Art positioner

[ropensaddle]

I picked up a art positioner with swivel the other day looks like next tree I'm in will be a tad more fun. Anyone use them I have not really even tried it yet. Of the ones who have then did u get the cam for steel flip line or just use rope ?

 

[ATH]

I just use it on rope... I love it!

I don't do many big removals - focusing more on pruning, so I don't use the wire core too often. It still has a friction knot on it, and I realize how spoiled I am with the ART.

 

[ropensaddle]

I just use it on rope... I love it!

I don't do many big removals - focusing more on pruning, so I don't use the wire core too often. It still has a friction knot on it, and I realize how spoiled I am with the ART.

Do you use it for limb walking too ?

 

[ropensaddle]

I think I'm gonna love it from just looking at it and playing with it very adjustable!

 

[ATH]

Yes, limb walking is where it really out shines everything else because you can tighten or loosen while under load with one hand with ease.

my only regret is when I bought it, I went cheap and didn't get the swivel. a year later I bought the swivel cam...should have just done it from the start and paid less than I paid in the end!

 

[imagineero]

I have one and I don't like it. I went from a steel flip line with a micro grab to an all rope flipline with a prussik a couple years back and much prefer the rope flipline. I got offered an ART positioner for cheap and tried it for about a month even though I didn't like it initially because I find most new things take a bit of time to get used to. After a month I ditched it and went back to using a VT and micropulley.

I found the ART device had two main problems; the first was that it didn't seem to offer much variability in terms of friction. It was either locked or freefall. There was a small area in between, but it didn't have anywhere near the finesse of a spyderjack or a VT. You couldn't, for example, use it as a lowering device in place or a prusik or spyderjack. If you could, nobody would buy the spyderjack. Secondly, it self tends too well. This might seem like a strange complaint, and it's probably more specific to my setup since I use about 15' of flipline and daisy chain the tail so it's generally got about 9'-10' free. The daisy chained tail is a little heavy. Much of the time, you want to flipline in but one of your hands is busy supporting you. So you reach down and pull up the karabiner of your flipline but as you raise it up it self tends so now you don't have enough flipline to flipline in! so you throw the karabiner around the tree, now hold that karabiner and your weight with left hand as you use the right hand to release some slack so you can clip in. I found it a real pain, and found it to offer no advantage over a VT with micro pulley, except that spliced prusiks aren't cheap and I go through a few a year. The only advantage I found it has over a grab is that you can release it under load, but when heavily loaded and released it's very unpleasant.

I find the VT with hitchclimber pulley (a la CE lanyard) as a flipine to be very versatile. It doesn't self tend but is super easy to pull in with one hand, and pays out silky smooth. You can use it as a second tie in point. You can use it for rescue. You can ascend on it just like a normal line. If you haven't watched the Teufelburger CE lanyard video, watch it. The CE lanyard is overpriced, but a lot of guys can probably make one out of what they already have; a bit of old climb line, karabiner, micro puller, prusik. FWIW, I thought the thimble would be useful but found it to be a gimmick. I also found the karabiner on the CE lanyard to be way too light, leaving you unable to fling the flipline around any trees larger than about 5' diameter. I think I wrote up a review of the CE lanyard last year or the year before, and of the ART positioner also.

 

[treesmith]

Got the ART positioner 2, use it with a spliced eye rope lanyard and it is the best lanyard I've ever used.
I do a lot of pruning and it makes life very easy, I use it on removals too along with a yale wirecore if necessary.
a good system I've found when moving around the tree is to have the tail tucked into a hip bag and the free working end clipped up out the way, saves it getting round your feet.

easy to use one handed, very easy to adjust to get good work positions and very well made

 

[ropensaddle]

Well I thought I would post back I have used it on roughly 25 removals and a few trims since the first post and I absolutely love it. One of the best purchases I nhave made since the wraptor

 

[pdqdl]

I have been playing with a similar device, the Trango Cinch. I have not come across anyone else using it in tree climbing, but it seems quite popular with the rock climbing guys.

It looks like it works just like the ART positioner, although I have never had my hands on one to compare.

The cinch is not at all limited to a flip-line, it is quite adequate as a replacement for a belay device or friction hitch, either SRT or DRT. I was attempting to use it for SRT, but that seems a pinch impractical if using it with foot ascenders. It will not allow any movement if the rope beneath it is loaded.

On the other hand, while it doesn't quite self-tend, it pulls up very lightly almost like a VT with tending pulley and it lowers you much smoother and controllably than any friction hitch I have ever tried. I'm pretty certain it would work great as a flip line belay device.

Can you install the ART positioner mid-line? It looks like that might be difficult or impossible. Not so with the Cinch.

This video gives you decent idea of how it works, but the guy is testing it on 9mm rope. Too small, I think, for tree work. I'm pretty sure a big 1/2" climbing line would be quite a tight fit, but my Velocity rope (11mm) works great in it.


another review: