Ok guys, i have been reading over and over. I think for sure that i want to try the saddle hunting scene, i get so frustrated using my climber and the tree has to be perfectly straight, no cover etc. So my questions are i am looking for advice on Harness's, platforms, means to get up the tree etc. I am obviously not wanting to be in to this $800 , but i want good comfortable stuff to use. I am thinking an areo harness, predator platform, and not sure if i want sticks or spikes for climbing? are these good options? would there be better cheaper options to look into?
Please feel free to help me with advice, there is so much clutter on the internet it gets overwhelming.
There's a ton of personal preference involved in all of this. That's a big part of why so much is overwhelming/contradictory. You can have the same set of guys try on the same gear, and pick different stuff as the most comfortable. The guys that have done the fleece saddle (which is a DIY) love the comfort, and it's cheap - but if you want to just buy a simple, proven, manufactured solution it's not the way.
You need a saddle (all of the commercial ones I know of are good, and most will take weeks to months to get to you. Trophyline will ship right away, and some of the small guys doing stuff in their basement will ship quickly as well. What's comfortable is down to preference and how you wear it, more than the individual product. IMO Aerohunter stuff is more comfortable than Tethrd, but that's just based on me. I haven't tried trophyline. JX3 should be really comfortable, but haven't tried it.
You need some sort of platform, and you need a way up the tree. This is the bigger divergence. Coming from a treestand background, the platform will probably be more natural than a ring of steps.
For getting up the tree - rank the importance:
1) speed/ease to get up the tree
2) speed/ease to get down
3) ease of packing in and bulk
4) legality of penetrating the tree
You mentioned spikes - if (4) matters to you they may be illegal. If you're hunting where they're legal - then there are people that love them and people that hate them.
Some guys don't care as much about keeping a trim profile, and feel like they're efficient up and down the tree with sticks, so they haul sticks. Others (myself included) generally see sticks as bulky and a PITA in most cases. If you like sticks then honestly you're somewhat lucky as it makes things super easy/simple. The heliums are inexpensive, and popular (especially modified).
If you don't like sticks, then you get into things like Wild Edge Stepps, Squirrel Steps, Cranford steps,
bolts, and the whole rabbit hole of aider methods. These pack better than sticks, easier to carry in, and some would say trade off speed up/down the tree for this ease of carry. (I'd contest that, and rank bolts where you can penetrate the tree, and squirrelsteps where you can't as for me easier than dealing with sticks).
I like bolts, because they pack to nothing, weigh little, and pack up at the end of the day in an instant. They take longer to climb (unless using a preset). I like squirrelsteps, because they're pretty quick up and down, pack down to a very slim profile, and legal everywhere. I like a ring of squirrelsteps because it packs to a fist-sized package, and works fine for me on the tree. I like these because they slim down enough to basically eliminate a pack, or have a small, non-snaggy self-contained climbing method/platform that doesn't take up room in the pack. Any pack can just be hunting stuff, warm clothes, etc. I can pack them away when hunting e.g. my family's traditional hunting area (with dozens of preset stands that I sometimes use) They also all work on pretty much any tree.
They pack up into the saddle + climbing method + ROS weighing between 5-15ish pounds, and in addition to the saddle an added pack ranging in size (and shape) approximately from "fist" (full bolt setup) to "forearm" (squirrelsteps + ROS). No protrusions, and easy to pack.
