There is always a lot of talk about bow technology and its advances from year to year. My question is...Why haven't treestand companies made many advancements recently? Particularly in the weight area. From a design standpoint, they are all pretty much the same. My biggest item on a wish list would be to have a stand, likemy summit, only weight about 12lbs. Seems all stands of that type are in or around the 20lb mark.

A few years back, what was once Ol' man treestands had a prototype of a titanium stand as large as a Summit that weighed 14lbs. The manufacturing process didn't yield a strong enough weld and it was scrapped.

I'd love to know why new materials aren't being investigated to build a lighter, stronger stand.

Well, Ol' Man tree stands is still there. They have come back from financial troubles in 2006 and are making and shipping stands again. And more to your question, Ol'Man also made a lighter weight Carbon fiber stand at one time, and it was light and strong, the only problem is there are not a lot of hunters willing to shell out the BIG BUCKS for the technology. They couldn't sell enough of them and production stopped. There is a threshold, where most hunters stop, concerning how much they are willing to pay for a stand, and because of that, manufacturers feel limited on what they can and are willing to try to design.

There's nothing stopping you from custom building one yourself. You already have the design. I took one already made and did it to some degree.

Just need to get inside the brain of an old guy. They had their faults but one thing they could do was take some junk and an idea and put it to some good use.

My uncle wanted to aluminum side his porch. He did. I put screens on for him once and some of the paint was peeling. He did it with Rolling Rock beer cans.

The expense thing really surprises me. I would be willing to spend 4 or 5 hundred on a stand if it met the specs I was looking for. I did do some research on titanium welding its a little difficult. It needs welded in a sealed enclosure to keep oxygen from reacting with the weld. At least thats my understanding.

I'd love to see summit build a stand like the Viper or Razor and have it weigh about 12 or 14lbs. I'd pay whatever it cost. I used to hunt out of a Loggy Bayou that weighed 14lbs. Man, that thing was a breeze to carry into the woods. But it wasn't very comfy if you planned on sitting all day in it.

I think your right it is a cost thing titanium would be very expensive and not enough people willing to spend that much on it

The only new technology in hang ons iswith straps that can be hung 1st like the new millenium and the summit copperhead. These and the Lone wolf are all in the 12.5 # range. What is there to improve on? They work great and I never sit in my stands and wish they had any better this or that. I like the way my lone wolf alpha can adjust for crooked trees and the seat leveling feature is also nice. When you get into lighter materials than alluminum the cost is going to go WAY up. I think that my 12.5# stands with my climbing sticks mounted to them are still fine in the weight dept.

I have a Summit Viper SS (20lb, minus whatever the gun rest weighs, sinceI took it off) and Ilike it, except the armrests limit the angle of may of my shots.

My Lone Wolf Alpha Assault is a great hang-on stand and only weighs 8.5 lbs (9 lbs with thefootrests I put on it). The set of 4 Lone Wolf climbing sticks I just ordered will get me 20' up in a tree for only 10 lbs. That putsmy total carry-inweight in at about 19 lbs, including climbing sticks (which are much easier to use to get into/out of a stand than using a climbing stand IMO). The Lone Wolfs are also deadly silent, since the platformsare made out of one piece of cast aluminum, there are no welds.

Mountainhunter, you are going to love that setup.

Compared to what we used to have and with little choices, treestands have come a long way. Also, a stand company that used carbon fiber had some problems with the platforms cracking.

But I also see a troubling trend with some treestand companies, too many are made in China and trying to corner the market selling them as cheap as they can, therefore heavy steel stands. Lot of the guys who buy these stands putem up and leavem. I put one up for a buddy a while back and afterwards told him he better like the choice he made because I wasn't going to move it again.

I guess I see everyone's point. However, hang on's, in my opinion should be hung before season and let there. I was speaking strickly from a climber stand point.

They are a lot lighter than they used to be. They just seem to be hanging at that 20lb range for an awefully long time. Yeah, the cost would be more to use a more cutting edge material, but heck, if bow's can increase at the ridiculous rate they have, why not treestands?