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Petzl Podium or equivalent prolonged suspension seat?

I need to spend the day with someone that can sew straps up for me


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Ok. Here we go.

JX3 Hybrid - Everyone says it's too bulky. I don't get it. But for the sake of argument, let's say that it's too bulky. But, Can we all agree that it would be the standard for comfort? We'll start there, and work our way through this.

Next least bulky option - guido's web. You lose the ability to hunt with it in warm weather, and it can't pack stuff out. But it weight 6ish pounds, and "less" bulky than the hybrid. But still probably "too" bulky for people who complain about the hybrid being bulky. Comfort very close to the hybrid. However, major drawback is you have to bastardize it to climb with the seat up, or drill and slot your fork so it doesn't prevent you from climbing safely and unannoyedly. Everything it does the hybrid does considerably better.

Bosun's chair. Cheap, "compact" in the sense it's not a hybrid or web. Ok, you've eliminated hip pinch. That checks a box. But, You're either going to have to wear knee pads to put your knees into tree (which forces you likely into carrying a platform), or spread your legs and have your face 6" from the tree, to reduce pressure on your legs all day. A big improvement from a saddle, but still a saddle. As an aside, it will need to be at least 20" wide for the average size fellow if you elect to go "spread your legs" route. Because when you spread your legs, it will force the edges of your hips out over the edge of the seat, and the bridge loops will tear into your legs(more concentrated hip pinch). More in this later.

Onehair tree seat. - the poor man's web. Take a piece of plywood and make a Bosun's chair, but add a fork. Here's the deal. To get the fork short enough to make the thing not "too" bulky, you have to make it 20+" wide to allow for the manspread. Or you can make it 18" wide, and carry a ton of weight on your legs.

I'm tinkering at a very slow pace with the superultralightweight hybrid everyone wants. This is what I've found. You cannot execute the seat portion of the hybrid any better than it currently is, and get total comfort the hybrid can provide for three reasons - the depth of the seat, the adjustability of the fork, and the fact that the rigid back spreads the bridge loops

The depth allows you to sit far enough away from the tree to get your legs in the most comfortable position in relation to ANY size tree. You can use the fork to make the micro adjustments to get that distance exact. And the rigid back spreading the bridge loops allows you to sit in any position without hip pinch. In essence, you can sit in the exact position that makes you the most comfortable. There's no compromise, regardless of tree size, shape, or angle.


Bottom line - lots of people have used the bosun's chair, and onehair treeseat and been happy campers. There's a huge gap between sitting in a soft saddle, and the Hybrid. Using one of these get's you somewhere in the middle - albeit with a couple tradeoffs. It's my experience that to make the thing "comfortable enough", it's going to be pretty big in one of if not two directions (deep and/or wide). And you still have to wear a harness to climb. Now, That could be a benefit to some folks who like climbing with a regular harness. But you're carrying two pieces of gear. A comfortable rock harness is something like a pound. Plus the weight of the chair you choose. You're now approaching web weight.

If this amount of improvement is enough to make it worth screwing with, rock on. I've got a half dozen attempts at what you're doing that ultimately don't make sense in light of the hybrid. And I tend to side with the saying "great is the enemy of good." But in my opinion, if I'm not as comfortable as humanly possible currently (the hybrid), then I'll carry my soft saddle and deal with the tradeoffs there.

To me, the space between a two panel saddle/big platform and the hybrid is not of interest. And the Hybrid is an easy choice out of those two.

Now go buy and make a bunch of chairs and prove me wrong!
 
kyler1945 said:
Ok. Here we go.

JX3 Hybrid - Everyone says it's too bulky. I don't get it. But for the sake of argument, let's say that it's too bulky. But, Can we all agree that it would be the standard for comfort? We'll start there, and work our way through this.
Click to expand...
That slim sure looks nice. I've been sitting here thinking "dang the JX3 looks nice except for it's so damn wide", then I see ol' Nutterbuster jibberjabbering on youtube with the JX3, and think "that actually looks really nice and a great size". Only to find out it's the damned slim that John won't make.

I know there's a fine line to be wide enough to bring the comfort...but dang if those couple of inches don't make a big impression on my eyeballs.
 
mattsteg said:
That slim sure looks nice. I've been sitting here thinking "dang the JX3 looks nice except for it's so damn wide", then I see ol' Nutterbuster jibberjabbering on youtube with the JX3, and think "that actually looks really nice and a great size". Only to find out it's the damned slim that John won't make.

I know there's a fine line to be wide enough to bring the comfort...but dang if those couple of inches don't make a big impression on my eyeballs.
Click to expand...

If you're 80+% of the folks in America who buy a hybrid, a 20" wide seat is narrower than you. If you're in the 20%, and hunt really cold weather alot, you'll be glad for the extra seat room - I hunted in the single digits with every layer of clothes I've got, and I would've really benefitted from a 20" seat.
It's a small market. But the hollerin' is heard, I promise.
 
gcr0003 said:
@kyler1945 how do you turn every thread into a JX3 thread :sweatsmile:
Click to expand...

Haha, I just wanted to share how I ended up in a place that I turn every thread into a hybrid thread. I guess it's not possible to do one without doing the other.

Dangit - I'm not discouraging the journey. I just want you to start from where many folks have left off, then go from there. No sense wasting your time in the barrel we already shot all the fish in.
 
kyler1945 said:
Haha, I just wanted to share how I ended up in a place that I turn every thread into a hybrid thread. I guess it's not possible to do one without doing the other.

Dangit - I'm not discouraging the journey. I just want you to start from where many folks have left off, then go from there. No sense wasting your time in the barrel we already shot all the fish in.
Click to expand...
Yea I don't know if I am on a journey but I just happened to see these online and thought they were pretty cool looking. Thanks for the explanation and history of the JX3, again! buahaha I jest, thanks for the helpful input.
 
kyler1945 said:
If you're 80+% of the folks in America who buy a hybrid, a 20" wide seat is narrower than you. If you're in the 20%, and hunt really cold weather alot, you'll be glad for the extra seat room - I hunted in the single digits with every layer of clothes I've got, and I would've really benefitted from a 20" seat.
It's a small market. But the hollerin' is heard, I promise.
Click to expand...
I understand all that. It may well be a mental block where I'd buy the slim, think "crap I want 2 more inches of width" and catch/release it. With that said I don't see how layers would really make that big of a difference (but then again I haven't sat in one), and I hate hauling wide packs in the woods.
 
mattsteg said:
I understand all that. It may well be a mental block where I'd buy the slim, think "crap I want 2 more inches of width" and catch/release it. With that said I don't see how layers would really make that big of a difference (but then again I haven't sat in one), and I hate hauling wide packs in the woods.
Click to expand...

More of a "feeling" ... It was like 5 degrees, and I had insulated bibs, a few upper layers, all under a cabelas stand hunter overall. I looked like the michelin man. I could feel the side straps compressing on me. And I was on a bigger tree that required my legs to be spread pretty wide. That combo led to me wishing I had the wider seat on that hunt. Truth be told, if a deer came out, I'm not sure I would've been able to draw my bow with how cold I was, and how bundled up I was haha.
 
I agree with Kyle. The mini is really nice for walking in, but it's narrow enough that for most guys including me it kinda defeats the "Supreme comfort" thing once in the tree.
 
kyler1945 said:
More of a "feeling" ... It was like 5 degrees, and I had insulated bibs, a few upper layers, all under a cabelas stand hunter overall. I looked like the michelin man. I could feel the side straps compressing on me. And I was on a bigger tree that required my legs to be spread pretty wide. That combo led to me wishing I had the wider seat on that hunt. Truth be told, if a deer came out, I'm not sure I would've been able to draw my bow with how cold I was, and how bundled up I was haha.
Click to expand...
In that weather a few chemical heaters go a lonnng way.

I guess I'm just envisioning bumping the treefork out a bit rather than straddling, and maybe some slight compression rather than discomforting pressure. But again I haven't tried the hybrid yet and fully expect to be potentially wrong.
 
Before I added the board to my Yellow Jacket the hip pinch made me think about climbing down for the day. Since adding the board, I get a bit of pressure on my butt but no quitting because of it. No hip pinch. Fairly light as well.
 
bj139 said:
Before I added the board to my Yellow Jacket the hip pinch made me think about climbing down for the day. Since adding the board, I get a bit of pressure on my butt but no quitting because of it. No hip pinch. Fairly light as well.
Click to expand...
Glue a foam pad to it, I did that to one I built and getting ready to do it to my new iteration, just installed the seat last night. After 4 hours this morning sitting on just the OSB I'm going to put a pad in this one as well.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I agree with Kyle. The mini is really nice for walking in, but it's narrow enough that for most guys including me it kinda defeats the "Supreme comfort" thing once in the tree.
Click to expand...
Man I wonder if there's a way to have some sort of flip-out strap/sling spreaders to widen the thing just a tad in the tree without being fiddly or counterproductive. Is it worse in the "hiproom" with pinch coming back into play? Or the supports also start to interfere with your buttroom/padding? Or put another way - the loss of comfort with the slim - is it from lack of spreading, or a physically less-comfortable seat?

I really need to just sell some crap I never use and get a hybrid to play with, just keep having other things to spend money on.
 
Hey @kyler1945 I agree with you 100% on the 80/20 of the mini and the cold weather. Last week it got into the mid 20's (not even my heavy clothes) and I was getting pissy with my binos catching on my bridge. And I'm 5'9 140#!!! So I cant imagine for the guys that are 250 6ft+. Nonetheless, I know without a shadow of a doubt, if I could sit my hybrid in front of that 'honey I shrunk the kids' machine and zap about 15-20% off of it, i would be in a full fledged, borderline adulterous relationship with mine, as you are yours. That is literally the only thing I don't like about it. Now that's just me, 80% of people probably don't experience it the way I do. That being said, if I were John and my ignorant assumption of the amount of resources/time it would take to try and accommodate that 15-20% is correct, its just not feasible. Maybe yall know something I dont but you know as much as I would buy one tomorrow, I'm not of the opinion I'll ever have that option.

UNLESS....UNLESS,

You and ole @Nutterbuster here wanna round up that elusive 'display' skinny thats hiding out somewhere and this T-town boy will be headed that way $$$!

I've got fresh summer sausage and a sharp skinning knife too so hey, I'm a reasonable man!

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Forgot to say what I came into the thread to say...

I've got a cousin who cuts trees for a living and he has a seat like that new petzl. He uses it when cuttin spars down bc he tore his knee up in high school and standing in his spurs while cuttin down causes it to "give out". So I sat in it the other day at his house and it reminded me of the guy who took the back off the hybrid to shoot his trad bow. It was pretty comfy really, especially would be with a ros. I thought about trying to rig one up. Range of motion was great and it really made me realize how much I was losing by keeping my shoulder straps on and back pulled up tight. I'm hoping to give the headrest a go soon and start kicking back now that this Alabama December lull is upon Nick and I. Itll be a month before the rut down here so I figured a nap or two wont hurt.

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Did you see the Diy bosun seat i made from a Plastic soda tray (like 1l tonic bottles come shipped it?)

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I used a New Tribe Tengu rec saddle used with a Petzl Podium seat and let me tell you it is a nice rig. I have a saddle designed for climbing ( is very comfortable on it's own) but having the Podium adds wonderful support and comfort. While this combo is heavier than the other hunting saddles my whole system is <10lbs. I am refining my version of Scott Adkins 2 tether climbing system. My other system is a cinched srt/platform 1 sticking if you will. I am trying in both systems to have one piece of equipment being used for multiple purposes to streamline things.
 
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