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I acquired this eight from Bob & Bob in 1990.
The CMC Rappel 8 is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 132 mm. tall, 140 mm. wide, and 13 mm thick. The rope hole is 57 mm. high and 57 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 14 mm. and 51 mm, respectively. The eye measures 39 mm. by 29 mm. The ears are 29.1 mm. long. My CMC Rappel 8 weighs 158 g.
One side of the eight is stamped "CMC RAPPEL 8." A sticker on the other side reads "CMC RAPPEL 8" and "California Mountain Company Ltd - Santa Barbara CA."
The CMC Rappel 8 is a variation of the typical "midi"size figure eight with ears. The ears on this eight are certainly longer than they need to be.The slot is also too big to use as a belay slot, at least for realistic diameter ropes, but it does help lighten the eight.
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I acquired this eight from L&S Sporting Goods in 1989.
The CMC Rescue 8, Version A is milled from plate steel and then chrome plated. Mine is 168 mm. tall, 167 mm wide, and 14 mm. thick. The rope hole is 76 mm. high and 77 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 14 mm. The shaft length and width are 23 mm. and 51 mm, respectively. The eye measures 44 mm. by 25 mm. The ears are 32 mm. long. My CMC Rescue 8, Version A weighs 635 g.
One side of the eight is stamped "CMC RESCUE" and "Fc88." A sticker on the other side reads "CMC RESCUE 8," "™," and "California Mountain Co. Ltd."
The CMC Rescue 8, Version A is a typical example of a milled steel rescue eight. This is a steel eared eight that is labeled for rescue use. It is too large and heavy for general use. The slot is also too big to use as a belay slot, at least for realistic diameter ropes. The ears are longer than normal.
"Fc" appears on many items made by U.S. Forgecraft.
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I acquired this eight from Bob & Bob in 1989.
The CMC Rescue 8, Version B is milled from plate steel and then painted. Mine is 168 mm. tall, 167 mm wide, and 14 mm. thick. The rope hole is 76 mm. high and 76 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 14 mm. The shaft length and width are 24 mm. and 51 mm, respectively. The eye measures 44 mm. by 25 mm. The ears are 31.8 mm long. My CMC Rescue 8, Version B weighs 624 g.
The markings and sticker on Version B match those on Version A.
The CMC Rescue 8, Version A is another example of a milled steel rescue eight. This is a painted eight that otherwise appears to be equivalent to Version A. I don't like the thick coating of paint, since this inevitably wears off on the rope.
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I acquired my Survivor 8 from CMC in 2007.
The CMC Survivor 8 is milled from aluminum plate, and then hard anodized. Mine is 73 mm. tall, 71 mm. wide, and 10 mm. thick. The rope hole is 32 mm. high and 32 mm wide. The top center thickness is 10 mm. The shaft length and width are 5 mm. and 35 mm, respectively. The eye measures 20 mm. by 20 mm. The ears are 8.2 mm. long. My Survivor 8 eight weighs 44 g.
One side of the Survivor 8 is marked with "CMC,", "Rescue," "Ø 9.5 mm," "06226C" (the lot number), the Underwriters Laboratories Classified seal with (0F04) underneath, "MBS 13.5 kN E (Escape USE),", "MEETS NFPA 1983 (06ED.)," and the Reading is Dangerous icon.
The CMC Survivor 8 is a "micro" size figure eight with ears. It is smaller and lighter than most figure eights with ears, of course. The Survivor 8 is designed as personal escape devices (a.k.a., PEDs), and not for normal daily use. It should be used on thin lines (exactly 9.5 mm), since it will not work on standard 11 mm. caving rope.
Putting the Reading is Dangerous icon on this device is pointless since it came with no instructions on how to use it. Since CMC calls it an "8," one could assume that you use it like an eight. Of course, you will need to find 9.5 mm. rope as well before you try this. When you do, be sure to test how well the small ears prevent girth hitching. They help somewhat, but the very similar SARA does OK without ears.
I don't think that I would use the Survivor 8 as an eight. Actually, if I already had a carabiner to hook it to my harness, I'd probably just use the carabiner without the eight, maybe in a Ranger or perhaps more likely, a Munter Hitch rappel. As for using the Survivor 8, I could use it just like I would the Baechli, Bankl, SARA, New Alp Light 8, Salewa Alpinbremse, or Yates Belay Slave ; namely, by rigging it in a free-running or Munter belay configuration.
Of course, don't listen to me: follow CMC's instructions exactly - whatever they are.
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©2007, Gary D. Storrick