I like the idea of 'anti panic' quite a lot as it is surprisingly easy to do the wrong thing when stuff suddenly goes awry. However, this device really hasn't been fun for me. It is very sensitive to rope drag when lowering and the 'panic' kicks in too early with some ropes if there's even a little drag or a lightweight climber.
In short, It's just not versatile enough for me to use.

The Matik may seem like a good belay device on the surface but do not be fooled. When setting up you have to put a bight of rope through the device and loop it around another part. When belaying on top rope the assisted breaking does not engage quick enough, and when belaying on lead it seems to catch too quickly to even use. When lowering the "safety" panic feature kicks in way too quickly and it would be faster to just climb down. I would not recommend this product at all.

The good folks from CAMP USA put on the CAMP USA Adventure Week for a few the Expert Gearheads here at Backcountry and holy heck was it one jam packed week of nothing but testing gear.

I was pretty excited to test out this belay device. I’ve used a bunch of tubular style belay devices and Gri-gri’s and wanted to give this one a go. I was incredibly impressed and want to add it to my gear arsenal.

Threading the Rope:
The exterior housing does not slide at all so you just slide the cam out and insert the rope and loop it around the cam. Then slide the cam back in and attach your locking biner.

Rope Diameters:
When I used this device is was on ropes that were either 10.1mm or 10.2mm and I had no issues with it. I wish I could have testing it out on the thinner ropes but the sweet spot for this device is the smaller ropes around 8.6-9.6 mm (Range is 8.6mm – 10.2mm) as compared to the range on the Gri-Gri2 which is 8.9-11.0mm.

Anti-Panic Function:
This is a really cool feature on this device. I’ve seen people get lowered way too fast on Gri-Gri’s so naturally I wanted to see how this function worked. It was really great feeling the device engage as the climber was lowered too fast.

Critical Components:
These are the parts that the rope comes in contact with (high wear areas) and are all made of Stainless Steel).

Paying Out Rope:
Given that we were using a rope that was on the thicker end for this device, it was a tad hard giving rope to the leader but it was not overly hard.

All-In-All:
I’d be far more comfortable handing this device to a new belayer and trusting them than giving them a Gri-Gri.

If you have any questions at all, let me know and I'm more than happy to talk belay devices or any other climbing gear.

Jared D.
Expert Gearhead
801.736.4336
jdowns@backcountry.com