2025 Tree Climbing Gear… and the winners are!

Richard Tregoweth, Tuesday, December 09, 2025

As we close out the year, we thought it appropriate to see which Treetools brands were the winners for 2025. Notch, DMM Professional,

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Rope Strength vs Elongation

Richard Tregoweth, Thursday, November 27, 2025

Climbing rope specs often look confusing. Two ropes can appear very different—40 kN vs 23 kN strength, 2% vs 1.2% elongation—yet feel nearly the same in the tree.

That’s because the most commonly published elongation figure, “elongation at 10% MBS,” is ..

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The Six Pack – Necessity Is the Mother of Invention

Richard Tregoweth, Friday, November 21, 2025

Innovation in arboriculture seldom comes from a boardroom. It often starts with a problem, some scrap metal, and a climber frustrated by unreliable gear. The Notch Six Pack is a prime example—a lowering device that began on a workbench, outlined with six empty ..

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Petzl Basic vs Petzl Croll S – Choosing for a Knee Ascender

Richard Tregoweth, Tuesday, November 04, 2025

Both the Petzl Basic and Petzl Croll S are compact rope-clamping devices, but their geometry and intended connection points make them behave differently when used in a ..

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Understanding the Service Life of Your Protos Arborist Helmet

Richard Tregoweth, Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Like all thermoplastic safety helmets, the Protos Integral has a defined service life. That service life starts the day you put it to work—not ..

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ART BlackBird – SAFETY NOTICE

Richard Tregoweth, Saturday, October 25, 2025

ART has issued two updates for the ART BlackBird mechanical device — one for the upper bearing pin on the friction enhancer and another for the fractured “nose” on the right side plate. Following further ..

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Harness expiry dates for DMM Kinisi

Richard Tregoweth, Friday, September 26, 2025

Manufacturers—not universal regulations—determine the expiration dates for tree climbing harnesses. You should retire your harness according to the manufacturer's specified lifespan or the results of your inspection, whichever comes first. The DMM Kinisi harnesses are the most recent on the market, ..

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Rope Runner Vertec: A Quiet Refinement Worth Noting

Richard Tregoweth, Thursday, August 28, 2025

Updated NOTCH Rope Runner Vertecs are now in stock at Treetools. While the changes may appear minor, they reflect NOTCH's commitment to feedback from the arborist community. When the original Rope Runner Vertec was introduced, it quickly established itself as one of the ..

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Know your gear to avoid a DQ

Richard Tregoweth, Tuesday, August 05, 2025

Tree climbing is complicated. What is perfectly acceptable in one system can be dangerous in another.

Approximately 18 years ago, the Treemagineers Hitch Climber DbRT (MRS) system established the benchmark in tree climbing configurations. Many climbers started their careers using this system and ..

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How to update PROTOS BT-Comm Firmware

Richard Tregoweth, Monday, July 07, 2025

In terms of Bluetooth communication devices, Protos BT-Comm units are generally reliable and easy to manage.

However, Treetools occasionally encounters customers who experience pairing issues. Often, the problem relates to sequencing during the pairing process, but sometimes it's because not all BT-Comm units in the communication loop have the same ..

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