Lone Wolf Sit and Climb...One Year Later
I've had this stand for about a year now and this season was my first true full season with it. I thought I would pass along my thoughts on the stand as I always see many questions or suggestions about it.
I am going to draw my comparisons based off of my old Summit Cobra X4 stand I used for years.
The bread and butter of this stand is its platform. It's simply the best design i've every used or seen. Extremely quite and very durable. Now, Lone Wolf states it is a "huge, 30 x 19 1/2 platform. This is very misleading. The summit platforms are over 36" in total length, with about 30" of usable platform. Not so with the LW's. The entire length of the platform, from the point where it contacts the tree to the end is 30". You have less usable platform with the LW. But, it is still more than adaquate IMO.
The seat section of this stand, IMO, could be a whole letter better. For one, it measures 17 1/2" wide inside. The Summits are over 20". I am not a big person, 6ft 190lbs, and I feel its a little snug. I will be investing in the new, wider top section for next year.
The stock seat that comes with the 08 and newer stands is OK, but for the money dished out for this stand, its a joke. I sat 3 different times in this seat and promptly put a Summit seat on it.
Climbing, its sure quite. But, there are some things that I do not like. I personally don't use the sit and climb method and use it as a hand climber. The problem I have is, that with your feet positioned under the bars of the platform, you're really close to the tree while your ascending or descending. When I attempt to move the top portion up the tree, I have to step out of the stand and get away from the tree to make room to slide the top section up. Its more of a pain than anything and just something to think about.
Once at height, the way you cinch the top section to the platform is excellent. The LW is extremely secure on the tree, much more so than my Summit, and it was solid as well. Once those two straps are cinched down, and you stand up, you simply can't move that top section.
As others have said, packing the stand in and out is the best out there. It balances like a dream on your back. But, I must say, the stand is smaller than many out there and it should balance and pack better. The bulk of the weight of this stand is in the platform and it hugs your back. I've found that even if you don't fold the stand flat to pack, it doesn't make a lot of difference in feel on your back.
Overall, I really like the stand. There is somewhat of a learning curve to get over with it before you can truly appreciate it. My suggestions to LW would be to scrap the original sit and climb and only produce the wide version as the standard and give us a good seat right out of the box.
For someone who is looking for a hardcore bow hunting stand, and don't mind spending some extra cash to make if comfortable, this is the best out there IMO. But if you're willing to give up some of the portability in favor of comfort, there are many out there at half the price.
Last edited by muzzyman88; 11-06-2009 at 08:59 AM.