VRcaver wrote:It is not used outside of the US because it was invented in the US and my "naive" comment holds. In the US we use(d) bobbins as well as racks. While I can't speak for the people who invented the micro rack, when solving the problems with the rack it solved other problems with other descenders at the same time. In my experience in the US, the people who use bobbins are doing so because they want to be more consistent with "European" vertical work, not because there is any particular reason. When have you heard that opinion within Europe?
Surely, people where you are who used bobbins in preference to racks and who moved to micro-racks were doing it in a particular vertical caving environment.
The 'problems' there for bobbin users don't necessarily exist to the same extent over here, nor are the plus points of a micro-rack necessarily as large.
The micro-rack certainly seems versatile, with good variable-friction ability, but the value of that ability does depend on how much variable friction is actually needed. Here, where drop lengths tend to be shorter (even to the extent of pitches being deliberately broken into sections where long hangs were possible) the range of friction needed may be smaller.
VRcaver wrote:I'm sure it has many good points, and that I could get along with one if I had one, but if I did have one, I suspect I'd still end up using a Stop much of the time, due to its good points and the fact that for me, the Stop doesn't have any significant drawbacks.
That is a bold statement from someone who has apparently not used a micro rack. And, for the record, I now use a primary device that is different than a micro rack as my preferred device, but the constrained thinking of many Stop users will miss all the new opportunities for improvement out there.
I don't think it
is a bold statement - personally, the things some people say are 'problems' with a Stop really aren't problems for me.
Like anyone else, my choice of what kit to use is based on my own opinions and the kind of vertical work I do, and someone else can't expect that I see problems where I don't experience them.
Stops are less 'smooth' than various other devices, but personally I rarely have a problem descending smoothly when using one.
Some people get a tired left hand using a Stop, but for whatever combination of reasons, I don't find that an issue.
A Stop might cause somebody else meaningful pain to use, but that's Somebody Else's Problem.
VRcaver wrote:I suppose that car made in 1950 does have its advantages beyond personal aesthetics, but in >99.9% of situations you pay the price. If all you ever drive is that outdated vehicle you will never know what you are missing.
If someone was trying to sell me a car, I'd personally respond better if they were telling me all the things it did well that would be likely to be of use to me, rather than telling me various things that were useful to them, or things they reckoned were wrong with my existing car which I didn't have a problem with, or not understanding that there were some things I liked about my existing vehicle which the one they were trying to sell was maybe less good at doing.
I wouldn't buy a car because it had sufficient leg-room for a 6'6" salesman, alloy wheels, a dock for an iphone, or a hitch for a trailer I don't have, however vital those things may be for someone else, or because it was good off-road when I only drove on tarmac (blacktop?).
Nor would I tell anyone else what car they should be buying.
I might drive a car with a sudden clutch or harsh brakes, but if I didn't find them to be an issue, however much someone else might hate them isn't my concern.
Naivety would only come into it if I meaningfully disliked something or was missing out on a feature which would actually be useful to me, but blindly assumed all cars were the same as mine.