Little Giant Ladders vs. Traditional Folding Ladders

Last Father's day I decided to get my dad something he could actually use. So I passed on buying the dreaded tie or socks and decided to get my dad a ladder to replace the rickety wood one from 1968 that he was currently using. Being that there are so many choices of ladders out there, research was a necessity. Here is what I found.

Traditional ladders can be found in aluminum and fiberglass and are usually rated up to 250 lbs. Extension ladder or stepladder, these are the basic choices I was confronted with. While these ladders might be lighter on the pocket book, I saw a couple drawbacks when faced with the decision to purchase a stepladder or extension ladder. If you purchase an extension ladder, it will be next to impossible to use in the house as it is too heavy and awkward to move around. On the other hand I could get the stepladder as it is lighter and more nimble than the extension ladder, but there was no way it was reaching the second story of the house. That just wouldn't do, how would Dad get all those Christmas lights on the second story? I could buy both ladders for him, but were would he keep that huge extension ladder? I decided to wait and research other options.

Lucky for me that I waited, because later that night after leaving the store I saw an infomercial for something called the Little Giant Ladder System. It seemed that this ladder did everything. It was sturdier and lighter than the other options and was rated for 300lbs (tested up to 1200!).With this system you get an extension ladder and a stepladder all in one. Turns out the Little Giant Ladder System can be used on stairwells and can be easily converted to use for a scaffold. They also showed several other practical uses for this ladder system that I have never even thought of before! To top it off, the ladder I was interested in weighed in at only 35 lbs and the storage position was less than 5 feet!

As you can probably tell I went with the Little Giant Ladder system over the conventional ladder. I just hope that this Father's Day present makes up for all the socks and ties I got him when I was younger!