Contract Climber. What is more efficient? GRCS, Hobbs H2, THS friction drum

[TheArborVan]

Hi all,

 

I am a contract climber from Australia. Looking at getting a winch/friction drum. 

I work with a diverse range of companies at a lot of different skill levels. I wanted to get some outsider opinions on whether it would be worth buying a GRCS, Hobbs or a winch we sell in Australia very similar to the Hobbs called a THS (total height safety) friction drum.

 

My main question/s are time and teaching related. Obviously the GRCS takes a bit more training for people to understand but when you have a good rope man it can be very efficient. Also a lot more risk in terms of price and damage. Price 6k

 

With a Hobbs a very robust and simple unit. Less lifting capability but it’s still there for pretensioning and smaller lifts. And a lot less risk in terms of damage. Similar price to get to Australia.

 

last is the THS
fairly similar to the Hobbs but a lot cheaper for me to get here almost 2k difference.

We generally aren’t lifting branches often but have had a few jobs where it would have made a huge difference.

 

what are the contract climbers using? And what have you found best for you? 
 

I appreciate your time! thanks heaps! 

 

[Treetom15]

I can’t speak for the others, but my Hobbs has been a game changer. A bit more lifting capacity would be great, but it will lift small/medium branches and the pretension for bigger lumps makes a huge difference. Main plus is it’s super easy to explain to different ground staff, I’ve used mine with plenty of different groups, and within a few goes they’ve pretty well sussed it

[TheArborVan]

That’s exactly my thoughts! 
 

super simple but so much can be done with it as well! 
 

I just think it’s almost a waste of time showing a crew how to use a Grcs for one job or lose a lot of time explaining how to use it and then it get damaged due to user error. 
 

Thanks mate!