Hey nuge, you are going to have to practice with whichever climber you get before you take off into the field. As I stated before I don' t think you' ll be unhappy with the Ol Man multi vision. The bar in front can be taken off once you get locked in but if you need to shoot from the seated position you can easily hold you bow outside the area of the frame of the seating platform and if you stand you won' t have any problems with the bar. It comes with a full body harness and tree attachment straps. It also comes with a good video that tells you all about tree stand safety and how to use the climber and the safety belt. The part about the platform falling is real but not if you are careful. You have to pick the platform up with your feet to move it up the tree and you do that my lifting with your heels first toes down. That allows the platform to come loose from the tree so you can raise it to the next level. There are straps for the top of your boots and a heel strap to keep your feet where they belong. If your feet should come loose there is a safety strap that will catch the platform before it falls very far down the tree. Good luck with whatever stand you get but be sure to watch the video and read the safety instructions. And practice, practice, practice.