Petzl NEOX Long-Term Review | GearJunkie Tested

Every assisted braking device (ABD) can inadvertently lock the rope to varying degrees when quickly feeding out slack to a lead climber. Petzl has mostly solved this dilemma with the NEOX.

When an ABD locks a rope when the belayer feeds slack rapidly (“short roping”), it’s actually doing what it was meant to do. Most ABDs have some sort of prescribed method that the belayer uses to overcome the potentially life-saving mechanism. This usually involves the brake hand, which has to maintain control of the brake strand of the rope simultaneously.

Petzl’s almost universally loved GriGri has one of the most convoluted and awkward ways to do so.

However, the French brand has essentially solved the issue by adding a significant and clever addition to the cam in the GriGri. A spinning wheel within the cam drastically lowers the drag of the rope on the cam. This almost eliminates activation while paying slack to the clipping lead climber.

Since its introduction last summer, I have tested the Petzl NEOX ($150) at both outdoor sport crags and climbing gyms. I used ropes from 9.8 mm down to 8.6 mm in diameter while lead climbing and top roping. I also tried it as a top-down belay device but decided against using it for multipitch climbs for reasons explained below.

In short: After having tested almost every assisted braking device ever manufactured, I wholeheartedly agree that the Petzl NEOX is the best ABD for single-pitch lead climbing. It feeds slack quickly without brake hand shenanigans and locks the rope reliably. It engages with a touch of slip to help provide a soft catch. However, it is too heavy and functionally limited for multipitch climbs.

Check out GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Climbing Harnesses to use with a Petzl NEOX.

Petzl NEOX Review

Form Factor and Specifications

The Petzl NEOX looks very much like the rest of the GriGri series. But there are significant differences.

The NEOX is much larger and heavier than the GriGri. It’s about ¼-inch longer, ½-inch taller, and 1/8-inch thicker, and it weighs 2.2 ounces more. Otherwise, the NEOX looks and feels very similar to a GriGri. For another comparison, the Petzl NEOX is almost 3/4-inch taller than the Edelrid Pinch (but weighs the same).

Again, inside, the NEOX is visibly similar to the GriGri. The spring-loaded cams look almost identical. However, the NEOX has a rotating wheel around its pivot point, while the GriGri does not.

The folding levers for lowering the climber are nearly identical, as is the belay carabiner clipping point. The rounded lip on the right side plate for the rope to pass over during lowering is also present.

How the NEOX Works

The Petzl NEOX locks the rope via a spring-loaded cam like the GriGri and other ABDs. But instead of the rope running over a bare cam lobe and the friction eventually rotating the cam to pinch the rope, the NEOX has a wheel that mitigates it. This almost eliminates the need to manually overcome the cam when feeding slack.

The spinning wheel inside the cam is spring-loaded to resist being moved away from its axis of rotation. When enough rope friction and upward force overcome this spring tension, the wheel moves up, and an internal mechanism similar to a drum brake stops it from spinning. The forces and energy that made the wheel spin, combined with the continued friction and pull of the rope, can now force the cam to pinch the rope near its brake side exit point like the GriGri.

This friction-reducing wheel means feeding slack can be done exactly the same way as on a tube-style belay device. There is normally no need to manually keep the cam from rotating like on a GriGri or Edelrid Pinch. The brake hand only has to deal with the brake strand of the rope.

Lowering is done in the exact same way as a GriGri. The rope loops back over the rolled lip of the right side plate.

The Petzl NEOX on Single-Pitch Climbs

Petzl’s clever internal wheel worked as promised almost all the time. It was a significantly more intuitive and easier way to pay out slack, as it didn’t require any “trickery” with the brake hand.

Feeding Slack to Lead Climber

Almost all ABDs require that the brake hand while holding the brake side of the rope, disable an active camming mechanism to feed out slack. You have to overcome what the ABD is designed to do in a fall, the primary function of the device. Doing anything with the brake other than helping the non-brake hand feed slack is counterintuitive. It also strays away from what belayers do with tube-style devices like ATCs.

I will be the first to admit that the Petzl-prescribed method of disabling the cam on GriGris became second nature after decades of use. I didn’t have to think about it unless I was coming off a long test period of using a different device. But within a few clipping rope feeds, I reverted with no issues.

But the Petzl NEOX requires zero workarounds. My hands did exactly what they did when using an ATC or other tube-style device. My brake hand pushed the rope into the NEOX. But most of the rope feed was my non-brake hand pulling slack out. The NEOX freely fed it out with the same or even less resistance than a manual device.

This one difference between the NEOX and other ABDs was a massive advantage. My brake hand was only acting as a brake hand, not a cam block.

The ease of feeding the rope out was consistent, and the smaller the rope, the less resistance there was. Using the 8.6mm rope for desperate attempts on shorter routes with sketchy clips was so much less stressful and required no extra effort or thought.

I only short-roped a climber a handful of times during the 8-month testing period. It only happened when I didn’t expect the climber to need slack. In a panic, I tried to jerk the rope out with my left hand. I then used the “old” GriGri method to feed the rope.

Once I ingrained in my mind that smooth is fast with the Neox, short-roping was extremely rare. As long as I didn’t abruptly jerk the rope out, the NEOX didn’t engage.

At the gym, some older, fatter, fuzzy ropes required the tube-style belay device method to overcome the added friction. I had to push rope into the NEOX from the brake side to execute a quick feed. But the NEOX still fed better than many manual devices, even in this situation. And it was a world better than any other ABD I’ve used.

Catching Falls

The Petzl NEOX isn’t as quick to arrest falls as the GriGri or other ABDs, but I didn’t think this was a negative for lead climbing.

I was initially alarmed at the amount of “slip” of rope before the cam activated and pinched shut. It wasn’t a dangerous amount; it was a little shocking after decades of almost instantaneous action from a GriGri or other devices.

However, with the other devices, I learned to half-jump with any lead fall to deliver a soft catch. And on falls with a very short amount of rope out, I jumped hard. I launched into the air to protect the leader from a harsh landing as long as I wasn’t endangering anyone.

With the NEOX, I soon discovered that this small amount of rope slip reduced the force transferred to the climber. It slightly unloaded my end of the system in a controlled manner. The thinner the rope, the greater the effect. When I tested other ABDs concurrently, the greater jolt of shortfalls was noticeable.

This slip was a non-factor during top rope climbing since there is theoretically no free fall. I did, however, pay close attention when the climber was near the ground, as I would with any dynamic rope. Rope stretch makes it possible for a top rope climber to hit the ground even with a taut cord. I used the same logic with the NEOX to account for the small amount of rope slip.

NEOX on Multipitch Climbs

The same reasons that made the NEOX great for feeding slack also caused issues when belaying from the top down, as on multipitch climbs.

When the NEOX was hanging from an anchor, pulling slack out of the system was often followed by rope going right back out. This was visibly unnerving, and belaying required extreme caution. This was especially true given the familiarity with devices that capture this rope progress passively.

The NEOX engaged most of the time when the follower stopped climbing and weighted the rope, but not all the time. This makes sense when you think about what the wheel inside does. It is meant to let the rope pass when tension on the rope is low, which makes it excellent for feeding it out.

Sometimes, the climber sitting in the harness didn’t generate enough force to overcome the spring tension in the wheel — especially when there was a lot of rope out and a lot of rope friction. Again, it didn’t necessarily feel dangerous, but it was unnerving.

The NEOX did catch falls from the top-down, which is similar to top-roping falls, with which there were no issues.

Both of these observed functional deficiencies, and the relative heft and size of the NEOX were plenty for me to quickly write it off as an option for multipitch climbing.

Lowering the Climber & Single-Line Rappelling

Lowering the climber felt identical to using the GriGri. The rate of descent did require attentive pressure application on the lowering lever, more so with smaller diameter ropes. But this was the case for every ABD I tested. This was the same for rappelling with the NEOX on a single line.

I almost always wear a belay glove on my brake hand. This helped me feel confident in using sub-9mm cords while lowering or rappelling. I also used a Petzl FREINO belay carabiner on especially slippery cords. It has an extra “mini carabiner” on the spine through which you run the brake strand of the rope to provide another source of friction.

Durability

When the first GriGri landed in my hands 3 decades ago, I was worried about dust mucking up the works. But this has not once been an issue. Somehow, the GriGri has been resistant to malfunctioning due to dust, rain, or any other intruder common at the crags.

I did think the NEOX was more complex and inviting to dirt or debris interfering with mechanical function. But it never happened, and my local crags are extremely dirty and dusty when it’s dry, which it has been.

My first 30-plus-year-old GriGri has an immaculate track record. It’s still in constant use outdoors, holding up my “Ice Machine.” I am confident the NEOX will be the same. (Don’t tell Petzl what I’m doing with the original GriGri.) Petzl backs the NEOX with a 3-year warranty.

The Last Word on the Petzl NEOX

When I first saw images of the NEOX, I was somewhat of a naysayer. It seemed like an elegant solution, but I still didn’t think it would mitigate short roping during rushed clips. I thought I would have to revert to the GriGri method often, delaying the slack the leader may desperately need.

But, to my surprise, the Petzl NEOX performed as designed nearly every time. Experiencing a few short-roping incidents out of probably 50 or so belaying sessions (hundreds of clips) was remarkable. And even more so given the array of factors that could affect the NEOX’s mechanical function.

I can say with confidence that the Petzl NEOX is the best ABD for lead climbing on single-pitch routes. It is not a viable choice for me for multipitch climbing or top-down belaying. But for now, it is my go-to ABD for sport climbing.