Garre A. Connor

This spool has the name "Garre A. Connor" stamped into the back plate, so I presume that is who made the spool. The top bollard is wide enough ( 44 mm) for this to be considered a true spool. The lower three bollards are too small for the rope to wrap around, but it can be zig-zagged between them. There are no rope guides to keep the rope on the upper spool, only a disc over the end of the spool that provides a 17 mm. lip.

I've found that the lip is not sufficient to keep the rope on the spool. This device can easily come off the rope if the user is not careful.

To use the lower bollards, it is best to wrap the rope so that the tag end is closest to the backplane, but this increases the chance of the rope coming off the upper spool. The safest way to use the spool may be to wrap the rope around the upper spool so that the tag end is farthest from the backplane, then forget the lower three bollards and make darn sure that the brake hand keeps the rope on the spool.

This device worries me, but adding a simple rope guide (such as the spiral guide on my spool) could turn it into a good design.