I think both have a place, when you find that perfect tree and it's not a good canidate for a climber then that is a hang on stand type of tree.I like to use climbers mostly and I have 4 and I can hang them on the tree and leave them and just walk in and climb up when I'm ready to hunt,it is also much easer to make a fast move and set up with a climber.I don't hunt public land anymore so I really don't worry about getting one stolen but, when I did hunt public land and I wanted to leave my stand for a few days I had 2 old man stands and I would take the pins out and replace them with long shank locks,if someone wanted them they would need some good bolt cutters to get them.