With its integrated spur and a wire gate closure along its spine, the Petzl Freino Autolocking Carabiner stands out among other carabiners. The spur is designed to serve as a supplementary braking mechanism when descending on a single rope.
It can work with most belay devices but it is particularly suited to work with Petzl Stop, Simple, Grigri, I’D, or Huit descenders. By running your rope through the spur, friction is increased and thus you gain additional braking power to slow your descent. This is useful during rescue operations when you have to lower an injured climber. Your combined weight may greatly increase the speed of descent.
The Petzl Freino is an autolocking carabiner that has a key lock nose and a gate. The nose is notchless and the gate is slotted assuring a snag-free closure. Unlocking is accomplished by simply rotating the Twist Lock sleeve. This sleeve has a low profile and quickly shuts itself when released. It is thus easy to manipulate it even when wearing gloves.
The carabiner is constructed out of hot-forged aluminum 7000 which makes it less likely to break and fracture. It is also because of this that it weighs only 85 grams. For its breaking strength, the major axis has a rating of 25 kN while the minor axis has 10 kN. With the gate open, the strength is 9 kN. The gate has an opening of 15 mm.
The Petzl Freino Autolocking Carabiner’s frame and gate are colored olive while the sleeve is red.