A few of our guys went out of their way to answer my questions / concerns about this stand before I purchased itand asked me to do a review on it once I had a chance to set it up and handle it a bit. So here goes!
The very first thing I did before I swapped the seat out fora Summit seat was weigh the stand to see if their advertised weight matched my scale. According to my scale, the stand weighed 19 pounds rather than the 18 they claim. May be my scale.... May not be? To close to tell.
First impressions.... There was paint finish rubbed raw ina fewplaces straight out of the box... Not excessively bad but ware none-the-less. The factory seat I did not care for at all, very cheap feeling and flimsy. I also did not care for the low back of the seat.... This is where the *Hybrid* part comes into play, I swapped the LW seat out with a new Summit seat. Lone Wolf has updated the seat for 2008 but I have no experience with the new offering.
This shows the stand in the backpack configurationwith the mods I did to it, including a set of Lone Wolf foot rests and the new Summit seat.
Side view with the stand folded down into the pack position. It folds down rather nice. I was actually really surprised how well the stand packed and balanced on my back.... I would give the balance and packability of the stand a10 out of 10!
Front view of the stand attached to the tree including the extra Lone Wolf foot rests. The foot rests are a solid addition and definitely worth the $20 and 5-10 minutes to install them. They will really help relieve pressure on the back of your legs.
A view of the cam buckles and traction belt on the platform. They are both very silent and easy to use, much more so than the set up on my Summit Cobra XLS. My summit does however have more cable length than the Lone Wolf allowing me to climb larger diameter trees... As pictured this climber has it traction belts out to the maximum safety zone.
Here is a close up of the platforms "teeth" section on a Red Oak.
Front view of the climbing portion including the new Summit seat. Looks comfy doesn't it....That's because it is
A view of the climbing portions framing, cam buckle and traction belt. I will say the folding sections of this stand can be a PITA until you get used to it... They like to bind up if you are not careful while folding the sections flat for backpacking or unfolding for use.
Overall impressions... With the mods the stand is very comfortable and still lightweight..... The platform is very silent whichwas one of the selling features for me. The stock back pack straps are acceptable but I will be upgrading once I find the right set of padded straps.
It backpacks and balances like a dream... MUCH better than any climbing stand I have ever used... Really no contest IMO. This may be the stands second best attribute after my comfort mods. Ifa stand isn'tcomfortable it can make for a long day....
Even with my mods the stand still only weighs 20 pounds and that is excellent considering it is now as comfortable as my old Summit but more silent and backpacks much better.
My biggest complaint is the shortness of the traction belt.... It will be a limiting factor to where I can use this stand without buying the XL traction belts.
Overall, out of the box I think it is a good stand..... With some extra money (on top of an expensive stand to start with) a little bit of work and time it is a great stand.... Silent, comfortable and lightweight.
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