Vergo

Easy use

Easy to use, very easy to control decent.

Great product hold my 300lb. But up inthe tree while saddle hunting

Vergo Review for saddle hunting

I’ve been using the Vergo with a hand ascender and as a repel device for a month over approximately 15 hunts. I have the following comments: Pros: Compact, lightweight, and very intuitive to use. The rotating front plate makes it a breeze to attach. It is very positive when engaged and makes for a low anxiety trips up and down. It stows easily in side pocket gear bags. Hunters, however, have different situational demands versus climbers, and here are some issues and mediations: Its small size means it’s easy to drop, which I did. I now keep a dedicated carabiner attached so that its profile is larger and I can leave it attached to my down rope. The added weight of the carabiner is enough to keep it from sliding around unexpectedly and it keeps it ready to be used quickly. I’m getting used to it, but the high impact plastic lever still feels thin and weak and potentially breakable in my hand. I often have to thread my way through metal steps and branches and I just keep having the sense that it could break off somehow. The same is true with the handle axle. It just seems a little bit light duty. I know you have gone through extensive tests and very likely tried to break it in all kinds of ways but it’s a feeling I just can’t shake. Hunters wear bulky clothes. On one of my earlier down trips I found that camo fabric had unexpectedly run up along the down line and jammed the device in the bottom of the device on the lower right-hand intake side as I was repelling down. There are of course fixes for this like pulling up a bit and watching out for clothing, but it’s absolutely an issue and if it were at night or in bad weather or an emergency descent situation I could see this going south in a hurry. I always carry prussic loops and could bail myself out, but given the endorsements by saddle hunters and single rope technique users you might put a caution in the text material. Jamming fabric is not something one usually thinks about until it happens. Congrats again on all the great work on this and feel free to contact me if you think that I could help. JKS