Front	Rear

Left Side	Right Side

Front: Open for Rigging	Rear: Open for Rigging	Handle extended

Technical Details

I acquired my Beal Birdie from Backcountry.com in 2019.

The Birdie is 104 mm. long, 50 mm. wide, 46 mm. high, and weighs 223 g.

The Birdie consists of a forged aluminum back, forged aluminum cover, cast stainless steel cam, stainless steel anvil, forged aluminum cam arm, aluminum handle, and miscellaneous parts. The back and cover are irregular in shape. The cam rotates on a pin riveted to the center of the back plate, with a strong spring holding the cam in the open direction. The lever rotates on a pin in the end of the cam lever, and a spring holds the lever in the closed position. The anvil is a block pinned to the right end of the back plate. The cam and anvil provide a rope channel. The front cover pivots on the anvil rivet. There are provisions for a locking screw to prevent opening the cover without using tools to remove the screw.

The front of my Birdie is printed with a Birdie-rope-hand icon, "BIRDIE," the Beal logo, and a climber icon. The rear is printed with a divided line segment with the division marks labeled below with "8.5," "9," "10," and "10 mm" and the three segments labeled above with "**," "***," and "**," respectively; "EN15151-1:2012;" "CE0598;" "idN:0334 05/19;" a book-with-an-"i" icon; and the UIAA logo.

Comment

The Birdie is well made. It is a complex device that requires more training and familiarization than most devices, much like the Petzl Grigri. Like the Grigri and some others, the Birdie provides an autolocking feature that may be useful on big walls where the belayer is snoozing. I’d rather have my second awake. Of the bunch, the Birdie is one of the most compact - a nice feature for those who don't want to haul excess baggage.

My Birdie did not come with a locking screw, but these are readily available at any decent hardware store. The locking screw has some applications where the Kinetic should not be removed from the rope (e.g., in commercial climbing gyms), but the normal climber would choose not to install one.

The Birdie is essentially identical to the Edelweiss Kinetic. Although the details are different, the Beal Birdie has many similarities to the Mad Rock Lifeguard. Of the two, the Lifeguard is much lighter.