As far as I'm concerned, no screw in step is completely safe. A good friend and member here, Big Country, almost died this season when an Ameristep screw-in pulled out of the tree. He was climbing in before dawn and fell from only 6 feet up.He landed on his feet with no apparent injury at first. Then he felt something warm and wet run down his leg. He turned his light on and saw blood everywhere. A step caught him on the way down, severed his bicep, deltoid and part of his tricep muscle. The main artery in his arm was pulled out of the muscle but miraculously not cut. As it was, he nearly bled out before getting to the hospital. They had to give him 4 pints of blood and hundreds of stitches. One of the guys hunting with him thought he was on the blood trail of a fatally hit deer when he crossed BC's trail out to his truck. The doc told him he was close to bleeding out. I'm on blood thinners and that fall would have certainly been fatal for me.No more meathooks on my trees!

I've been using the steel sticks by gorilla and the Aluminum Rapid Rails by Ameristep this year. Thegorilla sticks are a little on the heavy side but lighter and more manageable than most steel sticks or ladders and they are easy to set, Rock solid and quiet. The rapid rails are much lighter and nest together making them easy to strap right to the stand. They are a bit harder to keep quiet once on the tree. If the tree isnt straight, the longest sections will occasionally shiftsomewhat when you step on it causing some noise. Another friend has an older set of them and his have rubber cups that prevent the noise. I'm going to pick some up at the hardware store before I use them again.