I look for ease of hanging it, along with a good size platform, and comfy seat. A foot rest is a nice too, as long as its welded. In fact the most important thing for me is that the stand is quiet!!!! I tend to buy a lot of stands. I have around 12 in the woods right now, and i have about 4 on stand by along with a climber when they start to change there patterns, so cost is an issue as well, not trying to spend $200 per stand, best deal i found this year was the Gander Mountain stand, its like a Rivers Edge with a welded up foot rest and better seat, picked up about 6 of those puppies, at $59 a pop. They work awesome!