Yeah, it's super solid, and extremely comfortable. You're not sitting down in it by any means, but no hip pinch leaning, and I can easily stand up in the platform if I need a break on my lower back, which I rarely do...granted longest hang so far with it was about 5 hours
1. You obviously can't get 180 degrees on the other side of the tree, but there is 0 limitation to shots. Because the bridge actially goes all the way to each hip and theyre aren't any bridge loops it's almost less restricting than what most are used to with bridge loops. I can shoot 360 degrees no problem. Keep in mind I'm on a platform, a huge one not a ring of steps so I see 0 scenarios where I would want to swing all the way around the tree, especially if I put some thought into setup.
2.that is correct, the bridge and anchor are folded accordian style and placed out of the way under a piece of elastic on my left hip.The original sniper saddle had a fixed linemans belt like a cheap treestand harness, but that has been removed and I had CGM put some new loops on and they knocked it out if the park. It climbs like any other saddle, bit I wouldn't want to srt or drt with it, again not comfy to sit in. I climb using bolts 90 percent of the time and either strap on aluminum steps or sticks the rest. The design of this setup has zero drawbacks or effect on my climbing method.
Overall I'm super happy with this setup. The sniper sling gets a bad rap a lot, but I don't think people really gave it a wholehearted chance since the linemans setup suckrd so much.