An to answer the OP, as others said, it depends on the situation, and if going mobile, boils down to weight and flexability, IMO. I've got 130 acres, and I have a dozen pre-hung setups. I use generic 20' sections of sticks, and hang a Millennium Receiver. These are in spots I know will produce and I have four Millennium stands I can take out and slide into a setup in seconds.
In your case, you are forced to go "mobile," because the landowner doesn't want anything left. For almost 15 years, I was strictly mobile hunting, and I've used them all over that period of time, starting out with an old Baker climber, AKA Deathtrap. Eventually, I transitioned to a steel climber, and then a lighter aluminum. They are great for portability and packability due to their lightweight. My biggest beefs with a climber was that I never felt 100% safe using one, as it seemed you could never get one perfectly level unless you made an adjustment on the fly, and I was always stuck climbing bare ass trees, which forced me to go higher than I really needed to be. I realize now there are climbers where you can safely make adjustments to level them out without sacrificing safety, but your still forced to climb telephone poles, or cut branches as you climb, as well as fight knots and loose bark. With that being said, your lightest pack in option is going to be a breakdown aluminum climber.
After running climbers for 15 years, I found the Lone Wolf Climbing sticks. There wasn't much information out there on them at the time, so I ordered a set of four and fell in love. My mobile stick setup has evolved over the years, and I've refined it into two setups, comfort and flexability. I run 4-5 lone wolf sticks now, with my top stick being a Muddy pro stick, as it has steps on both sides allowing me to hang the stand on either side of the tree without climbing down and adjusting the steps. My comfort stand is a Millennium M100 with footrest. I could sit in this stand all day, it's easy to hang, and has a roomy platform, but it's fairly heavy, with a fixed platform. My flexible stand is the Muddy Outfitter. I have modified it slightly to make it easier to hang, but it's got an offset bracket that can allow me to hang in a tree with a lean to the left or right, as well as a platform and seat that will level for those trees that are leaning forward or backward.
With either of these hang-on setups, I can climb any tree I want to a height between 20 and 25 ft. The biggest downfall to this setup is it weighs close to 30lbs. The nice thing about it though, is it all packs very flat, and the weight is closer to your center of gravity, so it doesn't pack like some of the old climbers did at a comparable weight. Regardless, it is considerably heavier than these newer adjustable climbers, but much more versatile. I guess what it boils down to is how far your have to pack in, how much gear you carry, and where you are hunting. My setups have evolved to the point now, regardless of a permanent set or a mobile set, that I like to be in a split tree as my first choice, or a tree with lots of cover above me and where I'm less likely to be skylined. Out of the dozen permanent sets I have now, only one of them is in a tree that isn't split, and it's a pine about 40" in diameter and I'm only 15ft off the ground in this setup.
Like others have said, if you can get with someone that has a setup you would like to try, do it. It's the cheapest way to find out if you like a setup or not!
