The magic plate is one of many designs available. Cassin have one, and so do Kong, called the Gi-Gi, which is probably the best of the bunch in that its design allows real easy lowering of a second should that be required.
They 'rock' on longer multipitch routes. I use them for bringing up a second, and use my ATC for belaying leaders. They are also able to be used as an abseil device when you know how.
The Petzl reverso and reversino combine both the magic plate and ATC into one, but I've never used them. |