That’s one thing I was very wary of before I had it in hand. Its SOLID. All the critical points are steel, and the design is such that it can’t release while the rope is in the pulley without the whole thing breaking.
I agree he shouldn't have said that it's simply not true, the pretzel device looks horrible far more advantages to the rope guide this is a biased review. Your worried about something getting stuck that's never got stuck when you'v used it Why ?? Are pretzel paying or given you this device.
It can be retrieved with a rope without a spliced eye, but you’d have to be careful to snug the retrieval ball on nice and tight so it doesn’t fall off before releasing the device
A simple solution there would be to make the cordage on the retrieval ball a fair amount longer(via throw line or other small diameter cordage) so you could add a couple half hitches backing up your first attachment (girth hitch, pile hitch, etc). At that piont it's almost a guarantee it's not coming off the rope. I've had them come off the rope before relying solely on a girth hitch.
Hey man my name is Graham. I’m local in the grass valley area and also a professional climber and I have an extensive photography and videography background. Let me know if you’d like to Colab on anything or would like to do some in-tree videography! Cheers mate