I've used about every kind of stand made. Ladders, climbers and fixed position stands included. All have their advantages. Climbers offer the ultimate in portability. Strap them on your back and go where you need. The drawbacks are that if you have to pack in your stand along with your bow and backpack and other gear you can get pretty loaded down. You will have to learn how to pack everything you need in a fanny pack instead of a backpack if you use one. Other than that I still like to use climbers when I can. Unfortunately, where I hunt we don't have many trees that are climber friendly, so for the most part, I use loc on stands and climbing sticks. It has been a long time since I have bought a new climber so I can't imagine how comfortable the newer ones are. I never had a problem staying comfortable in the ones I owned. Plan on spending somewhere between $175.00 - $225.00 to get a good quality one and I'm sure you'll be plased, I never had good luck with the cheaper ones. Just be sure to take the other guys advice and tie the top and bottom pieces together, it's no fun when your 25 feet up in a tree and you bottom piece falls to the base of the tree.