treevet
Addicted to ArboristSite
I see "ropetek" on this thread. Is that you Paul? How's things goin?
Don't hate the Wraptor....
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Nailsbeats
Addicted to ArboristSite
We all know a Wraptor and GRCS cost the same, but if you are in a position to buy one now, get the Wraptor first. Having plenty of experience with both, many devices will bring a tree down with about the same efficiency, but the Wraptor stands alone as an energy free ascent experience. This equals more trees worked in a day and more profit, where the GRCS does not necessarily.
Bigus Termitius
Addicted to ArboristSite
Right, I did some homework and those drills are number 1, period. As long as the motor on those wraptors are made in Japan, I'm interested, but I have little faith in Hitachi to keep it that way. Maybe they will, but I struggle with the idea of getting used to depending on anything if it's made in china. Around here tanaka is not well supported, so I am leary of that, but vet tells me Paul is very helpful, so that encourages me. I'm on the fence, so to speak. If my cemetery contract comes through after the board meeting this month, I'll likely get one and just enjoy the ride. Till then I'm busy keeping up with the work load I have and the costs of moving into a place that's requiring a ton of time, money, and energy...it should prove to be worth it in the long run.
treevet
Addicted to ArboristSite
WTF's a Wraptor thread without..............
The Wraptor gals. (must be lunchtime ...I smells fish samiches a cookin lol)[video=youtube_share;_k1lAf_V5Uk]http://youtu.be/_k1lAf_V5Uk[/video]
The Wraptor gals. (must be lunchtime ...I smells fish samiches a cookin lol)[video=youtube_share;_k1lAf_V5Uk]http://youtu.be/_k1lAf_V5Uk[/video]
Bigus Termitius
Addicted to ArboristSite
I can definitely agree with that, clearly it's the better money spend for the return. I just think it's more than a coincidence, but I'm probably wrong. If it were me though, and I was looking to price a device like the wraptor, I can see myself saying, "heck, if the Mr. Good can get 2495 for that thing, I should have no troubles getting at least that much for my contraption." And I'd be right. I'm sure there were plenty of other factors though.
Bigus Termitius
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yeah, its me, I tend to follow threads about the Wraptor, imagine that. I do tend to try not to comment as I feel I tend to end up looking like an ass. That being said I will point out a couple of things. Firstly Tanaka wasnt my ideal choice for a power-head, I searched for a US co. that we could use as I wanted to keep this an all US made product. Couldnt find anything reliable. Tanaka has a bullet proof rep. but is as mentioned expensive. We sold our first unit 3 years ago and we have to date had 2 kill switches malfunction and 3 gas tanks start to seep, no other issues whatsoever. The rest of the device is made in the US which I can assure you is no small feat, daily more and more machine shops go out of business which really makes me worry for our countries future. If we cannt make anything anymore how can we survive??? I consistantly hear that the Wraptor is too expensive, it is a lot of money for what it is and Im sure as many people have pointed out I could halve the cost if I had them made in China. I refuse to do that for many reasons but mostly safety, all it takes is for one unit to fail and Ropetek will be out of business, simple as that. Even though people think I am making a fortune, believe it or not we almost lost our house last year, a microburst in Charlottesville got us out of the hole, not Wraptor sales. I still do tree work every day, now finally I have recouped my investment and it is a nice second income, however this is after 3+ years of working 7 days a week all hours of the day it has been hard earned and never a given.
No we will not be making a faster more powerful unit. The Wraptor is just the right speed for ascending a tree IMO, the faster it is the more accidents there will be. Most people miss the point of the unit, its not about saving time its about increasing safety. The climber is tied in the entire time and is in control of his ascent. Another large factor in improving safety that is underated IMO is the reduced fatigue especially on hot days.
A quick shout out to those dudes out there that are going to make there own units, good for you, thats what I did 4 years ago and that was my only intent, to make 1 unit however all my friends wanted 1 too so I decided it may be my retirement plan. Bottom line put a cammed ascender above your unit as a back up and who cares if yours fails you will still be safe. You will learn a lot doing it and gain satisfaction. FWIW I sand casted the first 20 or so prototypes hubs and they worked. Unfortunately you will find it is hard to make stuff in low volumes which is why Wraptors cost so much, we make them 10 at a time, maybe if I was Donald Trump I could make 10000 and cut cost in half and sell the for $1500 however certain costs cannt be reduced such as INSURANCE.
Wraptors have a rated breaking strength of 8000lbs which is irrelevant IMO because if the climber exerts that force on the unit his spine will be snapped long before however check out the cammed ascenders lots of you guys are using which will cut the rope at about 700lbs which equates to a 200lbs climber dropping 6 feet I believe, pretty scary when you think that we set lines from the ground so can easily be over suckers etc. The rope we provide has a 7% stretch at 10% of mbs so is VERY stretchy simply to absorb shock loading WHEN suckers let go.
For me the most gratifying thing about these threads is that EVERY Wraptor owner loves them. Bottom line is yes they cost a lot (nowhere near what they should cost if you go by industry standards of how much they should cost compared to how much the cost to make) but to date I have never had a disappointed user. All you guys be safe out there because the first one that gets hurt will be the end of Ropetek.........
No we will not be making a faster more powerful unit. The Wraptor is just the right speed for ascending a tree IMO, the faster it is the more accidents there will be. Most people miss the point of the unit, its not about saving time its about increasing safety. The climber is tied in the entire time and is in control of his ascent. Another large factor in improving safety that is underated IMO is the reduced fatigue especially on hot days.
A quick shout out to those dudes out there that are going to make there own units, good for you, thats what I did 4 years ago and that was my only intent, to make 1 unit however all my friends wanted 1 too so I decided it may be my retirement plan. Bottom line put a cammed ascender above your unit as a back up and who cares if yours fails you will still be safe. You will learn a lot doing it and gain satisfaction. FWIW I sand casted the first 20 or so prototypes hubs and they worked. Unfortunately you will find it is hard to make stuff in low volumes which is why Wraptors cost so much, we make them 10 at a time, maybe if I was Donald Trump I could make 10000 and cut cost in half and sell the for $1500 however certain costs cannt be reduced such as INSURANCE.
Wraptors have a rated breaking strength of 8000lbs which is irrelevant IMO because if the climber exerts that force on the unit his spine will be snapped long before however check out the cammed ascenders lots of you guys are using which will cut the rope at about 700lbs which equates to a 200lbs climber dropping 6 feet I believe, pretty scary when you think that we set lines from the ground so can easily be over suckers etc. The rope we provide has a 7% stretch at 10% of mbs so is VERY stretchy simply to absorb shock loading WHEN suckers let go.
For me the most gratifying thing about these threads is that EVERY Wraptor owner loves them. Bottom line is yes they cost a lot (nowhere near what they should cost if you go by industry standards of how much they should cost compared to how much the cost to make) but to date I have never had a disappointed user. All you guys be safe out there because the first one that gets hurt will be the end of Ropetek.........
treevet
Addicted to ArboristSite
Have you had any consideration about the vulnerability of the spark plug, wire and boot sticking up? Maybe after mine was made? I think I am going to have something fabbed over mine to protect from twigs.
I was one of the two that had the stop switch issue I guess?
I am glad you had a stretchy rope incorporated into the package. I have snapped suckers a few times and you get a little jolt with shock load. Enough to be a little more careful sighting what is holding you next time;. Also enough not to bypass the ascender protection aspect which one might think saves a few minutes of hook up and unhooking.
I was one of the two that had the stop switch issue I guess?
I am glad you had a stretchy rope incorporated into the package. I have snapped suckers a few times and you get a little jolt with shock load. Enough to be a little more careful sighting what is holding you next time;. Also enough not to bypass the ascender protection aspect which one might think saves a few minutes of hook up and unhooking.
treemandan
Tree Freak
Nice work, good story. I was thinking you made the Wraptor so these dunderheads wouldn't have to use their spikes trimming trees anymore.
Treevet, funny you ask that. The guy who bought the first ever Wraptor called me the other day and asked what type of plug they took as he had just broke his, all be it after 3 years. So yours is the second recorded incident. Ill start to think about it, let you know what I come up with. Man I dont baby mine and have never had a problem, yoos guys must be rough......
Oh yeah yours was 1 of the 2 kill switches, design was change after you reported the issue.
Oh yeah yours was 1 of the 2 kill switches, design was change after you reported the issue.
ropensaddle
Feel Lucky
I'm not sure if mine was new style but I have not had a single issue with mine. I treat her with kit gloves and tuck her in tight at night
Paul why would an injury end ropetec? I think unless it was faulty or defective it would be operator error. Anyway I always use the safety features and I for one can't see how other than not pretesting tip a fail could get ugly. I hope you eventually make a profit for your hours put into this fine tool.
Last year some jackass decided to pull a tree over with his GRCS. Set the unit on a tree and pulled at 90 to the intended direction. The 1/2 round bar fairlead snapped off and hit the guy in the lip and he lost some teeth. The Dude sued and in court admitted he knew he should have been using a redirect but was still awarded $250,000. Gregg Goods insurance has gone through the roof.
Im sure if somebody gets hurt using a Wraptor I will loose my insurance and will then not be able to sell them. Sign of the times, people wont take responsibility for there own actions. Hey that 1" dead stub I was tied to broke and dropped me 50' BUT if Paul Cox hadnt made this unit I wouldnt have been there.......
It was very hard to secure insurance for this product in the first place, Ive been told that it was only because of the recesion that I got it as the co. needed new accounts. 1 accident and thats that.......
Im sure if somebody gets hurt using a Wraptor I will loose my insurance and will then not be able to sell them. Sign of the times, people wont take responsibility for there own actions. Hey that 1" dead stub I was tied to broke and dropped me 50' BUT if Paul Cox hadnt made this unit I wouldnt have been there.......
It was very hard to secure insurance for this product in the first place, Ive been told that it was only because of the recesion that I got it as the co. needed new accounts. 1 accident and thats that.......
ropensaddle
Feel Lucky
My the world is friggin nuts never would of thought tree men would be such coffee crotchers
Bigus Termitius
Addicted to ArboristSite
gotta give you kudos for going out on a limb with this thing. My idea is just to eventually build one to run off of a stihl powerhead and take responsibility for my own actions with my own machine, but I'll likely just be giving you a call one of these days. Just make sure the motor doesn't say made in China. I know it's an undertaking to just build one, let along make it go of it within this industry. Glad to hear it's coming about for you.
I wish willie would rewrite his song about mama's not letting their babies grow up to be cowboys. The doctors and lawyers and such have this society screwed up every which way but loose. He could call it "On second thought."
Have any distant family from Glasgow, KY by chance?
Iustinian
ArboristSite Operative
We have done something very similar to the Wraptor with our GRCS - hooking up the climbing system like on a regular climb, with a friction saver, then the groundman uses the stihl drill with the special adapter bit to elevator us to the top floor of the tree lol. More of a laugh than anything really though, because it doesn't take us long to ascend a tree bodythrusting or footlocking anyway. We do however, use it all day long like that during the climbing competitions to raise the dummy up for aerial rescue training. Works great and appears to be faster than the Wraptor. Plus you can snap the bollard in for lowering branches if you were going to use it for doing treework and not just aerial rescue training.
It is a cool device, I'll admit that, and appears to be constructed well. However, I don't think it should be used by guys who are too out of shape to get up into the tree without it. If the purpose of the device is strictly to save energy on the climber, then its being put to good use.
I'm not too fond of the CMI Ropewalker above the device as a back up though. I'd rather see a prussic of some kind there instead. My reason for that: just like on the Gibb's Ascender, "not to be used for self-belay". At some point, those cams are capable of cutting the climb line.
Also, I really don't like seeing close contact of gas powered equipment to my ropes to any extent. Gas and oil are not good for ropes, so having a gas powered drill advancing my climb line doesn't really appeal to me if it has a chance of getting on my rope. And before anyone says anything, yea my chainsaws can do that throughout the course of a workday, but we're aren't going without chainsaws lol, but we can go without the Wraptor. If you can't, you shouldn't be climbing in the first place.
After watching Ropetek's demo video's I do like how they would have us using a SRT rope, and intending for you to install your drt line in the tree once you've reached your terminal height in the tree - if you follow their demo, then after you've lowered the Wraptor, you now have two climbing lines installed in the tree, which is a requirement under ANSI. (In case of the need for an aerial rescue, you are required to have an ascess line, in addition to your primary climbing line for when rescue crews arrive or so you're co-worker can come get you). So I definitely like that aspect of the Wraptor.
I think that it's important to daily inspect the drum or whatever is called (where the rope installs in the device) to make sure there's no imperfections in the metal that could tear your rope.
For the price he's asking for, I'm not buying one, especially since we already have a GRCS which can do the same thing for me if I wanted it to, and my GRCS does many many other things that the Wraptor will never be able to do.
At the end of the day, its still about what works best for each individual. I still have guys that crack jokes about my foot ascender being a lazy way to get up into a tree, but it saves me tons of effort - but it only costs $70. As long as I'm in great shape, I won't really need to get the Wraptor - and I'll probably be laughing at the guys I see hauling their fat arses up into their trees with this thing, the same way guys sometimes laugh at my Pantin - oh well hahahahahaha
And I don't care what anyone says - that Wraptors NEVER, EVER going to beat Mark Chisholm's record of 15 meters (49 feet 2.5 inches) in 13.8 seconds - and neither will the guys using it hahahahahahahaha
It is a cool device, I'll admit that, and appears to be constructed well. However, I don't think it should be used by guys who are too out of shape to get up into the tree without it. If the purpose of the device is strictly to save energy on the climber, then its being put to good use.
I'm not too fond of the CMI Ropewalker above the device as a back up though. I'd rather see a prussic of some kind there instead. My reason for that: just like on the Gibb's Ascender, "not to be used for self-belay". At some point, those cams are capable of cutting the climb line.
Also, I really don't like seeing close contact of gas powered equipment to my ropes to any extent. Gas and oil are not good for ropes, so having a gas powered drill advancing my climb line doesn't really appeal to me if it has a chance of getting on my rope. And before anyone says anything, yea my chainsaws can do that throughout the course of a workday, but we're aren't going without chainsaws lol, but we can go without the Wraptor. If you can't, you shouldn't be climbing in the first place.
After watching Ropetek's demo video's I do like how they would have us using a SRT rope, and intending for you to install your drt line in the tree once you've reached your terminal height in the tree - if you follow their demo, then after you've lowered the Wraptor, you now have two climbing lines installed in the tree, which is a requirement under ANSI. (In case of the need for an aerial rescue, you are required to have an ascess line, in addition to your primary climbing line for when rescue crews arrive or so you're co-worker can come get you). So I definitely like that aspect of the Wraptor.
I think that it's important to daily inspect the drum or whatever is called (where the rope installs in the device) to make sure there's no imperfections in the metal that could tear your rope.
For the price he's asking for, I'm not buying one, especially since we already have a GRCS which can do the same thing for me if I wanted it to, and my GRCS does many many other things that the Wraptor will never be able to do.
At the end of the day, its still about what works best for each individual. I still have guys that crack jokes about my foot ascender being a lazy way to get up into a tree, but it saves me tons of effort - but it only costs $70. As long as I'm in great shape, I won't really need to get the Wraptor - and I'll probably be laughing at the guys I see hauling their fat arses up into their trees with this thing, the same way guys sometimes laugh at my Pantin - oh well hahahahahaha
And I don't care what anyone says - that Wraptors NEVER, EVER going to beat Mark Chisholm's record of 15 meters (49 feet 2.5 inches) in 13.8 seconds - and neither will the guys using it hahahahahahahaha
treevet
Addicted to ArboristSite
hahahahah, shut your sushi hole and get to work. If you can't afford one, at the end of the day the experienced tree man that owns one, will make a ton more $ than your long winded as s hahahaha.
Iustinian
ArboristSite Operative
lemme quess
1. you don't own one yet.....
2. your one of the fat arses who needs it to get up in the tree
3. you don't know how to and/or can't footlock
4. you're still climbing on the 13mm blue streak and using the traditional system
5. I'm doing just fine without one
but thanks for the reply - I like your humor
1. you don't own one yet.....
2. your one of the fat arses who needs it to get up in the tree
3. you don't know how to and/or can't footlock
4. you're still climbing on the 13mm blue streak and using the traditional system
5. I'm doing just fine without one
but thanks for the reply - I like your humor
treevet
Addicted to ArboristSite
Had one for almost 2 years.
6' 184 lbs, can press my weight 10 times, curl 105 10 times and run 6 miles in less than 45 mins., at 62.
Been footlocking since I was a kid but no need to anymore......dipschit.
Whatever system I use I have done more tree work than your momma has hairs on her as s.
Quit making lame assumptions in braindead posts such as your numbnuts comparison to that stupid grcs to the Wraptor.
You sound like a poser. Are you?
Nailsbeats
Addicted to ArboristSite
Oh no, my ropes are melting from all the gas spilling everywhere! Give me a break, lame.
