The Ol' Man stand is a cable system. Rubber coated cable, one release pin on each piece of the stand. Light, quiet, comfortable and roomy. I've hunted all day in it several times and been comfortable. I really like the amount of room it gives you. You can use it as a gun or bow stand (meaning the seat portion is reversable so you can either have a foot rest or a gun rest, very nice feature). It has a net seat. The range of tree diameters you can use it on is great, AND if you use a pee bottle, the 32 oz GatorAide bottle fits perfectly in the frame of the seat.