I once had a non-handled descender (Banana rather than a Simple) come apart on me halfway down the Maskhill Mine pitches, thankfully on one of the few short horizontal sections, as the central 'hinge' nut had worked itself undone due to a slightly knackered thread.
Having tried all options, the PPE rated alloy D maillon is much cheaper, light, and no less functional.
It is trivial to make your own footloops and chest harness. These days I have decided to use a separate 8-8.5mm dynamic safety cord for the top ascender, which means the foot loop can be anything. I convinced myself a light dynamic rope might keep the load on an ascender below 500kg in the event of a FF1 or so on it, and so not strip the sheath. Probably wishful thinking.
I still have a size 1 TSA PVC oversuit going free for some youth to fettle. I could throw in some other no-longer-used but non-safety junk if you pick it up in the Dales. I throw away out of date or worn vertical gear.
I don't know what an Australian descender is.
Disengaging the autolock on a stop is not hard.
A loop of 5-8mm shock cord tied with a double fishermans makes a great chest harness. Put the loop through the top hole of the chest croll and then one side over each head and shoulder - fig of 8 style. Cheap and bloody brill
You can make your own PPE out of old car seat belts and get stuff off off EBay. Why spend more.
The lower stretch option for a footloop is best. Dyneema would be my pick.
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