I understand bend at the waste but am confused about rangeing. Some say to range from the base of the stand, others use the range finder from the platform. Which is best.

if you have an angle range finder, use it from the stand...if you dont, use the base of the tree..the best way is to get up there and shoot from it and see what werks best with your gear.

A range finder that compensates angle will always be more accurate than ranging from the base of the tree. That being said most bows these days are fairly flat shooting, so it isnt as much of a problem modern day.

It's how far the deer is from the base of the tree...You could range a tree close to the deer at the same level as you...You won't be more than a couple of yards off when ranging from the tree down to the deer...This isn't enough to affect your shot...

I finnally got one I could afford this year. No arc feature, because as I was Looking at them they all had an error reading distance of +/- 1 yard (3 feet or 36 inches ) that to me takes care of the arc feature. doing some triq at 12-15 feet up is about my height I go far.
this is my opinion yours may differ.

CVG Ohio

I've seen a fluctuation of about 10 yds +/- when ranging from a free. Especially on steep inclines in the mountainous areas, deepending on the bow that could be the difference of pins on the sight. Just my .02 cents

Agreed, extreme and I mean extreme angles due to shooting down into a ravine and so on will make such a difference, but if you're hunting fairly flat country, the most you're going to be off is a yard or two max at 20-40 yards. No need to worry about the angle in those circumstances.

i disagree...inches are a mile when it comes to bow hunting..imo of course.
my chuck adams has a +/- 1inch at 800 yards, certainly nothin like that at 30 though.
it does -90* to +90* with a +/- 1* accuracy, which is 1 inch at 100 yards..so 30 yards is .3 of an inch.
so get a good range finder with arc tech in it, worth every penny. an inch makes the difference between a good shot and a bad shot, whether the deer runs 20 yards or 500yards.

Pythagorean theorem,

Sorry about the writing, haha, was on paint with a laptop with no mouse...quite hard, but you get the idea.

There's no substitute for actual practice shooting from your stand.