The past few deer seasons I have been sitting on the ground for around 10 hours a day on a hillside and I am glad I am done doing that . I didn' t have a problem with my cables, they were stiff enough so they went where I directed them. I don' t sit and climb like it says to, I climb like you would climb on a standing climber because it gets you up the tree a little quicker. Like you said, it is really quiet. I make more noise climbing into a ladder stand then I do when I climb with this. Worth every penny .