Front	Rear	Right Side

Left Side	Front: Open for Rigging	Rear: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

Kevin M. Mai ZhongJie helped me acquire two #659B descenders (one pink, one black) from I Climb in 2023.

The I Climb #659B is 131 mm. tall, 86 mm. wide, and 41 mm. thick, and weighs 434 g.

The descender consists of a pivoting cam assembly and anvil mounted between a back plate and a swinging front plate. The two plates are hot t-forged from 6061 aluminum alloy and then anodized They are 4 mm. thick, for the most part. The front plate pivots on the cam axle. It can rotate about 250° clockwise with respect to the rear plate allowing one to open the device for rigging. The two plates have inward dog-leg bends near the bottom, where an 18 mm. attachment holes is punched through the sloping portion of the rear plate dog-leg and a corresponding slot is cut in the front plate. The top right corners are flared outward, and 12.5 mm holes are punched there. The front plate has a slot for capturing the head of one of the two pins that secures the anvil, and an arch to clear the pin as the plate opens. A spring-loaded button in the anvil engages a second hole in the front plate, locking it in the closed position. A spring-loaded plastic cleat is mounted on the back plate below the anvil, where it provides drag to help keep the device from sliding under its own weight.

The cam and anvil are cast from stainless steel. The cam can rotate about 25° clockwise with respect to the rear plate. When loaded, the cam rotates clockwise, and the flat top surface of the cam squeezes the rope against the anvil. A lever mounted on the top of the cam engages the cam, controlling and limiting its motion. A spring-loaded handle on the rear of cam gives the user more leverage to release the cam.

The front plate has a forged climber illustration, forged dashed indicating the rope path, and two forged hearts. It is printed with "iclimb®" and "Made in Taiwan." The rear plate has a forged arrow labeled "UP." It is printed with "Patented," "iclimb®," "CE 0598," "EN12841 type B/C," ?MAX 130kg," "ROPE Ø 10.5-11.5 mm.," "Made in Taiwan," and a book-with-an-"i" icon.

Comments

The I Climb #659B is a stop bobbin, although it may not appear to be at first. The rope follows the traditional bobbin "S" path, and the lower bobbin, although of an unusual shape for a bobbin, rotates about its center on an axle fixed to the rear plate.

The I Climb #659B functions like a normal stop bobbin, although the control handle location may seem unusual to people used to the traditional design. Personally, I prefer the traditional design because I can control the handle by squeezing it and the frame together, rather than trying to pull a lever with no convenient tactile reference feedback. Putting the control handle on the same side of the device as the trailing line puts the handle is on the same side as the braking hand. This is not good.

The hook on the front plate allows opening the device without removing it from the harness attachment. I like this. The button latch provides a fairly effective means of keeping the plate from opening accidentally, as does the shale of the hook.

The I Climb #659B closely resembles the TAZ Lov3.

History

Yuan Hong Hing Co., Ltd. (元鴻興有限公司) is an ISO-certified Taiwanese firm. Their products' CE certifications are legitimate. The company did hot forging for Omega Pacific before Omega Pacific shut down. I Climb Safety is the brand name that Yuan Hong Hing Co. uses to appeal to Western markets.