Black Diamond
GridLock Magnetron

The BD Gridlock carabiner ushered in a new wave of anti-crossload belay carabiners. The hourglass shape and gate spur provides a compartmentalized carabiner which is easy to use - in the screwgate model.

With the gate unlocked, the belayer first clips the carabiner to their harness, placing the belay loop in the first compartment. They then pull the carabiner away from their harness, forcing the loop against the gate spur. The spur will open the gate and allow the loop to drop into the second compartment. To unclip, the gate is opened twice in succession. In practice, these are very fast and efficient motions - in the screwgate model. Unfortunately, the auto-locking magnetron version makes the process cumbersome - requiring the climber to unlock the carabiner twice when placing gear into the small end of the carabiner.

Note that it is possible to cross load this carabiner when linking hardware, especially using pieces with thin walls. Youtuber HardIsEasy shows this in a 2022 video on the topic.

In terms of strength, crossloading is not a huge issue when belaying off of a harness, but it can bind up a belay device or make a device more challenging to use. With mechanical devices, maintaining proper orientation increases the reliability of the catch, and reduces binding/improper loading from these two hard linked pieces of rigid equipment.

Although the BD Gridlock Screwgate is a personal favorite and I consider the Magnetron one of the most hassle-free auto-locking mechanisms in traditional designs, I cannot recommend the combination of the Gridlock body with a Magnetron gate.