Sheril stops sidewinder

Sean Freeman

I don't know about the sidewinder, but the redesigned pouch on the big shot is rubbish IMO.....what on earth was wrong with the old version....and it is not just me other climbers have commented on how annoying it is and how many misfires it produces

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Eric Frei

Hmmm, what's the difference in the pouches?

Anyone got a shot of old vs new?

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TrevMcRev

The new one is very "open", the old was a deeper pocket that held your sackage better.

Ive still got an old one, will take a pic tommorow.

rbtree

luckily, I have two old ones, that haven't yet broken, plus a brand new assembly ready to mount onto the frame. The new open pouch is surely rubbish, as, if you're making a shot that is even 15 degrees off vertical, the pouch just falls out. And, for about any shot, the pouch must be carefully laid in, and then pulled back carefully, or it will fall out.

They just need to redesign the shape, back to where it was, maybe just a tad more open.

Tree Machine

Here's a picture of the former pouch. This is an old image as I can tell by the horrible polypropylene line. This image was taken before the advent of the more high-tech shotlines. Once the new lines came out, the BigShot itself was so much more effective. Then came the puzzle of stowing the line.


Here's a shot of the former head and pouch:


Here's a shot of the old-style pouch, several thousand shots later. It blew out one day. Rather than just replace the tubing/pouch, I decided to take some 2" tube webbing, cut one of the folded edges to open it up to 4" width. The intact folded edge got stuffed into the deep recess of the pouch, the rest clipped to size, pulled out and the edges fire-melted with a propane torch. It was then reinserted and using a hand sewing awl, stitched back in.



This was more an experiment to see if a stiffer pouch would perform better. Whether it was better or not, there's no way to measure that, only opinion. My opinion says 'splitting hairs'. It did work well, the pouch became more 'open' but kept the depth the former, un-altered pouch, let's just say I didn't have a problem with either, but the modded pouch didn't offer any spectacular improvement worthy of mention. Maybe a little better, but because of the age of the tubing I was resistant to really pull back, so testing is rather incomplete. It did, however work well enough that the new tubing/pouch replacement stayed hung in the garage, and then the new, compact version of the bigshot came out, then I just bought one of those.

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Tree Machine

I agree with Roger, for precisely the reasons he points out. An ideal pouch needs to be somewhere midstream between the old and the new.

(WLL)

i used ta be a big sherrill fan, but lately they are pissn me off. I'm all for the sidewinder cause IMO the big shot sucks. over the many years i must say I'm awesome with the throw line and for me to get good with the other methods id need ta start all over again, it just don't make sense ta me. i don't like too brag but, damd I'm a good with the throw ball/line in the faltimere or bag. sherrill price match is a joke, they add little things so you cant match things. they copy products like the folding cube and tell others they cant make a design totally different from theirs. on top of all that they are now charging more than there already high prices. IMO thats going ta backfire

Tree Machine

Opinion duly noted.

Tree Machine

And you don't ever have to give up throwing, I know whatcha mean. I still throw probably 8 out of 10 times, then use the bigshot when sets are over 50 feet, and or a very vertical trajactory, or a lot of obstacles on the way up.

You try it with an 8-foot pole on the ground with the end-boot, OR, you use a 6-foot stick, plant the base on your beltline and draw back good and deep. One of the two ways will work for ya, the learning-curve is really pretty instant. Its easy to amaze yourself with it right out of the blocks.


Sorry, maybe a little too philosophical, but I truly love setting ropes, it's one of my favorite things to do in all of arboriculture. Not everyone will say that.

(WLL)

when i used the big shot i could not get the distance i needed and just made 3-4 hand throws i used 16 oz bag with the thick 2.20mm zing-it, launching off a 8ft poll section. I'm sure you need the right combo to utilize the big shot, ill throw any line with the 16oz bag. i must admit the big shot sure is on target, with the right combo I'm sure it will give good accurate shots. the first time i saw a know-it-all rookie use the big shot, he slid the head onto the pole and did not use the locking mechanism, he gave it a hard pull, WHAM!!! took a hard slam ta the face wonder if he learned anything