Is there a way to tell where the Lone Wolf Alpha hand climber stands were made? China or USA? I'm looking at one now.
from my understanding, all 'Lone Wolf' stands are made in USA.
I could be wrong, but I do not think I am.. ;)
Ive heard that for a short time they were made in china then brought back to U.S. It should say on the stand where it is made. I believe mine says right on it
Where on the stand would it be? They were made in China for a short while. I looked on my LW hang on and it nothing is on it. I thought there was something different on the Chinese ones from the USA ones.
Saw you make the offer on the stand. Make sure you get the safety harness that was shipped with them. China ones that hit the market diid not come with a harness. Also there are some threads on at compound site on them.
The LW stands were made in China for only one year (2010) and poor quality control required the company return to US (but with a price increase.)
I believe the only marking is on the original box, but the stands made in China were so bad (potmarks, poor welding, etc...and some even said they looked like they had been submerged in salt water for a year.)
Those Chinese versions were selling for under $200 while US versions go for over $350.
Quality and sales were awful for the China version...and must have been really bad for them to return to USA.
I have one that was made in China. Cosmetics are bad but for safety I would sit in that stand all day long without hesitation. It's better made than most of the low cost stands being sold today at the big retail outlets.
Ron
Theirs no welds on lone wolf they cast.
My sit & climb has "MADE IN USA" cast into the base. I buy USA whenever possible. Especially when it's better made.
Check the Lone Wolf site because they had information on this before. I think there was a difference in the color of the support square tubing or something like that.
Here's one thread from a while back on it. Do a search.
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=105869#000000
Just to followup from my previous post....I bought a Lone Wolf Assault used this past year and the grey strap for around the tree had a white tag that said 'Made in China'. I called Lone Wolf and they were not concerned about the safety aspect of this particular tree stand but the platform casting is just cosmetically bad in comparison to the new USA made LW stands. Lone Wolf is now made in the US and I just bought three of them this year. I think they learned a valuable lesson in regards to quality of over over seas manufacturing....
Ron
I had heard that for a time they tried the "China Route" Supposed to be being made back in the U.S.A. Easiest thing to do if you have any interest. Bring up their web site. Looks like Ron Vought has all the correct info though.
read this thread
http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2143488&highlight=lone+wolf
I bought mine way back in 2003 and 2004 and they do not say where they were made. So not sure how to tell an older made in usa one from the china or new ones made today.
An update on the LW stands. I called Lone Wolf and the gentleman was very helpful. One way to ID the Chinese product is the casting is rough, shiney and has voids in it. Some of the stands were warped also. Another way is on the hand climber the plastic washers on the bolts is white in color and the washers on the US made product are translucent. He did say the Chinese made stand is perfectly safe to use however. Hope that helps anyone.
The bolts used on older (circa early 2000s) US made hand climbers were 1/4" and then they switched to 5/16"
BTW I bought the stand and it was an older pre 2010 US made stand.
reddodge,
thanks for the info update. The climbers are great stands.
If I get a chance I'll take some pics and show a you a simple mod that really makes it easier so you only ever have to use the belt cam on one side of the stand no matter if you go from a 5 inch tree to a 18" tree or what ever the minum and max is for those stands.
In the meantime..... You will set the belt on the one side of the stand to be at it's farthest out setting and then on the side you prefer to use the cam for belt adjustment you will make the mod on this side. All your doing is pull the bottom bolt out that holds the square tube to the stand platform and reverse it so the head of the bolt is in the tube and the threads stick out the side of the platform. This allows the belt to slide through the stand when you have it either packed up for carrying or if you set up on a small diameter tree.
Another simple trick is when you take it off the tree to pack, or pack in with it, is to not fold it all up like the directions tell you to.
1) Just take it off tree and slide the platform belt back down the tube all the way.
2) take seat section and slide belt about half way down it's tube and then you hang the seat section onto the platform.
3) use your black webbing straps that keeps the two peices together and hook the to the seat again and pull it tight.
Now you have a nice"pocket" to set your pack into on the stand for when you carry it.
i bought 2 off the auction site this year, something like $165.00 or something.. as everyone said the casting is rough but it seems solid other than that.. ?? I love lone wolf hang ons and am slowly converting all my stands to them..