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Why the bad rep with Hawk Heliums?

Hawk products in general get a bad rap for being mass produced and being cheaply built. Customer service is pretty lacking too. They had an issue with the suction cups tearing and not holding or getting stuck. I never had that issue. They are a little heavy but for the money not bad. I used to run the minis and they were a decent stick really, but I had the occasional kick-out on smooth bark trees and I trust other stick standoffs more. I didn't trust their straps either, and used the amsteel daisy chain truckers hitch mod instead
 
razorsharptokill said:
What are the main complaints about them?
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They got sold to some huge company that makes everything in China and has horrible customer service.

I have some cut down Heliums that I used for years, but it's really not the best design. If you look at where the bolt holds the folding step, it is way too close to the edge of the tube. The design put a lot of leverage on that point. I'm very surprised we don't hear of more snapping right there.

I would get Novix sticks ahead of those if I wanted a similar stick at a similar price point.
 
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They break, more often if you are heavy. And they are heavy.

But I'd bet they are one of the most commonly used climbing sticks out there. I have a set of 30" that i started with. Worked fine for a season and a half, then I got beast sticks.
 
thedutchtouch said:
They break, more often if you are heavy. And they are heavy.

But I'd bet they are one of the most commonly used climbing sticks out there. I have a set of 30" that i started with. Worked fine for a season and a half, then I got beast sticks.
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the sketch also came in when people were cutting them down and drilling their new step holes REALLY close to the cut outs

i can't believe more don't break
 
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The hawk sticks were going to be my first set of sticks, but after reading hundreds of reviews about the suction cups breaking I went with Novix instead. That was the only reason I dont own a set. Plenty of people out there using them.
 
Mine work fine. I have a set of the 30” 3 step ones and a set of 20” 2 step ones.

I like mine because of the price point mainly and I’ve not had any kick outs so far.
 
From my limited use, and observation of others using them:

Suction cups. Easily removable.

Weight. Shouldn’t matter unless you’re 140lbs or walking over a half mile from access.

Straps- I’m all for a cam buckle strap on a single stick set up. And they work fine for multiple sticks too. Dead simple to use. But even deader simple is buckleless or a rope mod. Also shaves significant weight.

Quality. There’s probably more of these sticks in circulation that any other “mobile” climbing stick. If not, they’re top 2-3. Hawk makes them cheap, with cheap quality control. They will fail at a higher rate than better quality sticks with better quality control. But there’s a big misunderstanding of the math here. That said, if you’re the type that thinks even a small chance of stick failing is the reason to get a more expensive or more robust stick, ask yourself this: Does the difference in a .001% chance of failure, and a .0005% chance of failure, matter? By not climbing a tree, you reduce that number to .0000% of stick failure. It’s relative.

They’re cheap slightly heavier sticks that get the job done for a huge amount of people.
 
I have a cut down helium for one sticking and, while I'm not sure if it's the rope& cam cleat or the stick itself, it does not bite the tree well. Skeletors I generally have to physically remove from the tree wheres the helium 'pops' out as soon as I take my weight off of it. That's my only personal complaint.
 
I have a set of original helium sticks and use one for 1 stick climbing. Cam straps in general work pretty well. That said the ones that came on the heliums were a pain to use because of the hooks that were used and the bracket or plate they hooked too. Take that crap off, add a button and rope or daisy chain and it has been a fine stick for me. Not sure how many trees I have climbed with either the single or the set but it is a bunch. Only had one kick out ever and it was my fault. Knew when I set it that it looked like it might kick but I was in a hurry and rolled with it. Sure nuff it kicked but not all the way off and I was on tension so it was no big deal.
 
edit-thanks for the reminder they switched straps @jsh909 this makes post no longer relevant!

Forgot one other thing. The (old cam buckle)Straps that come with the hawk sticks stretch. I never had them stretch to the point of feeling like it was dangerous, but it did make it much more annoying to set the sticks. And I've used them for some random other projects where they DID stretch and become loose, but only after being on a tree for a few weeks. Switching to daisy chains with a truckers hitch fixed that for me.
 
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Mine came with daisy webbing straps, they seem ok. I have used better and worse. The only set of sticks I still have are the 20 inch 2 step heliums. To be honest them I don't use sticks all that much. When I do, I don't mind them.
 
Heliums are just fine, there are just better sticks out there. I recommend for any stick you get that you replace the standoffs with the ones from EWO. I ran a cut down helium one stick with a cam cleat for awhile. I just changed to a beast stick, because I got a great deal. Changed the standoffs on the beast stick also.
 
IMO they are the cheapest stick available and their quality is not as good as expensive sticks. But, by the same token, IMO their quality is good enough to provide satisfactory service if you know what you are doing. Problem is, in general, the people that buy them are just getting their feet in the water and are generally the least experienced with using them. That results in a lot of abuse and misuse, such as 250lb guys leaning way back and putting a lot of horizontal pressure on the steps and bending them or setting them improperly and bending the standoffs. Same with the Hawk platform. Many of them get bent because people don’t know how to cam a platform properly. So, if you use them properly I feel you probably won’t have any problems with them, but their quality is not at a level that they can suffer abuse like the more expensive sticks can. Just my .02
 
Maybe I've been lucky but I bought a single long Hawk Helium 5 years ago and cut it down to what is now the length of a short Helium to make my single climbing stick. I have quite literally hundreds of climbs on this stick (thousands if you consider I move it an average of four times each time up any tree) without any failure. I don't use the stock strap so take that out of the equation but for a "cheap" stick it has performed flawlessly for me. The only maintenance I have done is to re-tighten the bolts securing the steps and standoffs once every year. FWIW, fully geared up with my pack on back while climbing I'm running anywhere from 250-280lbs. I have no complaints, this stick doesn't owe me anything and has outlived my expectations.
 
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GSM owns Hawk. They don’t really care about quality and care less about the customer. The sticks will work for sure. I have a set but they are the last thing I will buy from Hawk. I have had the headache of dealing with the company. Every single person on the phone lied. Then back tracked to another lie. Horrible people and horrible company. If you look closely at the construction of the stand, it’s clearly poor workmanship.
If they work for you, great. Keep using what’s working. However, you look up a ton of complaints on GSM (Hawk, Muddy, Stealthcam and a bunch of others).
 
I weigh right around 135ish lbs. Walked in a shade over a mile and back out(this afternoon to legal light). With 4 hawk 20 inch sticks (3 with one step aiders, 1 with a 2 step) on my backpack with a hawk helium platform in the pack. I rarely use sticks and a separate platform, but this spot it is a necessity. Basically crab apple looking trees. Ended up only using 2 sticks and the platform. All this to say, they will definitely get the job done. Is there better out there? Definitely. Is there worse out there? Without a doubt. It boils down to your intended use. If they are going to be your primary ascension device, I would probably go with something else. the hawk platform is decent as well, but not on par with any of the major brands. I bought one to use situationally and put a EWO stand off on it and am plenty happy with it for the few times I use a stand alone platform.

I should add for us long/longer hikers a bow sling is the best invention/investment on the market. It will make all your heavier gear feel lighter, when you can just sling the bow

Dang, that got long sorry for the War and Peace essay
 
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