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I acquired my Climbing Innovations S.A.K.A. from Manuel Ortega in 2019.
The Climbing Innovations S.A.K.A. is 104 mm. tall, 75 mm. wide, 26 mm. thick, and weighs about 145 g for the ascender and 261 g. for the full kit.
The S.A.K.A. consists of an eccentric cam ascender with a 6.5 mm. bungy sewn to the top and a 15.5 mm. webbing strap sewn to the bottom. It comes with two small carabiners and a small wire-gate carabiner, as well as a foot loop sewn from 25 mm. webbing.
The ascender consists of a stamped, anodized aluminum shell and aa cam assembly arranged in a right-handed configuration. The rope channel is 17 mm. wide. The pivot is centered 49 mm. from the inside of the rope channel. The top eye where the bungy is tied is 15.2 mm. in diameter. The bottom slot for the webbing is 15 mm. wide and 3.5 mm. tall. Small 5.2 and 6.5 mm. holes in the rear of the shell serve no obvious function, and were probably used to facilitate manufacture.
The cam is spring-loaded and has a (3.4.2)((3.2)^3(4.3) tooth pattern. The cam radius increases from 39 to 57 mm. over an angle of 42°, giving a 27° cam angle. A spring-loaded
The outside of the rope channel is printed with an up-pointing arrow with "S. A. K. A.," "Self Advancing Knee Ascender," "Not for Life Support," and "0118." A tag on the webbing strap says "Climbing Innovations." and ".com."the small carabiners have "CI 4kN" in raised letters. The wire-gate carabiner is printed with "S.A.K.A.," "kN↔ 22 ↕ 7 @ 7" (where "@" represents an open carabiner icon), "Not for Life Support," and "1217."
The S.A.K.A. ascender reminds me of the handleless eccentric cam chest ascenders that many cavers use for their bungy-system knee ascenders, but the S.A.K.A. was designed specifically as a knee ascender. The rig is lightweight, and seems to function reasonably well for a bungy rig.
Why would anyone would market an ascender that is not rated for life support? Ascenders are obviously intended as life support devices, and selling one that is not seems like a very bad idea. I suspect that tort liability lawyers were involved, something that Americans would understand, but may make no sense to people who live in more civilized countries.
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