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LemonCMI QXD Personal Escape Device
(#1200)

 

Front Rear
Front Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my CMI QXD Personal Escape Device from CMI in 2009.

This CMI QXD Personal Escape Device is 150 mm. tall, 48 mm. wide, 10 mm. thick, and weighs 103 g. The QGD is milled from 9.5 mm. aluminum alloy plate and then anodized. There are four 12 mm. rope holes on 24.4 mm. (1 in.) centers, and a 22 mm. eye.

One side of the QXD is printed with "Cmi," "MBS: 11,500 lbs," "Made in USA," and "QXD." The other side is printed with "Exceeds tests for NFPA 1983/2006 E 0710."

Comments

InstructionsThe QXD is designed "to be a lightweight, pocket-sized, pre-rigged, rapidly deployable, easy-to-use rapid egress system for interior firefighters." The instruction show several ways of threading the main rope through the holes and around the device, and suggest that "you try some various rigging configurations before using the QXD in the real world." They also warn that rock and ice climbing and caving are "hazardous by their nature."

The CMI web site gives more background:

When sliding down a rope, the natural instinct is to squeeze the rope to slow or stop the descent. We took this natural instinct and built it into the QXD. Unlike other devices, the QXD is designed to be used with a gloved hand and the natural instinct of squeezing the rope stops or slows the descent. This pays off in additional safety under trying conditions.

The instructions carry the warning, "USE ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH MANUFACTURER’S INSTRUCTIONS." I find it curious that nowhere do those instructions recommend clipping into the QXD. I certainly do NOT recommend simply grabbing it with one gloved hand and leaping over the edge.

This might be an interesting curio for the firemen, but for cavers and climbers who value their lives, I recommend choosing another descender. For our purposes, I give this a lemon award: Lemon

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