• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Latitude SS vs Tethrd One?

Update:


I ended up ordering the Latitude Carbon SS sticks from Mack's Prairie Wings on Friday and received them on Monday! Excellent service from MPW.

I have climbed with them for the past two days. I climbed the sticks with and without the use of aiders (2 step aider on bottom stick and single step on top 2 sticks). Here is my subjective review:


Pros:

* Weight. They do actually weigh 19oz per stick.
* No moving parts. I like not having to fold/unfold steps.
* Come with quality Amsteel ropes.
* Innately quieter than metallic sticks. They do have more of a dead sound when bumped together, akin to that of plastic rattling antlers.
* Simple and secure attachment method.
* Stack flat together.
* 5 Year Warranty.
* Made in the USA.


Cons:

They’re plastic. I know they put “carbon” in the name and mention “carbon fiber”, but if you’ve ever owned something that is 100% carbon fiber and grab one of these sticks, you will immediately notice that they are mostly plastic. I’m not saying they lack structural integrity, but if you’re expecting a carbon fiber “feel”, you will be disappointed.

The Amsteel they come with is only 6’ 6” worth. All other climbing sticks I’ve bought have come with 8’ of rope/strap/Amsteel. The 1’ 6” shortage of rope does force you to be more stringent in your tree selection. Obviously, you can replace the ropes with longer ones. Note: I’ve read in a few places that Latitude chose this length so that when you wind the Amsteel up on the stick, it’s exactly enough to secure the tag in on the attachment wing, with no excess flopping around. I don’t know that this reasoning is 100% accurate, but can confirm the Amsteel DOES wrap up that way on the sticks.

Standoff. The standoff is a purported 3.5”, but it didn’t feel like that much. I climbed these in tennis shoes and in my rubber hunting boots. I never felt like I was going to “slip off” but definitely had less foot contact/engagement than I do with my Skeletors.

Last, and maybe most importantly to me, is the amount of spine flexion I experienced when standing on the top step. The twisting in the spine of the stick between the attachment wings and top step was significant, causing the top step to pull off the tree at least 1”, up to 1.5”. There are several reviews on YouTube where you can witness the top step doing this. The stick never moved from its position on the tree, but the top step would pull away from the tree depending which side of the step (left of right) I was distributing my weight onto. I re-tied the step multiple times to make sure it was seated evenly/flush on the tree and I experienced this much flexion no matter what. I weigh 210lbs in street clothes and probably had 7 or 8 lbs of saddle gear strapped on me when I did this test. Perhaps someone who was significantly (20lbs or more) lighter than me wouldn’t experience this?? Again, the sticks bit into the tree wonderfully and I NEVER experienced any kickout. The bottom step was rock solid and never moved.


Final Decision / TL;DR

They aren’t for me. I was looking to reduce the weight of my climbing sticks, but I don’t like the way the Carbon SS sticks feel when I’m standing on the top step. Less standoff and too much movement when I’m standing on the top step of the stick. I am going to keep running my Skeletors for now and may look into trying the Tethrd One Sticks in the future.
 
Last edited:
Crawdaddy4 said:
Update:


I ended up ordering the Latitude Carbon SS sticks from Mack's Prairie Wings on Friday and received them on Monday! Excellent service from MPW.

I have climbed with them for the past two days. I climbed the sticks with and without the use of aiders (2 step aider on bottom stick and single step on top 2 sticks). Here is my subjective review:


Pros:

* Weight. They do actually weigh 19oz per stick.
* No moving parts. I like not having to fold/unfold steps.
* Come with quality Amsteel ropes.
* Innately quieter than metallic sticks. They do have more of a dead sound when bumped together, akin to that of plastic rattling antlers.
* Simple and secure attachment method.
* Stack flat together.
* 5 Year Warranty.
* Made in the USA.


Cons:

They’re plastic. I know they put “carbon” in the name and mention “carbon fiber”, but if you’ve ever owned something that is 100% carbon fiber and grab one of these sticks, you will immediately notice that they are mostly plastic. I’m not saying they lack structural integrity, but if you’re expecting a carbon fiber “feel”, you will be disappointed.

The Amsteel they come with is only 6’ 6” worth. All other climbing sticks I’ve bought have come with 8’ of rope/strap/Amsteel. The 1’ 6” shortage of rope does force you to be more stringent in your tree selection. Obviously, you can replace the ropes with longer ones. Note: I’ve read in a few places that Latitude chose this length so that when you wind the Amsteel up on the stick, it’s exactly enough to secure the tag in on the attachment wing, with no excess flopping around. I don’t know that this is 100% accurate, but the Amsteel DOES wrap up that way on the sticks.

Standoff. The standoff is a purported 3.5”, but it didn’t feel like that much. I climbed these in tennis shoes and in my rubber hunting boots. I never felt like I was going to “slip off” but definitely had less foot contact/engagement than I do with my Skeletors.

Last, and maybe most importantly to me, is the amount of spine flexion I experienced when standing on the top step. The twisting in the spine of the stick between the attachment wings and top step was significant, causing the top step to pull off the tree at least 1”, up to 1.5”. There are several reviews on YouTube where you can witness the top step doing this. The stick never moved from its position on the tree, but the top step would pull away from the tree depending which side of the step (left of right) I was distributing my weight onto. I re-tied the step multiple times to make sure it was seated evenly/flush on the tree and I experienced this much flexion no matter what. I weigh 210lbs in street clothes and probably had 7 or 8 lbs of saddle gear strapped on me when I did this test. Perhaps someone who was significantly (20lbs or more) lighter than me wouldn’t experience this?? Again, the sticks bit into the tree wonderfully and I NEVER experienced any kickout. The bottom step was rock solid and never moved.


Final Decision / TL;DR

They aren’t for me. I was looking to reduce the weight of my climbing sticks, but I don’t like the way the Carbon SS sticks feel when I’m standing on the top step. Less standoff and too much movement when I’m standing on the top stick. I am going to keep running my Skeletors for now and may look into trying the Tethrd One Sticks in the future.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write up. I have the Tethrd One sticks and you've removed my curiosity about these Latitude ones.

I'll bet that you'll really like the One sticks. On smaller trees, I just put the step in the middle of my feet and turn my feet like duck feet and it's fine (I'm a 12 wide). If you are standing on your toes on them though, it is a bit tiring. If I had foot issues, I wouldn't like that. The only reason to do that is on big trees though. There's no flex with the One sticks but they are loud if you bang them. Also, they start out lighter than the Latitudes, but once you stealth strip them and do any other mods....then they are probably almost the same weight.
 
Last edited:
Crawdaddy4 said:
Update:


I ended up ordering the Latitude Carbon SS sticks from Mack's Prairie Wings on Friday and received them on Monday! Excellent service from MPW.

I have climbed with them for the past two days. I climbed the sticks with and without the use of aiders (2 step aider on bottom stick and single step on top 2 sticks). Here is my subjective review:


Pros:

* Weight. They do actually weigh 19oz per stick.
* No moving parts. I like not having to fold/unfold steps.
* Come with quality Amsteel ropes.
* Innately quieter than metallic sticks. They do have more of a dead sound when bumped together, akin to that of plastic rattling antlers.
* Simple and secure attachment method.
* Stack flat together.
* 5 Year Warranty.
* Made in the USA.


Cons:

They’re plastic. I know they put “carbon” in the name and mention “carbon fiber”, but if you’ve ever owned something that is 100% carbon fiber and grab one of these sticks, you will immediately notice that they are mostly plastic. I’m not saying they lack structural integrity, but if you’re expecting a carbon fiber “feel”, you will be disappointed.

The Amsteel they come with is only 6’ 6” worth. All other climbing sticks I’ve bought have come with 8’ of rope/strap/Amsteel. The 1’ 6” shortage of rope does force you to be more stringent in your tree selection. Obviously, you can replace the ropes with longer ones. Note: I’ve read in a few places that Latitude chose this length so that when you wind the Amsteel up on the stick, it’s exactly enough to secure the tag in on the attachment wing, with no excess flopping around. I don’t know that this is 100% accurate, but the Amsteel DOES wrap up that way on the sticks.

Standoff. The standoff is a purported 3.5”, but it didn’t feel like that much. I climbed these in tennis shoes and in my rubber hunting boots. I never felt like I was going to “slip off” but definitely had less foot contact/engagement than I do with my Skeletors.

Last, and maybe most importantly to me, is the amount of spine flexion I experienced when standing on the top step. The twisting in the spine of the stick between the attachment wings and top step was significant, causing the top step to pull off the tree at least 1”, up to 1.5”. There are several reviews on YouTube where you can witness the top step doing this. The stick never moved from its position on the tree, but the top step would pull away from the tree depending which side of the step (left of right) I was distributing my weight onto. I re-tied the step multiple times to make sure it was seated evenly/flush on the tree and I experienced this much flexion no matter what. I weigh 210lbs in street clothes and probably had 7 or 8 lbs of saddle gear strapped on me when I did this test. Perhaps someone who was significantly (20lbs or more) lighter than me wouldn’t experience this?? Again, the sticks bit into the tree wonderfully and I NEVER experienced any kickout. The bottom step was rock solid and never moved.


Final Decision / TL;DR

They aren’t for me. I was looking to reduce the weight of my climbing sticks, but I don’t like the way the Carbon SS sticks feel when I’m standing on the top step. Less standoff and too much movement when I’m standing on the top stick. I am going to keep running my Skeletors for now and may look into trying the Tethrd One Sticks in the future.
Click to expand...
Get the ones and be done with it. They're absolutely superb
 
bigmike23 said:
Get the ones and be done with it. They're absolutely superb
Click to expand...
Looking at their availability, the 3 pack is in stock, and the singles are in stock, but not the 4 pack! :expressionless:

I can find the 4 pack from other sites, but all of them charge significantly more from what I have found so far.
 
Is it really apples to apples though? The ONE sticks are $110 more for a three pack. I could get a fourth Latitude stick for that.
 
Crawdaddy4 said:
Final Decision / TL;DR

They aren’t for me. I was looking to reduce the weight of my climbing sticks, but I don’t like the way the Carbon SS sticks feel when I’m standing on the top step. Less standoff and too much movement when I’m standing on the top step of the stick. I am going to keep running my Skeletors for now and may look into trying the Tethrd One Sticks in the future.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. I'm basically in the same situation as you with the Skeletors and looking for a lighter weight alternative. Just from looking at the Carbon SS they looks like an injection molded plastic with carbon filler to so that they could market them as "carbon" sticks. Probably carbon fiber polypropylene or very similar. That's been my concern as anything plastic like that tends to wear and break down over time in my experience.
 
BuffaloBill said:
Is it really apples to apples though? The ONE sticks are $110 more for a three pack. I could get a fourth Latitude stick for that.
Click to expand...
I agree, that for the price of lightweight sticks - the Latitude's are probably a better bang-for-your buck; If the flexion and standoff don't bother you, it's a great stick. Price isn't the differentiator for me.
 
i was going to comment on how plastic they are but didnt want to get the backlash from the fans. the tethrd ones for people who use multiple sticks are probably the best imo
 
phorizt said:
Thanks for the review. I'm basically in the same situation as you with the Skeletors and looking for a lighter weight alternative. Just from looking at the Carbon SS they looks like an injection molded plastic with carbon filler to so that they could market them as "carbon" sticks. Probably carbon fiber polypropylene or very similar. That's been my concern as anything plastic like that tends to wear and break down over time in my experience.
Click to expand...

This is similar to the riser on some of the budget Bowtech bows. The fibers mean it might bend but it would take a gorilla to actually tear it.

The Bowtech risers have been known to warp in the heat of a car (not that you should leave a bow in a hot car anyways). So, I'd be careful with that here also, if you hunt where it is hot.
 
Chandler96 said:
i was going to comment on how plastic they are but didnt want to get the backlash from the fans. the tethrd ones for people who use multiple sticks are probably the best imo
Click to expand...
The material only matters to me inasmuch as its reaction to applied force. Meaning, I don't care that it is plastic. If it was aluminum and moved this much, I'd still be uncomfortable standing on it.
 
Crawdaddy4 said:
Update:


I ended up ordering the Latitude Carbon SS sticks from Mack's Prairie Wings on Friday and received them on Monday! Excellent service from MPW.

I have climbed with them for the past two days. I climbed the sticks with and without the use of aiders (2 step aider on bottom stick and single step on top 2 sticks). Here is my subjective review:


Pros:

* Weight. They do actually weigh 19oz per stick.
* No moving parts. I like not having to fold/unfold steps.
* Come with quality Amsteel ropes.
* Innately quieter than metallic sticks. They do have more of a dead sound when bumped together, akin to that of plastic rattling antlers.
* Simple and secure attachment method.
* Stack flat together.
* 5 Year Warranty.
* Made in the USA.


Cons:

They’re plastic. I know they put “carbon” in the name and mention “carbon fiber”, but if you’ve ever owned something that is 100% carbon fiber and grab one of these sticks, you will immediately notice that they are mostly plastic. I’m not saying they lack structural integrity, but if you’re expecting a carbon fiber “feel”, you will be disappointed.

The Amsteel they come with is only 6’ 6” worth. All other climbing sticks I’ve bought have come with 8’ of rope/strap/Amsteel. The 1’ 6” shortage of rope does force you to be more stringent in your tree selection. Obviously, you can replace the ropes with longer ones. Note: I’ve read in a few places that Latitude chose this length so that when you wind the Amsteel up on the stick, it’s exactly enough to secure the tag in on the attachment wing, with no excess flopping around. I don’t know that this reasoning is 100% accurate, but can confirm the Amsteel DOES wrap up that way on the sticks.

Standoff. The standoff is a purported 3.5”, but it didn’t feel like that much. I climbed these in tennis shoes and in my rubber hunting boots. I never felt like I was going to “slip off” but definitely had less foot contact/engagement than I do with my Skeletors.

Last, and maybe most importantly to me, is the amount of spine flexion I experienced when standing on the top step. The twisting in the spine of the stick between the attachment wings and top step was significant, causing the top step to pull off the tree at least 1”, up to 1.5”. There are several reviews on YouTube where you can witness the top step doing this. The stick never moved from its position on the tree, but the top step would pull away from the tree depending which side of the step (left of right) I was distributing my weight onto. I re-tied the step multiple times to make sure it was seated evenly/flush on the tree and I experienced this much flexion no matter what. I weigh 210lbs in street clothes and probably had 7 or 8 lbs of saddle gear strapped on me when I did this test. Perhaps someone who was significantly (20lbs or more) lighter than me wouldn’t experience this?? Again, the sticks bit into the tree wonderfully and I NEVER experienced any kickout. The bottom step was rock solid and never moved.


Final Decision / TL;DR

They aren’t for me. I was looking to reduce the weight of my climbing sticks, but I don’t like the way the Carbon SS sticks feel when I’m standing on the top step. Less standoff and too much movement when I’m standing on the top step of the stick. I am going to keep running my Skeletors for now and may look into trying the Tethrd One Sticks in the future.
Click to expand...


Don't take this the wrong way but there is something wrong in the way you are setting them. If the top step is flexing out away from the tree a inch. Your bottom standoff has to be sitting on something for that to even be possible. It should just push stick farther down and flex the center of stick in towards the tree making the stick tighter and tighter. Not flex out away from tree. If a aluminum stick was set like that it would bend the bottom standoff because it is supporting all your weight. Weight isn't being spread into tree evenly.

I have had mine where only one side of standoff touches because of severe tree twist or knots. But they never felt spongy to me at all. You really gotta be careful of setting sticks where bottom standoff can't slide down. Doesn't matter who makes them. The more I use mine the more I like them.

Good luck, if you lost confidence in them send em back makes no difference to me at the end of the day.
 
Mopar1169 said:
Don't take this the wrong way but there is something wrong in the way you are setting them. If the top step is flexing out away from the tree a inch. Your bottom standoff has to be sitting on something for that to even be possible. It should just push stick farther down and flex the center of stick in towards the tree making the stick tighter and tighter. Not flex out away from tree. If a aluminum stick was set like that it would bend the bottom standoff because it is supporting all your weight. Weight isn't being spread into tree evenly.

I have had mine where only one side of standoff touches because of severe tree twist or knots. But they never felt spongy to me at all. You really gotta be careful of setting sticks where bottom standoff can't slide down. Doesn't matter who makes them. The more I use mine the more I like them.

Good luck, if you lost confidence in them send em back makes no difference to me at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

Is this helped by pulling the bottom standoff away from the tree and pulling down prior to getting on them?
 
Mopar1169 said:
Don't take this the wrong way but there is something wrong in the way you are setting them. If the top step is flexing out away from the tree a inch. Your bottom standoff has to be sitting on something for that to even be possible. It should just push stick farther down and flex the center of stick in towards the tree making the stick tighter and tighter. Not flex out away from tree. If a aluminum stick was set like that it would bend the bottom standoff because it is supporting all your weight. Weight isn't being spread into tree evenly.

I have had mine where only one side of standoff touches because of severe tree twist or knots. But they never felt spongy to me at all. You really gotta be careful of setting sticks where bottom standoff can't slide down. Doesn't matter who makes them. The more I use mine the more I like them.

Good luck, if you lost confidence in them send em back makes no difference to me at the end of the day.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the feedback and no offense taken. I tried adjusting how much "sag" was in my line to reposition the stick in relation to where the Amsteel surrounds the tree. It didn't make a difference in the amount of flexion. Again, some may be comfortable with this, but I wasn't.
 
raisins said:
Is this helped by pulling the bottom standoff away from the tree and pulling down prior to getting on them?
Click to expand...
I tried to "set" them every way I could think. I used the step itself as well as the aider. Tried tighter and looser rope settings. Pulled them out as you recommended, as I've had other sticks I had to do this with as well. My personal theory is I just don't believe the material can not twist/move with 220+ lbs on it.

If I exaggerate the amount of "sag" that the stick has, which is way more than I would ever use while climbing, the top step does flex less. However, the bottom step is so loose that it kicks out.
 
Crawdaddy4 said:
I appreciate the feedback and no offense taken. I tried adjusting how much "sag" was in my line to reposition the stick in relation to where the Amsteel surrounds the tree. It didn't make a difference in the amount of flexion. Again, some may be comfortable with this, but I wasn't.
Click to expand...

When I tie mine off I try to keep the amsteel as close to perpendicular as possible. Then in my first crossover I pull the amsteel as tight as I can make it before locking it off the first time. Then do second lock. Yeah if you aren't comfortable send them back no point of climbing on gear you don't trust. Don't need that in the back of your head.
 
Crawdaddy4 said:
I tried to "set" them every way I could think. I used the step itself as well as the aider. Tried tighter and looser rope settings. Pulled them out as you recommended, as I've had other sticks I had to do this with as well. My personal theory is I just don't believe the material can not twist/move with 220+ lbs on it.

If I exaggerate the amount of "sag" that the stick has, which is way more than I would ever use while climbing, the top step does flex less. However, the bottom step is so loose that it kicks out.
Click to expand...
Real quick as not to derail, have you tried timber ninjas? I've lost a bit of weight now but last season I was almost 220 without gear. I haven't had that problem, the pulling out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top