Always appreciate your honesty when you review or explain why you like what you like no beating around the bush just tell it like it is Thanks Jason for great content!!
I have a xop air raid evolution and i believe it comes in at an ultralite 12 and a half pounds, only $200. Its got everything I need, big wide platform and moderately comfortable seat for four plus hour sits. I could care less about the new best thing, it gets me into a tree perfectly fine and I can hunt comfortably from it. Love the videos, best channel on UA-cam!
Love the breakdown- I'm on the ultralight Saddle side of things with a 3lb total system (tactisaddle) but I've got alot of respect for conventional stands when guys like yourself really have them dialed in for their needs and preferences.
I am not giving up my Lonewolf Alpha Assault 2's for any new or modern $600+ tree stand. I assure you that I will not see or shoot more or bigger deer with any modern stands as compared to my old stands. None of the features or the weight make any difference. EBay is your friend for finding Alpha Assault 2 stands. New modern stands are all hype guys! All hype!!!
@@genericyoutubeuser1700 Think you miss understood my comment. I meant it as no expensive stand today will make you kill more deer or hunt longer than a cheaper stand like the assault. Verifying my point that all stands that offer these features are basically the same and hunt the same.
No they arent lol. I've had the lone wolf assault and the LWCG .75. Both are nice but when I'm walking back a mile I'll take my 75 and my light sticks. Just my two cents
Love the content as always lm 61 lucky to have private farms to hunt lm spoiled been using lander stands for years works great if there in the right spot thanks for helping keep traditional bow hunting going
I would pick the Lone Wolf not just for stand qualitys but because the sticks make it a system. the way the sticks pack together with the stand works well for me . quiet quiet,
Have you seen the new Nested treestand bundle or heard any reviews on it? It seems very slick and the whole system packs and work together. Love all the videos you put out and always great advice.
Jason great job on the reviews, not too many people are able to purchase all of them to figure out the best one. I switched the seats out on both my assault 2 and my alpha stands to the new novix mesh seat. My but always gets sore sitting on the better lone wolf seats even with another 1” of foam underneath. They are a bit bulky now, with the new novix seat but actually weigh about .6lb. less than the original with the added 1” foam. Are you ready to move back to Michigan yet to get away from the crazy heat down there? A good friend of mine has a place opposite direction down the road from your old place in Houghton lk. Take care, I wish you the best down there! Bob S.
I agree that you pick a stand according to what you need it for. Going lighter helps me mainly because I am older now and manuevering around isn't as easy and shoulder surgery has limited my movement. Find the place you want to hunt and then decide on what stand or saddle will work. Same argumnet as hunting height. You need this or that....nope. Like the straight talk no b.s.
Yep for the hunting height I climb to cover. Nothing more nothing less. For every 10 times I climb I bet 3 of them are 10 feet or less and 1 is 17 feet. The other 7 are in that 12-16 range
Just switched to trad this yr at 50yrs old. Ive been hunting out of saddle now for 3yrs and it was quite an adjustment to shoot out of with my compound!!! After much practice I’m proficient and while gun hunting I can’t find a negative to a saddle. However with my trad bow I can’t shoot comfortably at all!!! Can’t get back to anchor without a struggle. So I’m goin back to a lock on. I have an old loc on WindWalker which is truly awesome but it does have limitations. No platform or seat adjustments👎🏼. Now it’s a 30yrs old stand and way ahead of its time but can’t get into a lot of trees like I can with the saddle and that’s why I switched to saddle from a climber. Trying to decide Novix, Elevate, XOP, LWCG the choices are to many!!! Moneys not issue cuz this will most likely be my last stand setup purchase since I don’t see myself in Hang on’s at 65yrs old. Also understand money spent doesn’t mean the best option either. So many good products out there!!!
Love that you are getting into Traditional! All of those are great options. And the windwalker is an amazing stand and super light compared to whats made today. All these stands will hunt very well but my choice would be the lwgc simply becuase of the quality, and that you can custom order it with the height seat post, the seat, etc that you want on it to make it exactly like you want. And their climbing sticks mount to it is a great compact system. But thats just my 2 cents. You also can not go wrong with a xop set up and their sticks. the novix helo shape of the platform is a miss for me. I dont like it. if novix remade the assualt Id buy it in a heart beat.
@@SamkoTradBow Funny to me just how far ahead of its time the WindWalker was!!! It’s lighter and smaller then some saddle platforms. The seat though is truly an azz buster!!! But the super small platform doesn’t bother me at all but think I would buy medium version of all these stands since they are already light and compact compared to my old steel loc ons. My pop-up28 slides those size stands right in meat self along with my latitude carbon sticks nice and tight. We have to bring our deer out whole to tagging station up here in ME so meat shelf works great for storing my hunting setups. I might be able in future to shoot trad out of saddle but it’s so awkward now I’m not gonna push it. I still trying to be consistent and feel having my feet as my base is changing as little as I can compared to it being my waist like it is in my saddle. Looking forward to bear hunting in about 6 weeks to start trad adventure off!!!
The assault II and the Gen 1 Novix helo are my go-to’s. I would choose these over the lwcg or beast actually as I prefer a cast platform. I’m 5’11 and like the extra length and narrower width of the helo slightly better personally. I put a beast stand seat on my helo and it weighs 7.92 pounds bare weight now on my scales. I don’t care if it weighs 8 or 11 pounds but I share that just to show you can get a cast platform in a weight class comparable to lwcg for much less money. I got my helo on sale for around $180 and the seat around $100.
Never used the 2.0. The 1.0 is the same size as the assault. For me thats perfect size and allows me to mover around the stand and no interfence with the cables.
I wish I had the Assault II for the wider platform. I have the Helo and it’s a great stand but the cables rub my calves. I’d buy a Vanish but the back “V” of the platform is too narrow. Had one a few years ago and I hated it for that reason.
Hi, Jason just got a deal on a like new Assault 2stand and 4 32in sticks really thinking about selling my LWCG 5 and going back to the Assault. I really miss that stand!!!
Same here I have had the beast stand Assault 2stand and .5 LWCG they all work but for me and my size .5 is perfect!! I still think Assault 2stand is the best stand ever made and every one is still copying because it works!!!!!
@@daniel.espinotx correct its andre that invented the assault. But the .5 is not like the assault. the 1.0 is the same size as the assault was. the .5 is way smaller.
My issues with the differences from stands to stands are the platform adjustments. Lwcg stands have 6, and they adjust correctly. The beast stand and XOP stands don’t have the right cable lengths in their stands for adjusting on trees that pitch backwards. Just an observation. So they do not hunt the same trees the same way.
only a couple degrees of difference so they will all hunt the same trees. But I actually prefer to angle my platform up a bit on rear leaning trees so that my posture is normal rather than having the platform way down level and my back leaning way back to meet the tree. and when I stand to shoot I like the front end of the stand up a bit.
@@SamkoTradBow I like that too. The top adjustment on my lwcg stands are perfect for that on nice straight trees. I just mean it in a sense of a tree with an agressive back tilt. My beast gear stand, when on straight trees, I’d be on the bottom if not second from bottom setting. There wasn’t much adjustment there for back leaning trees. It was all in trees that leaned forward. Which doesn’t seem right. You don’t want to sit on a tree that makes you sit leaning forward… making you into like a < angle as you sit or stand. You can’t back up nicely to a tree if it’s leaning forward. Not to mention the platform on a beast stand doesn’t lock tight and the tree leans forward that platform will want to “fall away” from the tree. So forward leaning would be super dangerous of kick out. And XOP… eh. Have t tried them too extensively. Just know if you poi t out any issues they delete you from face book pages lol
Hi Jason, just curious is the 1.0 LWCG V smaller then the Assault 2? It looks more like the old Assault. The .5 I just sold had a small V and was not as stable as the Assaults2. Thanks
@@SamkoTradBow you were saying you clip your back pack to the bat wing… but can’t the lwcg stand. And you don’t like how low the paracord loop is for where you hang it…. So I was wondering what if you just put the loop up higher? And I also used to attach my pack to the bat wing. I really liked the gap as well in bat wing for that and miss it. I’ll have to try the para cord loop tho
@michigangrownoutdoors7254 now it makes sense! Thank you for explaining. If you put the loop higher it's harder to reach to find and the carabiner makes noise on the batwing.
@@SamkoTradBow oh that makes sense. I started using a gear tie on my pack and secured it that way. I just loop it through and give two twists and it locks in just fine. And no metal noise.
cant tell anybody different then they've already decided... good, better, best is so silly but lotta folks truly believe in marketing and not trying what works best for themselves in their specific situations.
Are they “exactly the same,” or do you mean that their “quirks and differences” don’t impact your ability to use them? You said that one stand is too narrow for your snake boots, so it sounds like there are aspects of each stand that are not “exactly the same” and that impact your ability to use them.
again you are miss interpreting what im saying. Example. the lwcg 1.0 the lw assualt, the xop vanish, the xop rubicon are all the same size, and similar specs but huge price differences. they all hunt the same..
Been following you a very long time. Ans youre absolutely right, theres no best anything. What is amazing for one person is trash for another. Great content always Jason.
I never understood people that love the lwcg .5 stand. Though it is light, the thing is so small you literally can’t move at all or you would fall off the thing if you weren’t tethered in. These tiny and light stands are ridiculous.
Always appreciate your honesty when you review or explain why you like what you like no beating around the bush just tell it like it is Thanks Jason for great content!!
@@mikebringardner6670 thanks. Glad you enjoyed it
I have a xop air raid evolution and i believe it comes in at an ultralite 12 and a half pounds, only $200. Its got everything I need, big wide platform and moderately comfortable seat for four plus hour sits. I could care less about the new best thing, it gets me into a tree perfectly fine and I can hunt comfortably from it. Love the videos, best channel on UA-cam!
Yep, Me Too. XOP AR
But I'm looking at Carbon Sticks this year.. THe XOP sicks are just to Heavy for this old Woodsman..
Yep hard to beat a good cast platform with some room.
Love the breakdown- I'm on the ultralight Saddle side of things with a 3lb total system (tactisaddle) but I've got alot of respect for conventional stands when guys like yourself really have them dialed in for their needs and preferences.
John sure does build an amazing saddle. I have 3 of his saddles and 5 of his tree stand safety harnesses. Highest quality stuff made today!
@tradbowpodcast agreed. He did mine custom for me, and I couldn't be happier.
I am not giving up my Lonewolf Alpha Assault 2's for any new or modern $600+ tree stand. I assure you that I will not see or shoot more or bigger deer with any modern stands as compared to my old stands. None of the features or the weight make any difference. EBay is your friend for finding Alpha Assault 2 stands. New modern stands are all hype guys! All hype!!!
Agree 100% no stand will kill more deer or make you hunt longer than a assault or alpha does.
@@SamkoTradBowYou just said there’s no difference between the stands. Does the Assault help you stay longer and kill more deer, or not?
@@genericyoutubeuser1700 Think you miss understood my comment. I meant it as no expensive stand today will make you kill more deer or hunt longer than a cheaper stand like the assault. Verifying my point that all stands that offer these features are basically the same and hunt the same.
No they arent lol. I've had the lone wolf assault and the LWCG .75. Both are nice but when I'm walking back a mile I'll take my 75 and my light sticks. Just my two cents
Love the content as always lm 61 lucky to have private farms to hunt lm spoiled been using lander stands for years works great if there in the right spot thanks for helping keep traditional bow hunting going
sure is hard to beat pre set ladder stands and just walk in with a flashlight and a sandwich! Life is good!
Novix is definitely best bang for the buck.
@@upnorthoutdoors989 wish they would bring back the assault
I would pick the Lone Wolf not just for stand qualitys but because the sticks make it a system. the way the sticks pack together with the stand works well for me . quiet quiet,
LWCG makes an amazing system and I love how they let you customize the stands now to your height seat choice etc.
Have you seen the new Nested treestand bundle or heard any reviews on it? It seems very slick and the whole system packs and work together. Love all the videos you put out and always great advice.
@timothymaillet7081 the nested stand looks great. Have not dove too deep into it but I like the concept of the system
Jason great job on the reviews, not too many people are able to purchase all of them to figure out the best one. I switched the seats out on both my assault 2 and my alpha stands to the new novix mesh seat. My but always gets sore sitting on the better lone wolf seats even with another 1” of foam underneath. They are a bit bulky now, with the new novix seat but actually weigh about .6lb. less than the original with the added 1” foam. Are you ready to move back to Michigan yet to get away from the crazy heat down there? A good friend of mine has a place opposite direction down the road from your old place in Houghton lk. Take care, I wish you the best down there! Bob S.
Glad you are loving the mesh seat! I might get one to test and try. I miss michigan deer hunting and bowfishing. But love it down here.
I agree that you pick a stand according to what you need it for. Going lighter helps me mainly because I am older now and manuevering around isn't as easy and shoulder surgery has limited my movement. Find the place you want to hunt and then decide on what stand or saddle will work. Same argumnet as hunting height. You need this or that....nope. Like the straight talk no b.s.
Yep for the hunting height I climb to cover. Nothing more nothing less. For every 10 times I climb I bet 3 of them are 10 feet or less and 1 is 17 feet. The other 7 are in that 12-16 range
Just switched to trad this yr at 50yrs old. Ive been hunting out of saddle now for 3yrs and it was quite an adjustment to shoot out of with my compound!!! After much practice I’m proficient and while gun hunting I can’t find a negative to a saddle. However with my trad bow I can’t shoot comfortably at all!!! Can’t get back to anchor without a struggle. So I’m goin back to a lock on. I have an old loc on WindWalker which is truly awesome but it does have limitations. No platform or seat adjustments👎🏼. Now it’s a 30yrs old stand and way ahead of its time but can’t get into a lot of trees like I can with the saddle and that’s why I switched to saddle from a climber. Trying to decide Novix, Elevate, XOP, LWCG the choices are to many!!! Moneys not issue cuz this will most likely be my last stand setup purchase since I don’t see myself in Hang on’s at 65yrs old. Also understand money spent doesn’t mean the best option either. So many good products out there!!!
Love that you are getting into Traditional! All of those are great options. And the windwalker is an amazing stand and super light compared to whats made today. All these stands will hunt very well but my choice would be the lwgc simply becuase of the quality, and that you can custom order it with the height seat post, the seat, etc that you want on it to make it exactly like you want. And their climbing sticks mount to it is a great compact system. But thats just my 2 cents. You also can not go wrong with a xop set up and their sticks. the novix helo shape of the platform is a miss for me. I dont like it. if novix remade the assualt Id buy it in a heart beat.
@@SamkoTradBow Funny to me just how far ahead of its time the WindWalker was!!! It’s lighter and smaller then some saddle platforms. The seat though is truly an azz buster!!! But the super small platform doesn’t bother me at all but think I would buy medium version of all these stands since they are already light and compact compared to my old steel loc ons. My pop-up28 slides those size stands right in meat self along with my latitude carbon sticks nice and tight. We have to bring our deer out whole to tagging station up here in ME so meat shelf works great for storing my hunting setups. I might be able in future to shoot trad out of saddle but it’s so awkward now I’m not gonna push it. I still trying to be consistent and feel having my feet as my base is changing as little as I can compared to it being my waist like it is in my saddle. Looking forward to bear hunting in about 6 weeks to start trad adventure off!!!
@@pathfinder5804 all great points. The windwalker was a game changer 30 years ago and still is today. Keep me posted on how the bear hunt goes!
The assault II and the Gen 1 Novix helo are my go-to’s. I would choose these over the lwcg or beast actually as I prefer a cast platform. I’m 5’11 and like the extra length and narrower width of the helo slightly better personally.
I put a beast stand seat on my helo and it weighs 7.92 pounds bare weight now on my scales. I don’t care if it weighs 8 or 11 pounds but I share that just to show you can get a cast platform in a weight class comparable to lwcg for much less money. I got my helo on sale for around $180 and the seat around $100.
Love the cast platforms. Nothing is quieter and feels as stable.
Jason, what are your thoughts on the lone wolf 1.0 vs the 2.0? I’m considering both at the moment, and weight isn’t a big concern for me
Never used the 2.0. The 1.0 is the same size as the assault. For me thats perfect size and allows me to mover around the stand and no interfence with the cables.
I wish I had the Assault II for the wider platform. I have the Helo and it’s a great stand but the cables rub my calves. I’d buy a Vanish but the back “V” of the platform is too narrow. Had one a few years ago and I hated it for that reason.
@bowhuntingsoul2149 hard to beat the assault
Hi, Jason just got a deal on a like new Assault 2stand and 4 32in sticks really thinking about selling my LWCG 5 and going back to the Assault. I really miss that stand!!!
Outstanding. The assault is such an amazing stand
Same here I have had the beast stand Assault 2stand and .5 LWCG they all work but for me and my size .5 is perfect!! I still think Assault 2stand is the best stand ever made and every one is still copying because it works!!!!!
Yep many great ones available today.
The creators of the Assault are the same creators and owners of LWCG. Just fyi, that’s why the .5 and the Assault is very similar
@@daniel.espinotx correct its andre that invented the assault. But the .5 is not like the assault. the 1.0 is the same size as the assault was. the .5 is way smaller.
My issues with the differences from stands to stands are the platform adjustments. Lwcg stands have 6, and they adjust correctly. The beast stand and XOP stands don’t have the right cable lengths in their stands for adjusting on trees that pitch backwards. Just an observation. So they do not hunt the same trees the same way.
only a couple degrees of difference so they will all hunt the same trees. But I actually prefer to angle my platform up a bit on rear leaning trees so that my posture is normal rather than having the platform way down level and my back leaning way back to meet the tree. and when I stand to shoot I like the front end of the stand up a bit.
@@SamkoTradBow I like that too. The top adjustment on my lwcg stands are perfect for that on nice straight trees. I just mean it in a sense of a tree with an agressive back tilt. My beast gear stand, when on straight trees, I’d be on the bottom if not second from bottom setting. There wasn’t much adjustment there for back leaning trees. It was all in trees that leaned forward. Which doesn’t seem right. You don’t want to sit on a tree that makes you sit leaning forward… making you into like a < angle as you sit or stand. You can’t back up nicely to a tree if it’s leaning forward. Not to mention the platform on a beast stand doesn’t lock tight and the tree leans forward that platform will want to “fall away” from the tree. So forward leaning would be super dangerous of kick out. And XOP… eh. Have t tried them too extensively. Just know if you poi t out any issues they delete you from face book pages lol
Hi Jason, just curious is the 1.0 LWCG V smaller then the Assault 2? It looks more like the old Assault. The .5 I just sold had a small V and was not as stable as the Assaults2. Thanks
the 1.0 is exactly the same size as the assault 2. I do also believe the asault is more stable.
Real quick impression… why don’t you put your paracord up higher on the pod so the pack sits higher? Just thought a few seconds in…
not sure what you are saying? I dont put my pack on my stands.
@@SamkoTradBow you were saying you clip your back pack to the bat wing… but can’t the lwcg stand. And you don’t like how low the paracord loop is for where you hang it…. So I was wondering what if you just put the loop up higher? And I also used to attach my pack to the bat wing. I really liked the gap as well in bat wing for that and miss it. I’ll have to try the para cord loop tho
@michigangrownoutdoors7254 now it makes sense! Thank you for explaining. If you put the loop higher it's harder to reach to find and the carabiner makes noise on the batwing.
@@SamkoTradBow oh that makes sense. I started using a gear tie on my pack and secured it that way. I just loop it through and give two twists and it locks in just fine. And no metal noise.
@@SamkoTradBow I thought you said you like to clip your pack to the bat wing when you’re hunting? And then said you could t do that with the 1.0?
I currently hunt from a saddle and use the one stick climbing method. I wish i hadnt sold my Lone wolf assault.
Love the assault
Also you should check out the new xop rubicon. Looks just like the assault
Will check it out
Jason, Great Video..👍🏻
Thank you
cant tell anybody different then they've already decided... good, better, best is so silly but lotta folks truly believe in marketing and not trying what works best for themselves in their specific situations.
Great point
Are they “exactly the same,” or do you mean that their “quirks and differences” don’t impact your ability to use them? You said that one stand is too narrow for your snake boots, so it sounds like there are aspects of each stand that are not “exactly the same” and that impact your ability to use them.
again you are miss interpreting what im saying. Example. the lwcg 1.0 the lw assualt, the xop vanish, the xop rubicon are all the same size, and similar specs but huge price differences. they all hunt the same..
Wish I could find an Alpha for sale😉
Nivix still makes the alpha. Can't remeber what they call it bit it's the same stand
Is that stand the .5 or 1.0
@@joshuahepner9637 1.0
Been following you a very long time. Ans youre absolutely right, theres no best anything. What is amazing for one person is trash for another.
Great content always Jason.
Agree 100! And thank you, glad you enjoy the videos
I never understood people that love the lwcg .5 stand. Though it is light, the thing is so small you literally can’t move at all or you would fall off the thing if you weren’t tethered in. These tiny and light stands are ridiculous.
I know the small stands are the rage today. But I agree i need room to move and spin.
Good advice when you get older stay on the ground
That day is not too far away for me