Front	Rear	Top
Left	Right	Bottom

Technical Details

I acquired my Edelrid Gigajul on eBay from Got Your Gear in 2019.

The Edelrid Gigajul is an oddly shaped notched belay tube. Mine is 37 mm. long, 108 mm. wide, 44 mm. high, and weighs 124 g. It consists of two cast stainless steel blocks riveted between aluminum side plates. A third cast stainless steel block rides in slots between these plates. The sliding block has a spring-loaded ball or plunger that engages indentations on the inside of the side plates, holding the block at the selected end of the slots. The side plates and the sliding block have plastic inserts. A third aluminum plate forms a central rib, and also provides a carabiner eye. The slots are 35 mm. long and 12 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 27 mm. below the ends of the slots. There is a stiff plastic-covered cable keeper with a molded plastic cover at one end.

One side plate is printed with a factory icon and "2016 11 u01." The side plate on that side is printed with "BRAKE ASSIST," arrow, climber, and hand-holding-a-rope icons showing the rigging for brake assist mode, "EDELRID," and "GIGAJUL." the insert on the other side is printed with "MANUAL" and arrow, climber, and hand-holding-a-rope icons showing the rigging for manual mode. The inserts in the sliding block have the letter "A" inside a triangle pointing toward the notched end and "M" inside a triangle pointing toward the eye end. One side of the cable cover has "Ø7.1-10.0mm" molded in raised letters, and the other side has "EN 15151-2" and a book-with-an-"i" icon, similarly molded.

Comments

The manual mode is straightforward, matching the operation of traditional notched belay tubes in what Edelrid calls the "Tube Mode." In this mode, the belay carabiner rides against the flat bottom portion of the plates. In the assisted breaking mode, the sliding block is placed at the other end of the device, and the belay carabiner rides below the botches in the plate. When the climber falls, the rope pulls the carabiner into the notch, where it wedges the rope against the block below the carabiner eye. This provides additional friction beyond that provided by the belayer - in effect, it provides "power brakes."

Warning: The belayer must still provide normal braking when using the Assisted braking mode!

The rigging information printed on the side of the Gigajul can cause confusion. The arrows do not refer to the rope but rather to the position of the sliding block for the indicated mode. Had they been white instead of green, their meaning would have been clearer.

Although it functions much like a belay tube, the Gigajul is huge. It is heavier than any of the belay tubes in my collection. The tube mode does not provide enough friction for my taste. The assisted braking mode provides the additional friction that I prefer. Unfortunately, the Gigajul is designed for ropes ranging from 7.1 to 10 mm. diameter. I normally use 11 mm. ropes for rock and 9 mm. is my lower limit for snow. The Gigajul will not accommodate the former, and the smaller ropes it accommodates are smaller than what I prefer using under normal field conditions. Although I like the clever design, the Gigajul does not fit my needs.