UKH

I know that roped soloing is a very personal choice of activity and also that most commonly used belay devices are not recommended for this use by the manufacturers. I felt it important to mention that I noticed (before trying it in anger) that it is easy to end up with the Birdie at a particularly dangerous angle so that it doesn't engage. In fairness to Beal, this is probably why it functions so well when used as it is supposed to be used, to pay out slack while belaying a leader. I was originally tempted to try it in preference to my gri gri because of the availability of various 'hole' features while rigging. 

I am not opening a discussion here, just warning people to be extra careful.

Can you describe the more clearly? Unmodded grigris have the same problem?

Presume you’re talking lead rope solo, in conjunction with what other devices were you using it? 

I don't feel I have enough specific knowledge here, but wanted to highlight the need for anyone considering using the Birdie to lead solo to examine their set up very carefully.

In response to your question : rope in ruck sack feeding into system from over left shoulder passing through carabiner; Birdie clipped into sit harness belay loop with maillon and attached to chest harness by thread via same ( larger than gri gri) carabiner hole; back up knots. The Birdie didn't look like it was going to lock in a normal crouch fall position. 

I did not extensively look into this and immediately abandoned the idea of using it. One reason for buying the Birdie for normal climbing belaying was the way it pays out slack without jammimg. 

Before you write it off, you may want to investigate how the Grigri is usually modified for this purpose. The same may be possible with the Birdie.

OK thanks for your comment, but I have a system with a gri gri that I'm happy with. Just alerting others to something I noticed while experimenting with a device I thought may have performed better.