Clipping in with the rope is also less than ideal if you're rapping down from that anchor and it's useless for anchoring in on sucessive raps. I do love having a daisy/PAS. I understand that they're optional but I'm so quick going clip, clip. Watching my partner fiddle with this that or the other method, depending on circumstances and available gear, is painful at times.

Both Julie and Dalguard have valid points (though I think Julie meant my way is a hassle when you lead every pitch) . it goes to show that these devices are more useful depending on your styles of climbing. When i know I'll be mucking around on multiple misc. anchors, I'll take along my daisy chain. If I can help it I don't. I always have 2 24" slings with lockers on them to hook into the anchor if needed. I have not found a very usefully and out of the way place to keep these "anchor systems" when I am leading.

For GUNKS craggin' I think they are not necessary.
for long multi-pitch climbing -yeah its worth the hassle.

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I've taken to carrying a daisy (actually the PAS) on most climbs, although the advantages are minor in any case and mostly of use on long routes.

One advantage on long routes is that the leader can clip the first anchor with the daisy and call off belay, giving the second a head start on dismantling their anchor while the leader continues to set up the next anchor. (The advantage of the PAS is that the daisy can become part of the final anchor if that is convenient.) The second, clipped with a daisy, can strip all but one anchor point while the leader is getting ready. Then when the second arrives at the stance, they immediately clip in with the daisy, freeing the belayer to help hand over gear for the next lead and make whatever adjustments in their belay are necessary. Over many pitches, this process can save some time.

Rappelling advantages are obvious, although something similar can be cobbled together with slings. These are far less adjustable, which may or may not matter much.

There are some other times when it is helpful to have a daisy. One that I find useful is in cleaning difficult gear. You place another piece, hang from the daisy, and use both hands on the problem piece. With todays long leads, it can be very trying to do this with tension from the belayer because of the ground lost to rope stretch, and communicating with the belayer can itself be problematic.

If, heaven forbid, you have to prussik up the rope for some reason, its an emergency, and having the daisy attached and ready to go is a tremendous help. Sometimes, in this situation, you may not have enough slings to substitute for the daisy, and you aren't going to have the adjustment ability that can make prussiking tolerable.

Finally, every now and then, even when crag climbing, you have to aid something, and having an attached daisy ready to go makes life a whole lot easier, especially if you don't have enough slings available when the need arises.

So for me, the accumulation of minor advantages just tips the scale in favor of carrying a daisy most of the time.

As for the PAS, the strength makes it possible to incorporate it into the anchor, and it also means that if you actually fall on the thing, say at a rappel station, you have a higher degree of confidence it will hold. (However, the forces involved for even short falls are enormous---I don't recommend putting it to the test, because some other piece of gear may well not be up to the task.)

Drawbacks of the PAS are that it is less adjustable than a standard daisy (because the loops are bigger), it is heavier and bulkier, and, in my opinion, it is too short (I'd like to see at least one more loop).

I used daisys before the PAS was available. I use a PAS now for the extra security. Two Things I do with a PAS that have not been mentioned.

Tie my self off long to a “distant” anchor. Tie a butterfly in the rope near me and use the PAS to get the length exactly right for belay duty.

Extend a rappel device a short distance. This is neater and simpler than separate slings.

Extend a rappel device a short distance. This is neater and simpler than separate slings.
Hey - good idea - thanks!

I think you'd need to start with a sling longer than 4 feet. The knots eat up length.

I’m not saying don’t do it, or it won’t work, but I girth my PAS to the same spot on my harness every time climb. Then I tie in tight with it and shift around in my harness while belaying. Seems to me a skinny sling is going to create a lot more wear than the PAS which I bet was made bulky specifically to avoid wear issues, and the extra liability that might result.

If you just use it as a safety and don’t weight it, then thin material won’t make much of a difference. But, then you really aren’t using for all the things it is good for and you might as well just use your regular slings as many people do.

That said Mikes right, no-one has to make a skinny PAS. Just do it yourself the knots will be pretty small. Use a two foot and four footer together

And yes Aya girth hitching both ends of a daisy one to a harness, and the other to a safety biner should be “safe”; a good idea I never thought of.

Added: I meant with respect clipping two loops (a no-no) without the girth hitch. I also intentionally put quotes around safe, see Dawns post below.
If you don’t use the loops then you might as well have used a sling, and I don’t know whether falling directly on the end is better than ripping stitches on the way.
Guess I’ll just stay with a PAS.