I picked one of these up today to play around with it. I have some ideas on how to modify it to be more stable as well as lighter. I believe the problem with side pressure is the stand-offs, but if you swapped them out for LW or XOP stand offs that should make a big difference. The advertised weight is 6 pounds, but if you exclude the seat and the ratchet strap that should bump it down. The platform itself seems pretty light. For $30 it's worth a shot. I've wasted far more than $30 on hunting stuff, what's 30 more.