Front	Rear	Top
Left	Right	Bottom

Front View - Activated	Rear View - Activated	Side View - Activated

Front View: Open for Rigging	Rear View: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my Wild Country Revo from backcountry.com in 2018.

The Wild Country Revo is 87 mm. long, 106 mm. wide, 43 mm. high, and weighs 280 g.

The Revo consists of front and rear shells, an inertia reel assembly, two spring-loaded rope guides, and a latch mechanism. The shell plates appear to be forged from aluminum alloy and then anodized. Each plate consists of a 64 mm. diameter circular center with wings on top to support the rope guides and extensions below to create a 14 5 mm. wide, 15.5 mm. high carabiner attachment eye. Each shell plate has six hoes on its left side. The plates are connected by a double-ended semi-tubular rivet that also serves as the cam axle. The rear plate has a spring-loaded plastic catch that releases the mechanism that locks the plates in the closed position. When released, the front plate can turn about 60° clockwise with respect to the rear plate, opening the Revo enough to allow rigging.

The top of the Revo has two spring-loaded cast stainless steel rope guides. The two guides are identical. Each guide has a four-ribbed V-shaped groove for the rope, a projection that can be actuated by the inertia reel lever, and a housing for the latch mechanism. The guides are normally used in their "down" position, but when activated, spring upward to their activated position. In this position, a second projection moves downward and engages a notch on the side of the inertia reel, preventing reel rotation in the direction that would feed rope to the climber. Each guide has a decorative plastic insert on its outer side.

The inertia reel is 60 mm. in diameter and 15.6 mm. thick. It has a 14.3 mm. wide V-groove that is lined with 12 shallow ribs. Two are short and straight, five leave the base of the groove in a counter-clockwise direction at various angles, with three of these curving outward, one remaining essentially straight, and one curving clockwise, and the remaining five mirroring the preceding five by starting in a clockwise direction. Because of the rib arrangement, the depth of the V varies, being shallowest at the straight rib (10.4 mm. deep, with a 7 mm. bottom width) and deepest 90° from these (17.2 mm. deep, with a 2 mm. bottom width). The sides of the inertia reel have a complex geometry. Each side supports a spring-loaded stainless steel lever with a complex curved shape. When the inertia reel spins rapidly, the lever rotates on its axle, and one end strikes a projection on the bottom of the rope guides, causing them to move into their activated position.

The front of the Revo is printed with "Ø8.5-11.0mm," a double-ended curved arrow showing the rope path, and "WILDCOUNTRY." the rear is printed with "REVO" and decorative marks. The right side of the front piece is printed with "CE," "2008," "PAT.PEND.," "UIAA 129," and "EN51515-1." The corresponding side of the rear plate is printed with "B 52 18 03 00170," "MASE IN ITALY," and a book-with-an-"i" icon. The plastic inserts in the guides have "REVO" molded in depressed letters.

Comments

The Revo is a bidirectional assisted locking belay device. It is not intended as a substitute for proper belaying, but rather as a backup. As the directions state, "Be aware that if the REVO does not lock it is because you are doing your job as a belayer and controlling the rope correctly."

The Revo is significantly different that most belay devices, so it warrants spending more time to learn how it operates. Once I understood its functions, I found that it worked rather well. When I do my job, the Revo does nothing to interfere. If I deliberately fail to do my job, the Revo normally catches the test dummy (that’s a person) within a meter or so.

My main complaint with the Revo is that it is a large and relatively heavy device that I would be unlikely to carry into the field. I would be more likely to use it for gym climbing where size and weight don't matter as much.

My Revo was manufactured in March of 2018.

Addendum

I acquired some partialy-disassembled Revo mechanisms from Miles Bradshaw in 2023. THese give a better view of some of the internal mechanisms, so I'll show them here.

Plate	Plate with Latch Mechanism	Plate with Latch Mechanism and Reel