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I acquired my Rock Empire Guard from Climbing Terekpl in 2012.
The Rock Empire Guard is a belay tube. Mine is 55 mm. long, 46 mm. wide, 100 mm. high, and weighs 56 g. It is forged from aluminum alloy and soft anodized. It has two hourglass slots and a plastic-covered cable keeper. The slots are 36 mm. long and 16 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 13 mm. below the ends of the slots.
One side is printed with "Rock Empire®" and "N022/10."
The following closely-related belay tubes include the Rock Empire Guard as an example:
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Each of these is 55±1 mm. long and 47±1 mm. wide, and has a weight in the 54±3 g. range. Their slots are all 35±1 mm. long and 16 mm. wide. The main differences are that most have cable keepers and U-shaped notches on both ends, but some have rod keepers and V-shaped notches on the high end.
These have several distinctive features, but overall, perform like most devices of this type. The rope slots are hour-glass shaped, but this does not appear to affect their performance. They are slightly asymmetrical with a high and a low end, giving two distinct riggings. One would expect a difference in friction for the two riggings, with more friction if the braking line runs over the shorter end; however, I do not notice much difference.
Most of these have shallow U-notches at both ends. The Clog Flyer, Ellis Brigham Climb and Unknown have V-notches at the high end, so I call these notched belay tubes. The V-notches are not as tall and acute as those on the Trango Jaws and its equivalents, so they do not provide as much braking. The U-notches on the others are are too shallow to noticeably amplify braking.
I prefer the ones with the rigid rod keeper. For the others, the plastic-coated cable keeper is moderately flexible, but stiff enough that it tends to stay out from under the rope.
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I acquired my Rock Empire Guard II from Climbing Terekpl in 2012. I acquired another from Premiere Consignment, LLC on eBay in 2018.
The Rock Empire Guard II is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and soft anodized. Mine is 87 mm. long, 45 mm. wide, 98 mm. high, and weighs 62 g. The Guard II has two hourglass slots with ribbed V-grooves at one end. The slots are 35 mm. long and 14 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 12 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The Guard II has a release hole at one end, underneath the v-grooves, and a horizontal carabiner eye at the end opposite the slots. It also has a plastic-covered cable keeper.
One side has a printed Rock Empire logo. The other side is printed with "GUARD II," a rigging illustration, "N067/11," and "ø7.8-11mm."
The Rock Empire Guard II also has several distinctive features, but overall, performs like most devices of this type. The rope slots are hour-glass shaped, but this does not appear to affect their performance. Like the Guard, the Guard II is slightly asymmetrical, giving two distinct riggings. The plastic-coated cable keeper is moderately flexible, but stiff enough that it tends to stay out from under the rope.
The Camnal is nearly identical, except the Camnal has lightening holes and does not have lateral indents on the exterior.
[ Top | Guard | Guard II | Gym | Twin | Return to Belay Tubes ]
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Ondřej Belica of Climbing CZ sro sent me this Rock Empire Guard SB in 2022.
The Guard SB is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and soft anodized. Mine is 90 mm. long, 42 mm. wide, 91 mm. high, and weighs 72 g. The slots are 34 mm. long and 15 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 19 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The Guard SB has a 6 mm. diameter tubular wear pin on the end of the slots opposite the v-notches.
The Guard SB has a release hole at one end, underneath the v-grooves, and a horizontal carabiner eye at the end opposite the grooves. It has a plastic-covered cable keeper.
One side has a printed X-shaped logo and "Rock Empire." The other side is printed with "N011/18" in fine print. This side has a sticker printed with "Guard SB," "EN15151-2," "Ø8,7–11 mm," and a rigging illustration.
The Rock Empire Guard SB performs much like most devices of this type. The wear pin is unique, and may help the Guard SB last longer, but wear is not normally an issue for climbers who, on average, have much cleaner ropes than cavers. The plastic-coated cable keeper is moderately flexible, but stiff enough that it tends to stay out from under the rope.
[ Top | Guard | Guard II | Guard SB | Twin | Return to Belay Tubes ]
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I acquired my Rock Empire Gym from Falling Rocks in 2017.
The Rock Empire Gym is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and soft anodized. Mine is 58 mm. long, 25 mm. wide, 103 mm. high, and weighs 53 g. The slot is31 mm. long and 15 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 26 mm. below the ends of the slot.
One side has a printed Rock Empire logo. The other side is printed with "N033/13," a rigging illustration, "Gym," and "ø8.9-11mm."
The Rock Empire Gym is a single-rope notched belay tube. I have these similar ones in my collection:
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Each of these is 58±1 mm. long, 25±1 mm. wide, and weigh 56±3 g.
The Rock Empire Gym's name implies that it is designed for gym climbing, and if you restrict the use of these three to use in gyms, they should work fine in the hands of a competent user. In the gym, most of my remaining comments become moot. If you should consider taking any of these into the "real world," read on:
These are all designed for single-rope belaying only. Although this saves a tiny amount of weight, it does not compensate for losing the ability to do double-rope rappels. Weight is not normally a factor when belaying "sport climbs," and the Wild Country VC Pro (for example) has two slots while only adding 6 g.
These each have a V-slots that provide additional friction for belaying or rappelling. Each side of the trailing groove has three V-shaped slots, giving the grooves "teeth" to grip the rope more effectively. The teeth do not have the narrow angle found on the Salewa Tubus, Singing Rock, or Trango Jaws, so they do not create the same wedging action. For this reason, their friction is lower and I find them less effective.
These are rigged rigged like the ATC, with the V-slots on the brake hand end of the rope. Alternately, they may be reversed to disable the V-slots, but the braking friction in a fall will be less.
All of these have thick walls and considerable depth, which helps them stay cooler than they would if they had been designed for minimum weight.
Although there is nothing "wrong" with any of these, they are too specialized for my taste. They are fine for the gym, but in the field I would rather carry a few more grams and have the capability to do double-rope rappels. I also prefer the additional grip provided by the Trango Jaws and its equivalents.
[ Top | Guard | Guard II | Guard SB | Gym | Return to Belay Tubes ]
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Ondřej Belica of Climbing CZ sro sent me this Rock Empire Twin in 2023.
The Twin is forged from aluminum alloy and soft anodized. Mine is 94 mm. long, 38 mm. wide, 96 mm. high, and weighs 78 g. The slots are 34 mm. long and 13 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 25 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The Twin has a release hole at one end, underneath the v-grooves. The other end has an interesting X-shaped carabiner eye at the end opposite the grooves. This eye allows attaching a carabiner in either a horizontal of vertical orientation.
The Twin has a plastic-covered cable keeper.
One side is printed with "Ø7.8–10.5 mm," "EN 15151–2," a book-with-an-"i" icon, a climber-and-rope figure, "TEIN", a hind-holding-a-rope figure, and "227RB019J0840." The other side is printed with a rigging illustration, an X-shaped logo and "Rock Empire," and "PAT."
The Twin performs much like most devices of this type. The ability to orient a carabiner either vertically or horizontally is rather nice, but not essential. The plastic-coated cable keeper is rather stiff enough and it tends to stay out from under the rope.
[ Top | Guard | Guard II | Guard SB | Gym | Twin ]
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