Is it better to have a regular ATC with those little "teeth" on one side, or without?

Question

Is the one without the teeth as secure as the ATC with the teeth?

Answer 1

the 'teeth' are more helpful when you're climbing in colder climates and your rope gets icey, I use mine for the old nasty gym ropes.

It grips just as well as any other ATC, if you're just going to be climbing indoors with it, go for teethless, it's cheaper.

I agree with the guy above me, grigris are more convenient

but I realize that some gyms don't allow grigris, and it's much easier to lead belay off of an ATC.

edit: if you're sport climbing the teethless (toothless? lol) ATC will work just as well, it's a belay device, and it will catch you.

and like I said, it's cheaper, which is always nice.

Answer 2

The one without the teeth is secure.  The teeth give it slightly different frictional properties but I've taken lead falls as long as 40 feet without slipping on a regular ATC.  I think it's just a way to make the product look fancier for marketing because the normal ATC works great.

Answer 3

If you are used to belaying without "teeth", then a device with "teeth" will take some time getting used to.

The device with "teeth" requires the rope to be more parallel with itself when it is sliding through the device. This can slow you down at first so make sure that tell your climber to slow down if you cant keep up. This goes for feeding out rope for a lead or pulling out slack on top rope.

As for breaking ability, I have found that the teeth do assist in locking off, but in the end you should always use proper belaying technique. It doenst matter if you are using an ATC (teeth or no teeth), gri-gri, cinch, Super-8.... proper belaying technique is what will keep your climber alive.

Answer 4

depends on your belay skill  personally i like teethless because teeth only destroy the rope and are not nessesary for stoping a fall   but instead of a atc i would use a grigri