I think the most important part of being comfortable and feeling safe in the standis having a saftey harness you trust. I have tested my harness (a few times on purpose anda few times on accident) and I know that now matter what happens as long as I am properly using my harness I will be fine. That makes climbing 30ft up in a tree a lot more comfortable and it puts your mind at ease so all you have to worry about is shooting deer, not falling out of your stand. As for particular stands I own a SummitBushmaster and have tried a few other Summit models, they are all great stands in my opinion and I believe there is more thanone model that you can attatch the optional footrest to.