d_rek
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
Been a while since I wrote anything of substance around here... but i've been playing with these for most of the summer and figured I have enough experience and formed enough of an opinion at this point to give a thorough review of @DanO 's products.
However, full disclaimer, I have a working relationship (on top of a friendly relationship) with EWO, having done some marketing/design work for them. That being said, if I didn't think it was worthwhile, I wouldn't take the time to write this review regardless of my relationship with EWO.
Originally I received a set of 8 double steps earlier this year and the plan was to retrofit my existing LW sticks with a top and bottom step. After seeing the quality of the doublestep components, and a set another member had built at the 1st Michigan Saddle Day event, I decided I wanted to build my own set.
It should be noted at this point that if your goal is to save money by building your own sticks you might as well look elsewhere. A fully assembled stick - tubing, 2x doublesteps, 2x standoffs, alumibutton, tubing caps, and woven daisy chain webbing (AKA versa strap) is coming in around $90/stick. Not exactly the cheapest option, but a fun one for us hunters who like to tinker (c'mon there's not too many of us on this forum who don't!).
First, let's talk about the quality of the components.
All components are machined/milled from durable and strong aluminum. There are no rough edges, burrs, or otherwise any sharpness to any of the components that I can tell. The included hardware is stainless steel (SS) bolts, SS hex nuts, SS washers and lock washers.
The fitment and tolerances of the components if very good, and you'll find very little to no play in how the components assemble to together, creating a very solid climbing stick with no moving parts. You can see from the pictures just how tight the tolerances are for most of the components.
Of course the versa strap is entirely optional component, but I found that after many climbs and even letting it set in the sun for a day it does not appear to stretch and is very durable webbing material.
One thing I noticed is that the interior of the standoff is slightly wider than 1" with probably a 1/32" of play on either side of the standoff when it is nested against the 1" tubular webbing. This does allow for the sticks to rattle slightly and create some metal clanging. It also causes the sticks to potentially 'wobble' or 'lean' when nested. To remedy this I plan to either apply stealth strips at contact points or to the entire stick. I haven't decided yet. With the raw sticks + components I would caution that these do have potential for noise if you don't plan on finishing them some how. I would also recommend a cinch strap or universal carry strap to cinch them tight to each other to minimize the potential for noise while transporting.
Next let's get into measurements and specifications.
I do not have a weight rating for these sticks, but I can say they have safely held a 235lb man without issue. I would suspect they could support much more weight than that if needed.
The 1" tubing measures 24" from top to bottom. From top of step to step is 22". The double steps are 9" long with 3/8" surface to stand on. The standoffs are approx. 4" long and the distance from standoff to back of step is 4.5". A single stick is 5" tall, and four sticks stacked measure approx. 10" tall. The versa strap is 8ft in length, losing a couple of inches from the first loop in the webbing to attach to the alumibutton. The exact weight of a single stick is 2lbs 5oz including the versa strap. Total weight for four sticks with straps is 9lbs 6oz.
I found 22" for the step length to be about perfect for me. I don't think i'd want it any longer, nor any shorter. For my test climbs I have been varying my climbs by using a removeable DIY Climb-As-You-Go (CAYG) Aider. The CAYG aider is approx. 48" when laid flat from the knot to the bottom of the loop, and when hung from the top step of the sticks allows for it to hang almost a full stick length below the bottom step, effectively doubling your stick. I found the CAYG aider to be fairly easy to use and manuever on my test tree, though have only been running it on my bottom and top sticks when needed.
Setting the sticks with the versa strap was a breeze, though I did find that when the angle was too steep the bottom of the stick was more prone to kick out. I would say try to keep the angle of the strap approx. 30 degrees from the stick, and less if you can manage it.
For this review I only used it on my bottom step and was able to climb to a height of 7.1 yards (measured using a rangefinder) or 21.3 ft measured from my standing figure (head height) at the top my stick. My stick spacing was approx. 16" apart. I could squeeze a few more inches between each stick if needed though. I am confident if I ran the CAYG aider on every stick I could easily get to 24-26ft.
Overall, i'm very impressed with these sticks. They come in a few pounds lighter than my original 4 lone wolf sticks, without compromising hunting height. They are easy as pie to set. I plan on finishing them with either a camo paintjob or stealth strips, or a combination of both. They will definitely be in my pack for mobile hunts come this fall.
Been a while since I wrote anything of substance around here... but i've been playing with these for most of the summer and figured I have enough experience and formed enough of an opinion at this point to give a thorough review of @DanO 's products.
However, full disclaimer, I have a working relationship (on top of a friendly relationship) with EWO, having done some marketing/design work for them. That being said, if I didn't think it was worthwhile, I wouldn't take the time to write this review regardless of my relationship with EWO.
Originally I received a set of 8 double steps earlier this year and the plan was to retrofit my existing LW sticks with a top and bottom step. After seeing the quality of the doublestep components, and a set another member had built at the 1st Michigan Saddle Day event, I decided I wanted to build my own set.
It should be noted at this point that if your goal is to save money by building your own sticks you might as well look elsewhere. A fully assembled stick - tubing, 2x doublesteps, 2x standoffs, alumibutton, tubing caps, and woven daisy chain webbing (AKA versa strap) is coming in around $90/stick. Not exactly the cheapest option, but a fun one for us hunters who like to tinker (c'mon there's not too many of us on this forum who don't!).
First, let's talk about the quality of the components.
All components are machined/milled from durable and strong aluminum. There are no rough edges, burrs, or otherwise any sharpness to any of the components that I can tell. The included hardware is stainless steel (SS) bolts, SS hex nuts, SS washers and lock washers.
The fitment and tolerances of the components if very good, and you'll find very little to no play in how the components assemble to together, creating a very solid climbing stick with no moving parts. You can see from the pictures just how tight the tolerances are for most of the components.
Of course the versa strap is entirely optional component, but I found that after many climbs and even letting it set in the sun for a day it does not appear to stretch and is very durable webbing material.
One thing I noticed is that the interior of the standoff is slightly wider than 1" with probably a 1/32" of play on either side of the standoff when it is nested against the 1" tubular webbing. This does allow for the sticks to rattle slightly and create some metal clanging. It also causes the sticks to potentially 'wobble' or 'lean' when nested. To remedy this I plan to either apply stealth strips at contact points or to the entire stick. I haven't decided yet. With the raw sticks + components I would caution that these do have potential for noise if you don't plan on finishing them some how. I would also recommend a cinch strap or universal carry strap to cinch them tight to each other to minimize the potential for noise while transporting.
Next let's get into measurements and specifications.
I do not have a weight rating for these sticks, but I can say they have safely held a 235lb man without issue. I would suspect they could support much more weight than that if needed.
The 1" tubing measures 24" from top to bottom. From top of step to step is 22". The double steps are 9" long with 3/8" surface to stand on. The standoffs are approx. 4" long and the distance from standoff to back of step is 4.5". A single stick is 5" tall, and four sticks stacked measure approx. 10" tall. The versa strap is 8ft in length, losing a couple of inches from the first loop in the webbing to attach to the alumibutton. The exact weight of a single stick is 2lbs 5oz including the versa strap. Total weight for four sticks with straps is 9lbs 6oz.
I found 22" for the step length to be about perfect for me. I don't think i'd want it any longer, nor any shorter. For my test climbs I have been varying my climbs by using a removeable DIY Climb-As-You-Go (CAYG) Aider. The CAYG aider is approx. 48" when laid flat from the knot to the bottom of the loop, and when hung from the top step of the sticks allows for it to hang almost a full stick length below the bottom step, effectively doubling your stick. I found the CAYG aider to be fairly easy to use and manuever on my test tree, though have only been running it on my bottom and top sticks when needed.
Setting the sticks with the versa strap was a breeze, though I did find that when the angle was too steep the bottom of the stick was more prone to kick out. I would say try to keep the angle of the strap approx. 30 degrees from the stick, and less if you can manage it.
For this review I only used it on my bottom step and was able to climb to a height of 7.1 yards (measured using a rangefinder) or 21.3 ft measured from my standing figure (head height) at the top my stick. My stick spacing was approx. 16" apart. I could squeeze a few more inches between each stick if needed though. I am confident if I ran the CAYG aider on every stick I could easily get to 24-26ft.
Overall, i'm very impressed with these sticks. They come in a few pounds lighter than my original 4 lone wolf sticks, without compromising hunting height. They are easy as pie to set. I plan on finishing them with either a camo paintjob or stealth strips, or a combination of both. They will definitely be in my pack for mobile hunts come this fall.
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