Smart Winch in Japan

[softbankhawks]

The elusive Smart Winch !

ODSK, our local arb retailer, bought in a Smart Winch and they made this video for their customers.

We found the unit nice to use. It installs easily enough, 1 man or 2. I was initially concerned about its performance on smaller diameter trees as the back plate doesn't flex and I wasn't sure how tight the strap would get just using the winch handle, the GRCS gets a massive leverage force with its long bar but after days of dynamic rigging on red pines, timber around 300kg, we didn't see it shift it all. It can be cut into a tree on larger jobs and on the plus side there is no bar to carry and the unit is so much nicer to carry around than the GRCS. We work on very steep slopes here and sites can be up to 2 km away so these things matter to us. The winch is much like the GRCS winch but it has a contoured surface, I haven't used it enough to say anymore about how this affects winching capability. It performs much like the GRCS winch (both are Harken). Being able to switch to the beautiful and massive outer bollard is ace, it has 4 points of deflection to give the ropeman much sensitivity in regards friction. Using a second line the rope can be pretensioned on the winch and wrapped on the bollard. If you are careful then perhaps 2 ropes could be run at once although they would be in close proximity to each other.

I like this unit a lot, makes me wonder why it hasn't been marketed better?

 

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[softbankhawks]

I should say the back plate doesn't 'articulate', flex was the wrong word.

[Old Mill Tree Care]

I've always thought it looks great but the price in Britain is ridiculous.

[Craig Johnson]

I agree with old millTC

[explorer arb]

£2300 including a half day training on the device certainly wasn't too much for my boss!

 

that's only a couple hundred more than the grcs!

 

Paul although the lever to mount the smart winch is small the MA on medium trees is actually greater due to the fact the strap isn't stowed on the tension axle

[Paul Smith]

Nice work Paul'👍

[Old Mill Tree Care]

£2300 (+vat I assume)

I was originally told a lot more.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk mobile app.

[softbankhawks]

Hi Paul, thanks man, I'll pass it on to the guys that made the video ! Explorer Arb, do you mean that as more strap is wound on then MA is lost? I can see this but it must be marginal? What does tree size have to do with it?

I bought my GRCS when Drayer were fabricating them for the European market and the aluminium drum I have is much larger than the current American ones. What a boon it is to have such a large diameter aluminium bollard, it's this that I'll always use for heavy or fast dynamic rigging.

[softbankhawks]

......but I wonder how price would affect my decision if for example the Smart Winch could be fabricated with an aluminium bollard, how do you make the judgement of price over efficiency, how efficient do you need or want to be? Certainly my GRCS has given me nearly a decade of use and is still rattling on, the Smart Winch seems more robust in design and I'm sure that the more enlightened metallurgists on this site can explain about the interesting alloys in the stainless steel back plate and bollard.

[Paul Smith]

I thought the outer bollard on the smart winch was for big and negative rigging?