Skylotec & Husqvarna Power Ascender

rico said:
I can’t help but notice that the remote on this thing is good to only 50 meters. So for $8500 it won’t even deliver me a cup of coffee at 175 ft.
Fuck that!

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Hey look, an over center face. Barely can see it when he takes his cuppa
 
Indeed the manual popped forth. thank you

To my question of on the climb line vs dedicated separate line, the manual seems to say ascender line plus fall arrest line/system. What is your approach to reconcile that with normal arborist climbing practices?
 
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Great point, Rico, if so, how'd it get missed in the ANSII standard, even by way of mention? Not directed at you Rico, just pondering such an oversight. Cross threading;)
 
I've been watching that device with interest myself (and have talked about getting a power ascender for ages....) but the problem I see with this one for me at least is that it "only" works with 9mm-11mm ropes. All of the ropes I own and use are larger than that (for example Xstatic is 11.7mm) Yes, there are a few 11mm tree work ropes you can buy but not many, and now you are adjusting all your SRT devices for a different/smaller rope, etc.

No perfect solution out there, but this one is a neat option I'll be watching and pondering.
 
Yea I would never ever use any of these things ga but I think he's selling g em for like 1500 so if I was looking to use a powered ascender it would be this one due to it versatility too.many other things you can do with it
 
And he does talk about using it with ropes outside the recommended range. I think 6ou can use it with bigger and smaller ropes but he says the rope can't be too stiff
 
I would only use it to ascend anyways then send that down and leave the 11mm line all ready for rescue.
I know it ain't perfect but the next 2 cheapest options are 6000 and 20000.
 
There's definitely more than a few 11mm arb ropes. It's my favorite size, and I have 3 different ones, and can think of several more.
 
I do have to say that the 1500 one looks good, wonder how kernmaster works in it.
I kinda think a stripped down version being useful, no lowering, no ears. Just run up secret weapon style attachment as the primary system. Get to where you need to be, then just switch over.
The other thing that I think I’d like to see is a more secure drill attachment. Less moving parts to juggle if needing to let go clear some limbs.
 
Funny how one kept the wraptor pinion spur setup but then strayed on the sheave design and the other went planetary but stayed true to the wraptor sheave. The shiny one looks a little meagre on the biner attachment points. I give points for the slip style descent handle/brake. But I'm still gonna say my unit's got them beat.
 
Bart_ said:
Funny how one kept the wraptor pinion spur setup but then strayed on the sheave design and the other went planetary but stayed true to the wraptor sheave. The shiny one looks a little meagre on the biner attachment points. I give points for the slip style descent handle/brake. But I'm still gonna say my unit's got them beat.
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With the $1500 unit in the video above, I would question the wisdom of disengaging the pinion to use it for descent. I think this is just asking for excessive pinion wear, or even outright destruction of it, if accidentally mishandled at all. And why the need to use it for descent when the device basically has to be used in conjunction with our normal systems anyway? In descending, we would probably have already shifted over to our regular system to work the tree, so why shift back onto the device to come down? Having built and owned four power ascenders now, chiefly because it has been a fun project in the machine shop, I only ever actually found one useful for simply getting up a tall, limbless climb, and even then mainly if I had a load of gear or was already tired from previous climbing. I have also used them as a base-tied winch for lifting stuff like parts of a tree house, etc. and even pulled my Land Rover out of a muddy pothole by two-parting the ascender for some MA from the front bumper with a snatch block. I never needed one for descending. These things are never used alone, for life support, and if you suddenly are using it to descend, you are at least partially depending on it at that point instead of your usual working system. And, if one discarded the part of the mechanism to disengage the pinion in his design, the cost could probably be reduced quite a bit even further.
 
Burrapeg said:
With the $1500 unit in the video above, I would question the wisdom of disengaging the pinion to use it for descent. I think this is just asking for excessive pinion wear, or even outright destruction of it, if accidentally mishandled at all. And why the need to use it for descent when the device basically has to be used in conjunction with our normal systems anyway? In descending, we would probably have already shifted over to our regular system to work the tree, so why shift back onto the device to come down? Having built and owned four power ascenders now, chiefly because it has been a fun project in the machine shop, I only ever actually found one useful for simply getting up a tall, limbless climb, and even then mainly if I had a load of gear or was already tired from previous climbing. I have also used them as a base-tied winch for lifting stuff like parts of a tree house, etc. and even pulled my Land Rover out of a muddy pothole by two-parting the ascender for some MA from the front bumper with a snatch block. I never needed one for descending. These things are never used alone, for life support, and if you suddenly are using it to descend, you are at least partially depending on it at that point instead of your usual working system. And, if one discarded the part of the mechanism to disengage the pinion in his design, the cost could probably be reduced quite a bit even further.
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I’ve had all those thoughts and likely would have purchased one by now. That and I’d rather have the drill captured to the unit by the chuck, no need for loose gear.
 
Bart_ said:
I've got about $6or700 parts and materials plus my labour into my unit. I you are willing to put up with a little extra weight and put in the effort the rollgliss provides the hard parts, the sheave and primary reduction and just butcher up a drill for the power/control unit. You'd be relegated to the hook-onto-the-box design style, but that's not so bad. All the market units are like that. My sheave section was the hard way, from scratch but I was bent on optimizing it.

If you're not 100% a ride feels pretty sweet.
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Here's mine, which I got from burrapeg... I traded him my ebay acquiired Rollglisse for his finished one and some $. Climb is from last Sep... helped a bud remove a 185' stone dead and decaying western hemlock. I'm mostly retired, but will try to get off my arse and post more vids and pics from the job
 
Roger_Barnett said:
Here's mine, which I got from burrapeg... I traded him my ebay acquiired Rollglisse for his finished one and some $. Climb is from last Sep... helped a bud remove a 185' stone dead and decaying western hemlock. I'm mostly retired, but will try to get off my arse and post more vids and pics from the job
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Awesome footage, Roger! Glad the unit is working out for you.
 
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