RE: How difficult should a climber be?
I have an api shooting star or something like that. easy as heck to get up the tree. I wouldn't have said that the first 5-6 times I used it though. the first time I used it was a complete nightmare, I fell part way down the tree and never felt safe the whole time I hunted. Now going up and down the tree just seems natural. once you get used to it it's easy as can be.
Mine has a lot of exposed aluminum (loud, clankyalumininum), I wrapped much of it in camo duct tape. took a lot of the noise out of setting it up.