Where I hunt, climbers are useless. There are nearly no trees straight enough to use them. I have a stash of GameTamer lock ons. These are no longer made, but WoodseyToo makes one almost the same. The Gametamer is the most comfortable hang on tree stand there is, and it is very adjustable for tress where the trunks are not straight.
1. Like with everything, there are cheaply built and less safe stands out there, and there are well built and very safe stands out there.
2. A hang on with sticks will generally take a bit longer to setup/take down than a climber. One more thing, a lot of hangons attach to the trees with screws that bore into the tree. Esp if you are hunting public ground, you need to make sure of the regulations regarding screwing things into the trees. Some places do not allow that at all.
3. You can setup/take down every hunt, but it will take longer, and there will be more separate pieces to cary in/out.
4. I have never used LW or Millinium so I am no help on this one.
5. Which sticks to use depends a lot on the tree you will be climbing. If your tree is fairly straight, the 4 pc that goes together works good, If your tree is not very straight, then the separate pcs are better. If you can only go with one, go with the separate pcs.
Bisch