Switched from climbing spikes to a foot ascender system this spring

Went up on a big white oak in Oak Park last month for a dead branch removal. I have used spikes my whole career because it is what I learned on, but the owner wanted no marks on the trunk. So I bought a basic foot ascender and lanyard setup, about 130 bucks total. First climb took me forever, I honestly felt like a rookie again. By the third tree I got the rhythm and now my legs do the work instead of my arms. The tradeoff is you lose the security of the spikes when you are just hanging there. Has anyone else made this switch later in their career and stuck with it, or did most of you go back to spikes for certain jobs? That oak took me close to an hour just to get up, and I need to know if that gets faster.

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