sounds like you just picked the wrong summit for your liking should have gotten the razor x5 then you would have gotten 2 stands in 1 in a way as once you are up in the tree you can then let the front bar down and hunt with an open front stand, this is the second summit ive bought and i will never buy another brand,, btw if you call summit they might be willing to trade your stand in on an razor. a friend of mine just did that 2 weeks ago