Front View	Rear View
Top View	Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my heightec-PMI Vector from On Rope 1 in 2010. I acquired another in 2017 as part of Bob Thrun’s collection.

My heightec-PMI Vector is 101 mm. long, 69 mm. wide, 29 mm. high, and weighs 219 g.

The Vector consists of two pear-shaped aluminum plates enclosing an actuating lever and a rope anvil. Each plate has a 17.2 mm. high, 20.2 mm. wide attachment hole at the right side of the device. A 6 mm. stainless steel axle on the left side supports the actuating lever. The axle passes from front to back, passing in sequence through the front side plate (free to rotate), a cast stainless steel actuation lever, and the rear plate. The actuating lever is weakly spring-loaded counter-clockwise, forcing the bottom toward the anvil. The left side of the lever has cutouts to reduce weight, while the right side, which contacts the rope, is flat. The anvil is cast stainless steel. It is riveted to the rear plate. There is a cutout in the rear of the anvil to reduce weight. A pin on the anvil extends into a hole on the rear plate, preventing anvil rotation.

The outside of the front plate is printed with "D23A Vector," "heightec - PMI," "www.heightec.com," two marks with a double-ended arrow between labeled "CHECK CAM MOVEMENT BEFORE EACH USE," and a book-with-an-"i" icon. The inside of the rear plate is printed with "•Ø," "10.5-11 mm.," a picture of a rope with a loop at the top, an icon of a person with an arrow pointing upward beside them, "125kg," "CE 0120," "EN 353-2: 2002," "EN 358: 1999," "160610," "10.5-11 mm." again, and another "•Ø."

Comments

The D23A Vector is designed for a narrow range of rope diameters, 10.5-11 mm. This is smaller than the range that the "bigger-is-better" and industrial crowd seem to prefer.

The heightec-PMI Vector mechanism resembles that of the Ural Alp Basic ascender. It could be used as an ascender, but the like with the Basic, the lost motion in each step would make it an inefficient one.