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Panther ultralite.

I like the idea of the Panther climbers but for as much as they cost ($680) I think you're better off buying a used LWCG crossover climber if you're going to be spending that much $ on a climber. IMO it's more versatile:

- You can use both top/bottom like a traditional climber w/ a safety harness
- You can use the bottom half only w/ a saddle and use it like the Panther climber

I bought a used crossover off the classifieds here this summer and have been using the bottom half with my saddle as a climbable platform off and on this season and it's been working great. You get a lot of room to move around - more than any other saddle platform I've used - and it's still really light to carry.

The whole thing with the bands breaking on the Panthers would be an absolute no-go for me at the price point as well.
 
climber platforms work great for telephone poles.
Trying to move them over limbs is clumsy in a saddle in my experience. Youre either trying to get off the platform, move it and get back on, which is sketchy. Or your disconnecting the band with the platform connected to your feet and trying to keep yourself away from the tree while raising the platform over the limb and reconnecting the band, which is a hernia waiting to happen.
 
I'm sure the LWCG crossover is nice. I have lots of years of experience with their previous hand-climber and still use the bottom on my "luxury" preset here on the farm. Really don't have a desire to carry that much weight or bulk up the mountain.

On the limbs, the platform is made to climb to the limb, move/switch over tether above limb, if needed make another move with the platform to the limb, then lower yourself with repel device, move it above limb, then climb the aider back up on the platform. This give you the ability to move up over multiple limbs, as long as you can still reach the aider. I believe there is an option to leave it attached to feet, pull the pin, move, reinsert the pin, but that would be for a single limb...and doesn't look to comfortable.

I've not played with the JRB stuff. I do know I have no desire to carry more "stuff". That's the biggest draw of the PP for me. I'm already fairly light with a platform (~3 lbs 8 oz) and Sladder (~1 lb 13 oz) for a rough weight of 5 lbs 5 oz for platform (wo straps in wieght ~8oz?) and climbing method. Couple of platforms weigh more or if I use the .5/Retrograde/Cold World a good bit more. The PP is 3 lbs 8 oz so it's going to be roughly 2 lbs lighter than my current system. The draw for me is one less thing to carry with the Sladder.

I'll see how it works and get hands on pro/con's with it. I've still got a little less than 2 months of season left so it should get a fair amount of use.
 
JCMCUBIC said:
I'm sure the LWCG crossover is nice. I have lots of years of experience with their previous hand-climber and still use the bottom on my "luxury" preset here on the farm. Really don't have a desire to carry that much weight or bulk up the mountain.

On the limbs, the platform is made to climb to the limb, move/switch over tether above limb, if needed make another move with the platform to the limb, then lower yourself with repel device, move it above limb, then climb the aider back up on the platform. This give you the ability to move up over multiple limbs, as long as you can still reach the aider. I believe there is an option to leave it attached to feet, pull the pin, move, reinsert the pin, but that would be for a single limb...and doesn't look to comfortable.
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I saw that on one of their videos and I thought it was a nice feature / advantage for it as a climber, especially since that's a common criticism re climbers (getting around limbs).


I think it would be difficult to replicate this with the crossover. For one thing the crossover cable is much more "limp" than the Panther cable which seems to retain its arced shaped making it easier to re-grab as you go over a limb. The other thing with the crossover platform being larger is that it's hard to use with an aider the way you can with the Panther because the toe of your boot does't reach the tree for stability when you step in the aider.

JCMCUBIC said:
I've not played with the JRB stuff. I do know I have no desire to carry more "stuff". That's the biggest draw of the PP for me. I'm already fairly light with a platform (~3 lbs 8 oz) and Sladder (~1 lb 13 oz) for a rough weight of 5 lbs 5 oz for platform (wo straps in wieght ~8oz?) and climbing method. Couple of platforms weigh more or if I use the .5/Retrograde/Cold World a good bit more. The PP is 3 lbs 8 oz so it's going to be roughly 2 lbs lighter than my current system. The draw for me is one less thing to carry with the Sladder.

I'll see how it works and get hands on pro/con's with it. I've still got a little less than 2 months of season left so it should get a fair amount of use.
Click to expand...

Like I said earlier, I like the idea of the Panther climber and judging by how well they've been selling it seems like others do to. I'm kind of surprised it took this long for someone to come up with a product like this. I get the impression that most people in the saddle world prefer sticks but I love the simplicity of climbers - I just hate the associated weight and how cumbersome they generally are to haul around compared to one-sticking. If someone made something like the Panther that also packed down flat like the crossover / xop revolt I bet they'd sell like hot cakes.
 
I've played around with A LOT of different techniques, but I only used a "set" of sticks one time and after that never more than 1 stick. Sticks are really comfortable to climb with and very efficient but I want less, not more, things to carry. That's not an argument against them, they are great in use, it's just my preference. Everything is a trade off. I'm interested to see how the PP fares in use.
 
I have a lwcg crossover (selling it) and I have had 2 Panther climbers. As far as going past limbs the Panther is easier. As far as weight goes…by the time you add rope and everything else it was basically a wash (yes I weighed both setups). This was with the original Panther platform. You could shave off whatever the difference is with the ultralight. Hopefully Panther gets the belt breakage issue resolved. Between the two though I would prefer the Panther (without belts breaking of course).
 
Hunted this morning until mid-afternoon with the ultralight PP. I was originally worried about the noise I'd heard from watching climbing videos. If you're careful, it's basically silent. Carries well with a popup 28. Very quick setup, climb, takedown. It's likely the most efficient of anything I've tried. I had to stop and adjust the band as I didn't tilt it enough at the base.

Came home and did several practice climbs trying several different methods of clearing limbs and adjusting belt. I wish I had gotten the 5 step aider but need to play with it more to see how much difference it might make. I found it easier when climbing the aider to not use the last step but to put my knee on the platform then stand. More time playing with it may change that but it was a bit rough on my shin after stepping in the last step.

Quick link with tether locker works when climbing. Loop and girth hitch works better. At some point I will try playing with JRB's Bloodgood to see how it might work.

Side pressure near the tree will cause it to shift a bit. Side pressure applied through the hole is solid. Standing with feet on the outer bars is pretty comfortable. I wore softer boots and feet on the front edge got rough. I'll wear Crispi's tomorrow.
 
Has anyone tried incorporating a strap on step like bullman to help with going bug around a limb.
 
i have the regular quick climb i caught on sale when they released the ultralight. ive used the same process for going around limbs that i used one sticking and have had no issues.
 
I just purchased the Osprey Lean Ascent Select, should have it by the end of next week. Anxious to give it a shot. I chose it over the Panther because it will work on larger diameter trees.
 
JCMCUBIC said:
Side pressure near the tree will cause it to shift a bit. Side pressure applied through the hole is solid. Standing with feet on the outer bars is pretty comfortable. I wore softer boots and feet on the front edge got rough. I'll wear Crispi's tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I was curious how it would handle side pressure since I noticed that unlike the original version the ultralight doesn't have a post. When I've used the bottom half of the crossover I had the same issue and ended up using one of the cinch straps that came with it to strap the base around the tree - that seemed to be enough to minimize it shifting with side movement.
 
ToddH said:
I was curious how it would handle side pressure since I noticed that unlike the original version the ultralight doesn't have a post. When I've used the bottom half of the crossover I had the same issue and ended up using one of the cinch straps that came with it to strap the base around the tree - that seemed to be enough to minimize it shifting with side movement.
Click to expand...

Yeah, with no post it's not the best for outer side pressure. That said, the middle hole is the workaround. I hunted out of it most of the day today and watched a lot of deer coming from all different directions. It gave me a lot of opportunities to practice setting up shots (rifle) on a lot of angles and just watching with bino's. The middle hole works...it's different and I'm used to pushing off the side of a platform...but it's very workable. There's enough room to turn away from the tree and stand with tether over the shoulder as well.

It's noticeably different from using a standard platform. Footwork is different turning. The inner foot bars and outer arms have to be worked around and the platform will move a bit. Yesterday and today I hunted out of "hard' barked trees and simply set the platform to be level at hunting height. It doesn't bite, will move a little, but there was no "kick out" like a posted platform might do. Again, the middle hole is the technique and it works well, just different from normal side pressure.

The platform is big, but the foot bars and side bars take away from the room and freedom of movement in a standard platform. It has to be worked around. You have to be past the foot bars to rotate your foot, etc.

Today I climbed a tree that had a preset lock on that I was going to take down at the end of the hunt. I keep a safety rope hung on my presets and generally use either a rock climbing ladder aider w/ropeman or Sladder to climb. With the preset safety rope it was incredibly quick to climb. I can see using it a lot with preset safety ropes.

I was thinking about the belts breaking today. I don't know how many that has happened with or the details on it. In a video I remember the owner talking about how comfortable standing on the arms is. I did this a bit and it is comfortable. I'm curious if this might be a different pressure on the band depending on where the foot is placed. The band seems to be a high density plastic and is somewhat pre-curved. It works very well for putting on the tree, moving and reinserting, etc. Still, it seems like it's designed for straight pull pressure, but a lot of the pressure it's going to have is at an angle. I don't know the particulars, material details, testing, etc...just my thoughts from outside.

Overall, if someone is looking for low fiddle factor, fast, and light, it's got those. It's VERY efficient. Cost is a consideration, but when adding things up, an ultra lightweight platform + the cost of 3-4 lightweight sticks is a pretty good chunk...and isn't going to be lighter than this.

Hyperlite, 2.1 lbs, $300
Hyperlite Sticks, 17.5 oz, x4 = 4 lbs 6 oz, $480
~6 lbs 7 oz, $780
There's probably lighter/cheaper combo's with platform and sticks but I'm not sure anything can touch the weight. The cost looks a lot less when you factor in platform and sticks.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on it. The draw of it (for me) is fast and light with no fiddle factor. I'll be using it a good bit from now until early Feb. I'll try to update this occasionally.
 
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