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Arsenal’s ICON X20 collapsible climbing sticks

enkriss said:
I think they are great sticks. Excellent features. I especially like the magnet and clip stacking. They also bite the tree exceptionally well. You can undo the attachment and the stick sticks to the tree.

The one thing I am having trouble getting myself to look past is the slop between the 2 different size tubes. Granted there is a delrin sleeve between the tubes to take up most of the space there is still movement. The mechanical engineer in me sees the slop just getting worse and worse over time. For that reason and that reason only I might be sending them back. If they were 17-20” step sticks that were not telescopic they would easily be the best sticks on the market and I am not joking. They are extremely nice. I just can’t get my mind past the slop.
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The website does an absolute horrible job of explaining or depicting the collapsible feature. Is it a spring loaded metal or plastic button/buttons you must depress past the inner wall of the outer tube to collapse/extend like most adjustable tube designs?

If so does thumb pressure over the adjustment hole/holes stop any click sound upon extension?

Could see where with play at the joint you may get some standoff rotation (like you describe) climbing a less than perfectly straight tree.

I'm pretty happy with my one sticks but these pique my interest a bit.
 
Pic1 said:
The website does an absolute horrible job of explaining or depicting the collapsible feature. Is it a spring loaded metal or plastic button/buttons you must depress past the inner wall of the outer tube to collapse/extend like most adjustable tube designs?

If so does thumb pressure over the adjustment hole/holes stop any click sound upon extension?

Could see where with play at the joint you may get some standoff rotation (like you describe) climbing a less than perfectly straight tree.

I'm pretty happy with my one sticks but these pique my interest a bit.
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Yes you depress buttons on both sides of the stick and with your fingers over the holes eliminates the noise of the buttons popping out. 3 times this year I've had deer come by within minutes of climbing the tree, none seemed to be bothered by any noise. I sold my one sticks after getting these, and my beast sticks have stayed in the closet.

I've got about 10-12 climbs so far on mine, so far so good and not had any issues. I had this buck and another come by about 45 minutes after setting up roughly 100 yards from the hill they were bedded on and shot him at 14 yards.Screenshot_20231028-121726_Gallery.jpg
 
Nice. Congrats!

Thanks for the reply. If you might get a chance to post a close up picture of the button arrangement it would be most appreciated.

Disregard my last I did find something on YT.
 
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Its funny ,not a lot of feedback on these good or bad. I opted out of buying a set and stuck with my ones figuring id see how they did throughout the season.but been pretty quiet so far
 
Yeah I've been thinking the same. A lot of talk at first then nothing. Maybe because they released close to season and everybody is switch focus from gear to deer?
 
Arrowsquirrel said:
Yeah I've been thinking the same. A lot of talk at first then nothing. Maybe because they released close to season and everybody is switch focus from gear to deer?
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I think the 20" step spacing may be too much for some, me included.
Not sure how many people want a collapsible stick,? Not sure what problem it solves?
And some may be concerned with moving parts on a stick.
 
GeoFish said:
I think the 20" step spacing may be too much for some, me included.
Not sure how many people want a collapsible stick,? Not sure what problem it solves?
And some may be concerned with moving parts on a stick.
Click to expand...
Yeah that makes sense. I hope they release a non telescoping version.
 
Arrowsquirrel said:
Yeah I've been thinking the same. A lot of talk at first then nothing. Maybe because they released close to season and everybody is switch focus from gear to deer?
Click to expand...

I didn’t think there was even much talk about them.

New company, late release, very little fanfare building up to that, Gen1, pricey, not sub 1-lb, stick market saturation, fewer influencers on payroll, hunting season. Probably a combination of factors.

There’s a few Youtube videos with favorable reviews.

There’s a few members who tried and/or are using them and like them. Some have expressed concern about tube-tube tolerance, that’s about it. And the made in china.
 
The standoffs are well designed. They grip the tree well. I do prefer some up sweep to my steps for crooked trees. These are straight across the top. I was not a fan of the slop in the tubes. I feared the slop would get worse the more I used them. So I returned them.
 
GeoFish said:
I think the 20" step spacing may be too much for some, me included.
Not sure how many people want a collapsible stick,? Not sure what problem it solves?
And some may be concerned with moving parts on a stick.
Click to expand...
I'm in love with them.

To me, they solve the problem of portability for travel in your luggage or bags.

They are much smaller on your sides when climbing the tree.

You have numerous ways to stack them or store them so the end user can run them however they see fit.

They are easier to pack and store in many different pack options where normal length sticks sometimes can be challenging to match to a certain pack.

The aider they make is amazing, especially for anyone with a larger shoe size or who don't like cable or amsteel aiders.

They are not the lightest stick, that still goes to the one stick for sure.

I am 240lbs and have yet to see any play or issues with mine. I have easily done over thirty hunts on them in hot weather, rainy weather (thanks Illinois) and cold weather (thanks Illinois, the very next day). They have performed well in all scenarios so far.

I only run the aider on my bottom stick but I'm sure some people could run two sticks and two aiders and be done. The aider is adjustable in length. I run mine at the 20 inch setting to match the full length sticks.
 
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