Alaska Mike said:
To be honest, I've never seen a home-built one work as well as a PullPal, and Madizell can probably tell you about his experiences in the Outback Challenge. Not to say that home-built ones can't be effective as ground anchors...
There are elements of the ARB design that I find well thought-out from casual examination, like how the point is a separate piece from the wings, giving a stronger digging point. I also like the handle for extraction and guiding it into the soil. I'm not sure about the length or angle of the arm- especially when a deeper set is needed. It's possible the angle can be adjusted, but I'd have to see the design up close to see if I liked it.
I don't believe the angle is adjustable, any more than the angle on a Pull Pal is adjustable. Actually, adjusting the angle only makes them less effective, assuming the angle is correct to start with.
I have never seen a home made ground anchor that works anything like as well as a Pull Pal, and nearly every home made one I have seen in competition failed in competition sooner or later. Keep in mind that the blade on the Pull Pal is not simply stamped carbon steel. It is a high grade and heavy gauge chrome moly. I have had a Pull Pal fail once when its use was under the direction of someone else in our club, and two cars were attached to one anchor, one of them at a significant side angle. Don't ask me why this was done, I was stuck and not in charge of the anchor, but I did get to repair it later. Nothing was permanently damaged. The ARB simply won't take that kind of abuse, and neither should be put to that kind of side load.
I don't find the separate digging point on the ARB to be better in any way from the point on the Pull Pal. The folding design just calls for something of the sort because otherwise the leading edge of the folding blade would be the butt end of the hinge.
I personally don't have a use for the handle on the ARB. Sure, I have seen lots of guys riding their anchor hanging on to the handle, but since the angle at which they will each dig into a given soil is determined by the angle of the blade with relation to the length and angle of the pulling arm, not the handle you hang on to, the dig angle is not really adjustable this way either. Nor does it suit itself to extraction unless you are thinking very loose sand and not very deeply planted. Once these things disappear below the surface, they are tough to extract regardless of whose design is discussed. The easiest means of extracting either of them is to pull them out backwards with a strap attached to the back of the blade or low down on the down arm. If you try to pull back on the ARB handle with the blade buried, you will more likely bend the arm than extract the blade.
The purpose of the handle arises from the shortness of the arm. Whereas the Pull Pal has a long arm and sets rather easily in usable terrain, the ARB is difficult to set without some kind of leverage, hence the handle to get things started. Imagine trying to handle something that short, and with a folding blade, if it didn't have a handy handle to grab.
Neither the ARB nor the Pull Pal will self-bury in hard pan, and I have not seen either in operation where one had a clear advantage on how well they penetrated hard soils. Both are a pain to set in hard soil, or will just skip along a few inches down without getting a bite (like plowing a field). Watch some of the Outback Challenge videos for examples of both units not working in hard pan. It gets humorous after a bit, unless you are the guy trying to set the anchor.
I have seen Pull Pals extracted from sand and heavy soil by use of considerable force (back and forth, side to side, and by attachment to the bumper of the vehicle to be pulled out backwards) without damage to the anchor, and the longer arm is conducive to wiggling the device out of the soil by brute force. The shorter arm on the ARB makes this kind of attempt problematic due to lack of leverage.
The ARB is easier to store inside the vehicle. The Pull Pal is easily mounted outside the vehicle if you want to do this and intend to use it often and in difficult terrain, and as far as I can tell, no one mounts the ARB unit in a deployed condition outside the car because it is such a folder. Both will pack flat when taken apart, and the ARB takes up a bit less space when folded.
Each has some advantage over the other. Price aside, both are fairly rugged, the ARB is easier to store, but is larger than it appears in the photo folded or not, and the Pull Pal is easier to get planted for the most part unless you really like standing on top of the blade while trying to set it with a vehicle winch. Keep in mind that both of these things can be dangerous to use and should be approached with caution because to set them you have to be standing in close proximity to one end of a winch line. Once any degree of tension is achieved, you should NOT stand on the blade holding on to the handle or whatever. You should clear the path and stand back.
My personal take on these is that the Pull Pal is overall the better tool, is made here at home by Pat Gremillion, and if it also costs less, why take the argument any further?
