Ive seen the Hobbs(?) and Good systems, and heard trhere are others.

Which is best and why?

Reply to post by jps, on September 30, 2000 at 23:09:17:

The best lowering device is the one that gives you the most control over the load. Ive been using a friction drum,basicly a winch of a sailing boat mounted to a plate which in turn is strapped to the trunk. The drum allows one to lower very heavy loads without so much as a sweat. Ok I know there are heaps of devices that give you that kind of control, but this friction drum allows one to whinch the load back up, or in the case of a long lateral branch over house or wires, you attach the lowering line to the final third of the branch and winch away, this brings the fluff the pully at the top of the tree (must use a pully) when the but breaks free, the ground crew can guide the branch but first using a tag line all the way to the chipper.
I made my drum using a boat winch however a comercial friction drum is manufactured by Urban Forrestry Services Australia approximately $2,400 AUS. This is cheap, the drum can increase production up to but not limited to 30% if your not to shy. There is a smilar design in the states, this looks very cumbersome by comparison. There are some pitfalls one must be wary of. With such a tool one can tend to take of too much and make things very dificult for the ground crew or worse, crash your lowering point. Warning, know your equipments limitations and the branches being used. The Friction Drum is not reserved for demolitions only, the ease of instalation and with a litttle padding the drum can be used for pruning large sections as well.

Reply to post by jps, on September 30, 2000 at 23:09:17:

Using the Good system again, I think it is worth the $1k over the Hobbs because you have the advantage of one man operation on the ground.

I guesse if one is always runing a 3 or more man crew the hobbs is just as good