. Also, girth-hitching the tether in the right direction changes the dynamic of the uni, how it grabs the rope. But if you clip it directly to a carabiner on your bridge, you could probably just use a neck-advancer. I just don't have one, so it wasn't comfortable

2) yes, directly on a harness. But you can't as easily pull the rope outward like you can with a micropulley or hitchclimber because the uni has a little guide arm, rather then a pulley. You can, however, purchase a pulley for your uni that yields similar results

3) the handling (especially with a drum) while configured in ddrt is even smoother in my opinion. In SRT, the ascent is smoother and the decent is smooth, except when you switch modes, theres a little drop. But with ascending, there is no loss, like there is with a vt. Everything is tight. I purchased mine maybe a year ago and ALWAYS did SRT with it. But recently I hosted a tree climbing 101 session and invited a bunch of friends. Started them off with a vt/micropulley and then explained the dangers of using a uni wrong and then let some of them try the uni in ddrt.. I don't think I had ever used it ddrt until then and man, I was pretty amazed how smooth it was!

4) no, I don't think anything self tends that nice, but it does tend pretty easily

5) the durability really is not that good. I climb part time, so fairly light use and I've been pretty unimpressed. So if you're climbing 4 days/week, it will probably be pretty bad. But if you purchase the drum/sleeve for it, I hear it lasts a long long. I don't know why they don't make a steel plate version.