WolfWise 15.5FT Aluminum Telescoping Ladder with Stabilizer, Telescopic Extension Ladder 330 Pounds Capacity Black

I want to love this ladder and mostly I do. I love how portable it is and how it's pretty easy to use. I've never had any kind of accident with it, never gotten hurt in any way from it. I've used it many many times outside my house. However, it still scares me to death every time I use it because it feels flimsy, especially at the top and I'm always worried that it will, all of a sudden, collapse down while climbing it. I'm also always worried that my fingers will get smashed when closing it up/collapsing it even though it has a safety thing with hydraulics or something that keeps it from collapsing quickly. I love that the base is really wide. I feels very stable side to side however, the feet are rounded and a fairly stiff plastic so they don't grip smooth surfaces well. I would not trust this ladder on a smooth inside floor.

Great quality, good ladder, love it, wish I had one years ago. Compared to a folding ladder...there is no comparison. The telescoping design is much better.I've bought a couple of telescoping ladders in different sizes and formed strong opinions. This WolfWise is quite nice. First, it's a legit 15.5 ft high. Most telescoping ladders misrepresent the height as 'max reach' vs. actual ladder height (my other so called 14ft telescoping ladder is only 10.5 ft high).If this is your first time buying a telescoping ladder, here's my quickie buyer's guide:1) Get one with air cushioned 'soft close' retraction. The ones that slam your fingers are no fun.2) Closure buttons/levers should be on the front of first step, not the bottom of the step (check the photos)3) Only one pair of closure buttons on the bottom step; not each step (life is too short to actuate each step)4) Make sure there are visual locking indicators on every step (trust me - this is important)5) Double-check the height. Most list the 'max reach' vs actual height. They lie.That's about all one can check when buying online. Once it arrives, a good ladder won't flex (much) when you climb high and the cheap ones bow badly. No way to tell from the marketing. I can say this WolfWise is very good quality, as is the COSCO SmartClose. I wouldn't be surprised of both didn't come from the same factory.

Initially this ladder hit all the marks except for one - it is sturdy, light, easy to carry, is pretty easy to extend, etc. The one thing I didn't like at first was that the ladder either had to be fully extended or you could only extend it as far as your height and arms could reach. The self contracting feature didn't allow me to make the ladder the exact height I wanted. I like to put my ladder up against the roof edge and go approx. 18" - 24" over and step over as I get up on the roof. At first with this fully extended it would be 4'+ above the roof and I would have to step around which I didn't like. Then I realized I could extend it all the way, then as I went towards the top of roof, I could re-tract the top rungs/steps from being too high to the height I wanted by pushing up on the red retracting buttons at the bottom of rung. The self full retract has to start at the bottom with the switch type buttons you move inward, but the red bottom rung ones can be done independently after its fully extended from the top. Hope that makes sense. This tip is not in the instructions. The instructions only tell you along with the q&a that the ladder has to be fully extended or you can extend it starting from the bottom but only as high as you can reach. So if you don't like to step around a to tall ladder, then you can lower it once up but following those steps and making this ladder more versatile.

I almost hate to review this item given fakespot's f score for the existing reviews. So far so good though. I purchased the longest version that came with a stabilizer bar. It flexes no more than a regular extension ladder. The stabilizer is probably a life saver with this size and doesn't make it that much harder to store. I used power tools to attach the stabilizer not the junky supplied tools. It's a bit heavy but I can tuck it under an arm fully collapsed and that makes it terribly easy to move. If you're petite probably not so much. One thing I noticed is that the soft close feature is great but doesn't apply to the top few rungs. This shouldn't be an issue except the bang is scary when you're that high up. Coming from a little giant style ladder all I can say is the old one is out by the road now. Make sure you inspect the latches as you climb and keep your fingers out of the pinch points.