One of the reasons I bought an Ol' Man climber was that my old stands were making creaking noises at inopportune times! So far, mine has been noise-free in use, but it took me a while to get it quiet during transport. I still have problems during set-up in the dark. I also have the problems with the cables being too narrow and getting hung-up on me. I was in a huge tree this morning--used the <u>last</u> hole in the arm--and it was still too narrow!