Doublesteps: straight, angled, Beast, EWO, Catalyst, other...any preference?

[Plebe]

With lots of DIY stick builds, we have a few options in doublesteps and I’m wondering if folks are finding a preference amongst them, despite only minor differences.

For example, slotted EWO steps for one sticking with a sewn in aider.

Or, Beast steps because of cost and security of two bolt attachment.

Or Catalyst steps because they have great traction...

etc.

 

[enkriss]

After playing around with LWCG compact sticks I will not be buying single sided step sticks again. I highly prefer doublestep sticks.

Beast sticks advantages are they grab the tree extremely well and they stack inline. Cons for me durability, I don’t feel the standoffs held up to much abuse and were quite noisy out of the box.

EWO stick advantages they are highly customizable and they offer the most toe room on the market with their very tall standoffs. Cons for me they stagger stack which I find less than desirable and they were the loudest sticks I tried. Right up there with the LWCG sticks.

catalyst carbon pro sticks advantages were extremely lightweight and I liked the side stacking. Disadvantages were they are very close to the tree and you can’t get much of you foot on them. I also question the durability.

LWCG doublesteps advantages were the compact stacking the disadvantages they were very noisy out of the box. They were unstable on most trees do you the very high mounting hieght and were easily kicked out especially with daisy chains. My least favorite sticks. They need be reworked.

20” hawk helium stick advantages are price. Disadvantages overall quality I had lots of slag stuck in my sticks they would jingle.


I am not sure how much angle on the step matters to me. if beast sticks had more room to the tree they would be perfect. To me it’s a toss up between the EWO sticks and Beast sticks as my favorite.

 

[theAdmiral]

I have the EWO straight steps on a couple sticks and one stick with the catalyst steps. I never slipped a boot with either step but I prefer the EWO steps. I can’t really nail down a reason, just my preference.

 

[Westdesign03]

After playing around with LWCG compact sticks I will not be buying single sided step sticks again. I highly prefer doublestep sticks.

Beast sticks advantages are they grab the tree extremely well and they stack inline. Cons for me durability, I don’t feel the standoffs held up to much abuse and were quite noisy out of the box.

EWO stick advantages they are highly customizable and they offer the most toe room on the market with their very tall standoffs. Cons for me they stagger stack which I find less than desirable and they were the loudest sticks I tried. Right up there with the LWCG sticks.

catalyst carbon pro sticks advantages were extremely lightweight and I liked the side stacking. Disadvantages were they are very close to the tree and you can’t get much of you foot on them. I also question the durability.

LWCG doublesteps advantages were the compact stacking the disadvantages they were very noisy out of the box. They were unstable on most trees do you the very high mounting hieght and were easily kicked out especially with daisy chains. My least favorite sticks. They need be reworked.

20” hawk helium stick advantages are price. Disadvantages overall quality I had lots of slag stuck in my sticks they would jingle.


I am not sure how much angle on the step matters to me. if beast sticks had more room to the tree they would be perfect. To me it’s a toss up between the EWO sticks and Beast sticks as my favorite.

I’m surprised to see beast sticks made your top two out of all the rest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Plebe]

I have the EWO straight steps on a couple sticks and one stick with the catalyst steps. I never slipped a boot with either step but I prefer the EWO steps. I can’t really nail down a reason, just my preference.

Interesting. My understanding is that is the Catalyst steps are 8.25” vs EWO and Beast’s 9” steps. I wonder if there is some small amount of extra width that’s working better for you.

 

[Plebe]

After playing around with LWCG compact sticks I will not be buying single sided step sticks again. I highly prefer doublestep sticks.

Beast sticks advantages are they grab the tree extremely well and they stack inline. Cons for me durability, I don’t feel the standoffs held up to much abuse and were quite noisy out of the box.

EWO stick advantages they are highly customizable and they offer the most toe room on the market with their very tall standoffs. Cons for me they stagger stack which I find less than desirable and they were the loudest sticks I tried. Right up there with the LWCG sticks.

catalyst carbon pro sticks advantages were extremely lightweight and I liked the side stacking. Disadvantages were they are very close to the tree and you can’t get much of you foot on them. I also question the durability.

LWCG doublesteps advantages were the compact stacking the disadvantages they were very noisy out of the box. They were unstable on most trees do you the very high mounting hieght and were easily kicked out especially with daisy chains. My least favorite sticks. They need be reworked.

20” hawk helium stick advantages are price. Disadvantages overall quality I had lots of slag stuck in my sticks they would jingle.


I am not sure how much angle on the step matters to me. if beast sticks had more room to the tree they would be perfect. To me it’s a toss up between the EWO sticks and Beast sticks as my favorite.

Appreciate all the detail, enkriss, covering a diverse selection of stick options. My experience is also that extra stand-off distance improves climbability. But I have size 13 boots; I suppose others may not be impacted as much by shorter standoffs.

I’m seeing EWO offers rotating standoffs. Any experience with them? If not, what is your opinion of LWCG rotating standoffs? Are rotating standoffs viable, or do you give up too much in stability over a fixed system? Thanks.

 

[enkriss]

Appreciate all the detail, enkriss, covering a diverse selection of stick options. My experience is also that extra stand-off distance improves climbability. But I have size 13 boots; I suppose others may not be impacted as much by shorter standoffs.

I’m seeing EWO offers rotating standoffs. Any experience with them? If not, what is your opinion of LWCG rotating standoffs? Are rotating standoffs viable, or do you give up too much in stability over a fixed system? Thanks.

Rotating standoffs are good. They ensure 4 points of contact on the at all times and makes for a solid climb. The trade off is the nuts loosen and nylon washers wear out requiring maintenance Atleast yearly. Fixed sticks require zero maintenance but could find your self in situations where you don’t get 4 points of contact. This ends up in a bit so sold feeling stick when climbing or bent standoffs.


I forgot to mention Shikars....

Advantages to the Shikars sticks is they pack incredibly well and the standoffs grip the tree like no other. Disadvantages they are incredibly fiddly having to screw them together. No matter how tight you get them there will still be play in the steps

Shikar FXD got rid of the fiddle factor of the regular Shikars but they flex the most of any stick I tried (20”) and they get so stuck together I had a very hard time getting them apart. They require a lot of filing.


One other thing....

I see a lot of people saying how well a stick “bites” the tree. Is that really a good thing? Do you really want the stick to stick in the tree or slide down to set? I have found with beast sticks they would stick in the tree at times and when I weighted the stick instead of sliding in they would sometimes bend the standoffs. Same with shikars except instead of bending the standoff I bent the bolt.

 

[Plebe]

I see a lot of people saying how well a stick “bites” the tree. Is that really a good thing? Do you really want the stick to stick in the tree or slide down to set? I have found with beast sticks they would stick in the tree at times and when I weighted the stick instead of sliding in they would sometimes bend the standoffs. Same with shikars except instead of bending the standoff I bent the bolt.

Agreed, you want the whole system to bear weight. I could see a strong bite being good for limiting lateral movement to prevent kick out, but if you can’t set a stick properly in the vertical probably that slack in the system can contribute to kick out even more.

 

[MIbowhunter49]

I love my shikars more than any piece of hunting equipment. I have the standard 20" but leave them deployed.

The side stacking method isn't perfectly streamlined, but I can do it quietly and it keeps the weight near my pack, as opposed to the FXD stacking method which would stack away from your body.

As for flex, there's no arguing it. But being an engineer (not bragging, just saying), it helps me wrap my head around the fact that you are nooooowhere near the point of plastic deformation, and the fatigue life of a 1" aluminum bar under that low of a deflection amount is stupid. You could "flex" these things literally millions of times and never fatigue crack them. But I will say it still took me a summer of playing with them to get used to the slight step rock you get with the standard sticks. The FXD sticks eliminate that.

If Matt came up with side-stacking FXD sticks that managed to get the posts touching side by side, he could name his price and I'd buy them.

Given the quality of build, bite they have on the tree, and weight, dollar for dollar I'd stack them up against anything.

I know this seems like a biased post, but I just had to put it out there. I try to give credit where its due.

 

[cass_2421]

I love my shikars more than any piece of hunting equipment. I have the standard 20" but leave them deployed.

The side stacking method isn't perfectly streamlined, but I can do it quietly and it keeps the weight near my pack, as opposed to the FXD stacking method which would stack away from your body.

As for flex, there's no arguing it. But being an engineer (not bragging, just saying), it helps me wrap my head around the fact that you are nooooowhere near the point of plastic deformation, and the fatigue life of a 1" aluminum bar under that low of a deflection amount is stupid. You could "flex" these things literally millions of times and never fatigue crack them. But I will say it still took me a summer of playing with them to get used to the slight step rock you get with the standard sticks. The FXD sticks eliminate that.

If Matt came up with side-stacking FXD sticks that managed to get the posts touching side by side, he could name his price and I'd buy them.

Given the quality of build, bite they have on the tree, and weight, dollar for dollar I'd stack them up against anything.

I know this seems like a biased post, but I just had to put it out there. I try to give credit where its due.

I was wondering about the Shikars. I'm looking into a lighter more compact set of sticks than I currently have for next season and they are on sale right now.