Petzl Traxion pulley comparison
Petzl makes a nice family of pulleys with the surname “Traxion”. They all share a few common design elements: a spring-loaded toothed cam that lets the rope (or device) move in one direction but not the other, and a high efficiency, steel sealed bearing pulley wheel (aka sheave).
Technically they are a “progress capture” pulley, which means when hauling a load, when you let go of the rope, the load does not slide back down. That might sound like a one trick pony, but these little devices are helpful for lots more than just that.
(Tip: It's best to use Traxions on an oval or HMS locker, and not a D shaped locker.)
You can use them as:
an ascender
a progress capture in any sort of hauling rigging
the rope grab in a mechanical advantage system
part of set up for a Tyrolean traverse
top rope solo setup rope grab
and more!
They come in a variety of sizes, prices, weights and best uses, so let's take a closer look!
Purchasing links below go to HowNOT.com, an online gear store run by my friend Ryan Jenks. These are not affiliate marketing links. I provide them as a courtesy to you so you can easily buy one if you'd like to support Ryan and his work.
Nano Traxion
The Nano is the smallest of the bunch, and the one that's probably gonna end up on the harness of most alpine climbers. The carabiner hole is fairly small, so you can't rotate it around most locking mechanisms. Also, the spring loaded cam can’t be held open, which IMO is no big deal, but some might care.
Also comes in “tactical” black color , which is the cool one that I have. =^)
Best use: alpine climbing, crevasse rescue, self rescue and emergency ascender for the gram counters.
Photo here is with the device open to show the cam mechanism. In actual use, you need to close and clip the black gate.
Micro Traxion
The micro hits the sweet spot for many: ease of use, functionality, and versatility. It has a larger clipping hole which rotates nicely through most locking carabiner sleeves, and you can retract the cam if you want to, which lets you use it as a normal pulley.
Best use: alpine climbing, self rescue, lightweight pack hauling.
Mini Traxion
The Mini was discontinued quite a few years ago, because honestly, the original design wasn’t the greatest. However, it got a complete refresh in 2023, and the new one is pretty sweet!
The major design improvement: you can open the mechanism and load / unload the rope while the device is clipped to an anchor, which makes it much less likely to get dropped. It is a bit heavy on the heavy side for most alpine and multi pitch climbing.
Best use: moderate hauling on big walls or long routes, rope access
Pro Traxion
The Pro is the largest, beefiest, and most $pecialized of the family. (It's also the one I don't have, so I don't have a picture of it.) Like the redesigned Mini, this one can be opened while the device is clipped to an anchor.
This also has been through a few design iterations, and the new one is a big improvement over the last version.
The locking mechanism is apparently quite a bit more secure than the previous version. Petzl added a swivel to the top, which can help the device align to the optimum direction of pull. There's also a connection point on the bottom, which can help in various flavors of mechanical advantage rigging and hauling systems.
Best use: big wall climbing with large loads, professional rope access and rigging
photo credit: HowNOT2.com
Finally, check out this short Instagram video that shows using the Mini Traxion for Tyrolean traverse, rope ascending, and large load 1:1 hauling.
(If the embedded video below breaks, you can try here.)