Why the bad rep with Hawk Heliums?

[Fgirtyman]

From my limited use, and observation of others using them:

Suction cups. Easily removable.

Weight. Shouldn’t matter unless you’re 140lbs or walking over a half mile from access.

Straps- I’m all for a cam buckle strap on a single stick set up. And they work fine for multiple sticks too. Dead simple to use. But even deader simple is buckleless or a rope mod. Also shaves significant weight.

Quality. There’s probably more of these sticks in circulation that any other “mobile” climbing stick. If not, they’re top 2-3. Hawk makes them cheap, with cheap quality control. They will fail at a higher rate than better quality sticks with better quality control. But there’s a big misunderstanding of the math here. That said, if you’re the type that thinks even a small chance of stick failing is the reason to get a more expensive or more robust stick, ask yourself this: Does the difference in a .001% chance of failure, and a .0005% chance of failure, matter? By not climbing a tree, you reduce that number to .0000% of stick failure. It’s relative.

They’re cheap slightly heavier sticks that get the job done for a huge amount of people.

I own several sticks. I think they work fine as long as tighten with an allen wrench occasionally. I seldom use sticks 1 sticking or climbers but heck they aren’t th

I have a set of original helium sticks and use one for 1 stick climbing. Cam straps in general work pretty well. That said the ones that came on the heliums were a pain to use because of the hooks that were used and the bracket or plate they hooked too. Take that crap off, add a button and rope or daisy chain and it has been a fine stick for me. Not sure how many trees I have climbed with either the single or the set but it is a bunch. Only had one kick out ever and it was my fault. Knew when I set it that it looked like it might kick but I was in a hurry and rolled with it. Sure nuff it kicked but not all the way off and I was on tension so it was no big deal.

I have a set of minis they work ok. Some things get a bad rap because of price. The higher the price doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. Not everyone can afford to pay big bucks for hunting gear. Get what works at a price you can afford.