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Lory Pro
Sirius
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I acquired my Skylotec Lory Pro from Skylotec North America L.P. in 2021.
My Skylotec Lory Pro is 130 mm. tall, 76 mm. wide, 36 mm. thick, and weighs 361 g.
The Lory Pro is a shaped like a flattened and deformed avocado.
The Lory Pro consists of four major components: the body, the rotating cam, a cover plate, and an actuating lever assembly.
The body and cover plate are forged from aluminum. Superficially, they are mirror images of each other, although there are some details where this symmetry breaks down. In other, more practical words, the front cover and rear body are roughly the same thickness, and the seam between the two splits the closed device in half. A 6.4 mm. stainless steel rivet joins the front and back near the top. Each piece has a cast stainless steel insert, and the inserts are shaped so that with the covers closed, the inserts form a groove for 10 mm. diameter rope.
The cam assembly pivots on a roughly 15 mm. stainless steel axle attached to the body. The attachment method is not clearly visible. A spring-loaded button protruding from the cam axle passes through a hole in the front plate when the cover is closed.
The bottom of the body and cover have aligned 18 mm. holes that form the attachment point. The body has a cast stainless steel anvil next to the hole. The anvil has a U-shaped groove for the rope to run over. The anvil and lever assembly are held by a 5 mm. stainless steel rivet.
The rotating cam is cast steel. It has a webbed design with several reinforcing ribs. The right side of the cam has a rounded V-shaped rope channel with about a 6 mm. minor diameter at the base of the V. The left side has two small grooves to provide a finger grip for feeding rope. The bottom of the cam has a flat area that squeezes the rope against the lower anvil when the cam rotates counter-clockwise (i.e., when it closes).
The lever assembly consists of a control lever connected to the cam by a steel link. Pulling the lever downward forces the link upward, opening the cam; however, once the lever passes a certain point, the link disengages and the cam rotates closed again under rope tension. At this point, raising the lever opens the cam; but again, the action stops if the lever moves too far.
The cover is printed with "A-041," "LORYPRO," a scanner code, a rigging anchor icon with a curved line to a hand icon showing the rope path, a book-with-an-"i" icon, the Skylotec logo, "SKYLOTEC," "Im Mühlengrund 6-8," "D-56566 Neuwled," "202565-029." a factory icon, "01/2021," "press& slide," "Avoid descending into el., therm., and chem. hazards.," "Use only compatible rope and lanyards,", "EN 795-B:2012," "Single person use With Rope for Lory Pro," "EN 12841-C," "•10-12mm., 225kg," "EN341:2011/2A," "•11mm 30-180kg," "H190m, Tmin -20°C," "ANSI/ASSE Z359.3," "10.5-11mm, 50-141kg," "ANSI/ASSE Z359.4," "•11mm, H190m," "1-person load," "59-141kg," "Max. n. of descents, 28", and "meets CSA Z259.11-05, Class F." The cam has a raised climber icon. The lower anvil has a molded hand-holding-a-rope icon.
The Lory Pro is one of the following closely-related devices:
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The Slovenian company Anthron made the Anthron Lory, Bornack Lory, Edelrid Eddy, Rollgliss R250, and Singing Rock Sir. The German firm Skylotec bought Anthron in 2016 and continued production with the Skylotec Lory and Lory Pro.
Some of these were sold as belay devices, and the others as descenders. The belay device and descender versions are not the same. The difference is subtle, and easily overlooked. The belay versions have a double-ended plunger pressed into the cam. The cam can be aligned so that spring-loaded balls rest in detents in the body and cover plates, lightly holding the cam in a position that allows relatively free motion of a slack rope.
| Belay Cam | Descender Cam |
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One would think that any of these could be used for either purpose, but Skylotec warns against this. They certified their Lory and Lory Pro to different standards. The lawyers have spoken, and I will not openly disagree (in the U.S.A., it is unwise to disagree with lawyers). Having tried both, I can say that the belay cam seems only slightly easier to use when belaying. With either cam, I could feed rope out easily by manually lifting the cam with an index finger. Taking rope in was even easier - I just pulled it through the device. I didn't notice any difference between the two cams when rappelling: rope tension easily overpowers the spring-loaded balls.
The Lory Pro has excellent workmanship and it functions well. It is solid, but it is also quite heavy. This should not be a problem for gym climbers or people who drive to the base of short sport climbs, but I wouldn't consider lugging one of these to a remote climb or up a wall.
The lever function provides partial backup for the user not knowing how to use the lever, but like all such devices, it relies on the user being completely incompetent rather than partially incompetent.
The lever action has a bizarre feature: once the user
moves the lever past the release point, the lever function reverses.
In other words, I would normally lower by pulling down
on the lever, with farther down meaning a faster lower. If I pull
too far, then the cam locks. At this point, I could resume lowering
by pushing the lever up, with farther up meaning a faster lower.
If I go to far again, the action reverses a second time, and the
lever operates as it originally did. I do not like this behavior. I found that if I somehow pull the handle into the lower lock position, I could "slam" the handle upward to the upper locking position with a negligible drop, bypassing the reverse-acting behavior. Sort this out at home, not
at the cliffs. I give this feature a lemon award: 
.
The lever assembly is greased. This grease will pick up sand and dirt. As an enclosed device, the Lory Pro is not well-suited for use on severely mud-covered ropes.
Is the Lory Pro really limited to 28 descents like the markings indicate? No, the "28" is derived from the EN341:2011 standard and has nothing to do with the descender.
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I acquired my Skylotec Sirius from GME Supply Company in 2021.
My Skylotec Sirius is 174 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, 46 mm. thick, and weighs 514 g.
The Sirius is a shaped like a flattened and deformed avocado. It consists of four major components: the body, the rotating cam, a cover plate, and an actuating lever assembly.
The body and cover plate are forged from aluminum. A 5 mm. stainless steel rivet joins them near the bottom. A hole in the cover and a curved slot in the body provide a lower attachment point. The slot allows opening the Sirius when connected a carabiner is connected through the hole and slot.
The top of the body and cover have aligned 19 mm. holes. A cast stainless steel becket riveted to the body spans the space between the holes, and forms an upper attachment point.
The body has a cast stainless steel anvil below the cam. The anvil has a U-shaped groove for the rope to run over. The anvil is attached to the body by a 5 mm. stainless steel rivet.
The cam assembly pivots on a stainless steel axle attached to the body. The attachment method is not clearly visible. A spring-loaded button protruding from the cam axle passes through a hole in the front plate when the cover is closed.
The rotating cam is cast steel. It has a webbed design with several reinforcing ribs. The left side of the cam has a rounded V-shaped rope channel with about a 6 mm. minor diameter at the base of the V. The right side has two small grooves to provide a finger grip for feeding rope. The bottom of the cam has a flat area that squeezes the rope against the anvil when the cam rotates clockwise (i.e., closed), as it would when loaded.
The lever assembly consists of a control lever mounted on the back of the body. The mechanism connecting the cam and lever is hidden within the housing. The lever is spring-loaded toward the "up" position, and a latch on the lever holds it in place. Depressing the latch frees the lever. Pulling the lever downward opens the cam; however, once the lever passes a certain point, the link disengages and the cam rotates closed again under rope tension. At this point, the ever must be returned to the vertical position to re-engage the cam.
The cover is printed with "MBS 15 kN" (upside-down), the Skylotec logo, "SKYLOTEC," "SIRIUS," a rigging anchor icon, a curved and partially-dashed arrow showing the rope path, A large Skylotec logo, "PRESS & SLIDE," and a hind around the rope arrow. The rear of the body is printed with a book-with-an-"i" icon, "Use only compatible rope.," "Inspect annually in accordance with instructions., " "Avoid descending into el., therm., and chem. hazards.," "Im Mühlengrund 6-8," "D-56566 Neůwled," "EN 12841-C," "•10-12mm., 250kg," "EN341:2011/2A," "•11mm, Tmin -30°C," "ANSI/ASSE Z359.4," "•11mm, H190m," "1-person load," "59-141kg/ 130 - 310 lb," and "Max. 28 descents." The handle retaining plate is printed with PARK," a square with two vertical bars, a curved dashed triangular arc pointing counterclockwise with "DESCENT" underneath, a square, and "STOP." The becket has "UP," a climbing anchor icon, and a line cast into it. The anvil has a hand-holding-a-rope icon cast into it. The handle has the Skylotec logo and "SKYLOTEC" molded into it.
The Sirius shares many features with the Bornak Lory, Edelrid Eddy, and Rollgliss R250, but the Sirius is marketed as descender rather than a belay device. The Sirius has excellent workmanship and it functions well. It is solid, but it is also quite heavy. This is normal for devices marketed for the industrial user, but the average caver or climber may find the weight objectionable.
Enclosed devices like the Sirius are generally not well-suited for use on severely mud-covered ropes.
Personally, I dislike control leavers that release operating cams when turned too far. While I can appreciate the safety arguments for features like this, particularly with inexperienced users, I find the feature annoying at best. This feature may not be too bad if one only rappels on clean, fast, rope, but on stiff, muddy cave rope, one may not be able to reduce friction enough without the cam locking. The engineering problem is simple: levers that change their function depending on position lead to devices that are sensitive to rope diameter, stiffness, and surface condition.
Seriously, is the Sirius really limited to 28 descents like the markings indicate? No, the "28" is derived from the EN341:2011 standard and has nothing to do with the descender.
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