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King-Stand Freedom Pro

M

MikeVB

New Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
14
I have gone full circle with stands and saddles since the early 2000s. I have used the Treesuit, Trophylines of different materials and the Guido's Web. This past rut I sat dawn to dusk for 4 days in my soft saddle. Knees into the tree is very comfortable for a little while. It does not work me long since having Lyme disease and severe knee pain years ago. It probably isn't comfortable to a lot of people.

I had a weak moment and ordered a Freedom Pro which is a bosum style seat that you straddle a tree. I admit that this was overpriced at $300 but it worked ok as is. I did add a thick Thermaseat cushion. It allowed me to shoot a wary doe at close range with my longbow with good maneuverability and silence. The next improvement that I make will be a standoff fork made from marine starboard to keep me more upright. Finally, I need a better weight bearing backband since the stock 1" wide strap one from King-Stand is an extremely serious ridiculously PIA to use for long.

I recently bought a barely used JX3 and got a few hunts in. Love it and brought back memories of the Guido's Web but thinking this Freedom Pro can be a great minimalist substitute if I can only improve the comfort on my back.

Does anyone know of a source for a back pad that can slide on to the 1" wide strap?
 
Remind me to show you a nice way to attach that seat to the tree that allows you great mobility. I’m out of town and can’t take pics or video. Maybe [mention]Bwhana [/mention] will chime in. He helped me refine the attachment method and I’ve seen him post some pics that appears he has used it this season.
 
Step 1 - buy whatever rock harness makes you happy.

Step 2 - cut a piece of 1/2” or 3/4” plywood according to “one hair tree seat” standards. Insert seat belt or tubing webbing harness accordingly.

Step 3 - Take the extra 150-200.00 and buy tags and gas.

Step 4 - sell the JX3, and the freedom pro. Take that money and buy more tags and gas. And snacks.

Step 5 - come to the realization that the JX3 does all the stuff better or good enough to have made all those efforts futile. Buy another jx3.




Pro tip: if you like to tinker, don’t weigh 300lbs, try to find a gen 1 JX3. Lots of ways to make it more “minimal”
 
kyler1945 said:
Step 1 - buy whatever rock harness makes you happy.

Step 2 - cut a piece of 1/2” or 3/4” plywood according to “one hair tree seat” standards. Insert seat belt or tubing webbing harness accordingly.

Step 3 - Take the extra 150-200.00 and buy tags and gas.

Step 4 - sell the JX3, and the freedom pro. Take that money and buy more tags and gas. And snacks.

Step 5 - come to the realization that the JX3 does all the stuff better or good enough to have made all those efforts futile. Buy another jx3.




Pro tip: if you like to tinker, don’t weigh 300lbs, try to find a gen 1 JX3. Lots of ways to make it more “minimal”
Click to expand...
Step 2 - funny how this comes back around to original diy. Insert amsteel for ultra minimal plywood seat.
 
Cbigbear said:
Step 2 - funny how this comes back around to original diy. Insert amsteel for ultra minimal plywood seat.
Click to expand...

Insert Stress relieved hdpe for seat material for thinner “forever” more minimal seat instead of plywood. Even easier buy a used Treesuit and do all of these things. I’ve bought two on here for 75.00. Rob the seat and throw everything else away.
 
For the record and the kings saddle looks like a great piece of equipment. Seems to be extremely well built. You already got it so nothing to be ashamed about, especially if you like it.

Besides a diy fork you’re going to make, you could make a cheap fleece back band that would be light weight and have the capability to spread over a greater surface area for more pressure relief.
 
Thank you all for the ideas. I just watched Kyle's YouTube video about the JX3 modifications. I might go that route after spending more time shooting the longbow out of it. I will experiment more with the standoff fork and improved backband on the Freedom Pro to see if this type of stand is something I want to stay with. The JX3 wins for comfort. I have until Feb 3rd to hunt with it and see how it goes with the longbow.
 
MikeVB said:
Thank you all for the ideas. I just watched Kyle's YouTube video about the JX3 modifications. I might go that route after spending more time shooting the longbow out of it. I will experiment more with the standoff fork and improved backband on the Freedom Pro to see if this type of stand is something I want to stay with. The JX3 wins for comfort. I have until Feb 3rd to hunt with it and see how it goes with the longbow.
Click to expand...

Since 2018 when I first got my hands on one of the first jx3’s to go to market, I spent entirely too much of my free time trying to reengineer the JX3 for less weight, or less bulk, or less straps, etc. lord knows I annoyed the heck out of John discussing it.

Here’s the conclusions I’ve come to:

- it’s lacking from a load hauling stand point. I have zero hesitations about modifying gear, and the original design of the hybrid was easier to modify. This was a simple remedy.

- it’s got a few doodads that I don’t use, and I removed them.

- For everything else, what john has done with the thing cannot be improved. I don’t mean you can’t do things to it to make it slightly better on some metric. What I mean is there was so much thought and effort spent getting it to where it’s at, that you’re behind the 8 ball. On every front besides load hauling, I came full circle back to John’s original design.

This includes trying to modify tree suits, bosuns chairs, attaching rigid seats to frame packs, reversing the hinge, foregoing a back support or making it smaller, you name it. I literally tore down the entire concept to a complete abstraction, and started over. At every single turn I ended up back in a hybrid.





Not telling anyone this to prove a point. It’s just context for everyone to take on board when their ego convinces them that they know better than someone who spent decade+ refining the system.

I hope someone breaks through and comes up with some cool stuff. Looking forward to see what you come up with!
 
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