Axis Hybrid VS Catalyst Foundry

[T3clay]

Hi everyone

I’m looking at moving into a new pair of cold-weather pants. Looking for some thing that will be used in more hunts and temperatures under 30° down to below zero. I do a lot of winter shed hunting in the Midwest and plan to also use the pants for elk and mule deer hunting late season and possibly in the north slope of Alaska in a couple years.

I pretty much have this decision down between the catalyst foundry and axis hybrid pants. Right now I’m leaning towards the catalyst foundry, mostly because I really appreciate that I can go to Scheels and look at the pants before I buy them. That’s one of the biggest issues I have with Kuiu. With that being said, I almost exclusively hunt in Kuiu attack pants right now. I also like the idea of the full side zippers on the catalyst, but I have heard some people say they let too much wind in.

If anyone has owned both, I would love your opinion on the pros and cons of each, and which one you would choose

 

[passinggas33]

I ran through this whole trial a while back. The Kuiu pant in my opinion will be warmer but will be harder to dump heat as the opening is smaller and has a mesh liner (which got caught in the zipper easily). Both are nice pants though. The Kuiu will be quieter and has so many pockets you’ll never need a backpack again. Both require a belt but the catalyst do come with suspenders. And I think the catalyst comes with knee pads while the Kuiu didn’t. I bought these to compare to the SG Praxis pants, but in the end I stuck with my SG Dehavilland Lites because of the adjustable waistband. Personally I am going to try the M7 for the late season stuff again due to the adjustable waist band. It really is a nice feature. My .02.

 

[skip189]

The Axis pants are the best fitting Kuiu pants I have found. All of my attack pants vary in fit with the same size but my two pairs of Axis fit exatcly what they are supposed to be in waist size. They are super warm and block wind and rarley do i need to use baselayers under them. Only thing I dont like about the Axis is they are a little wide on the bottoms unlike the attacks where a little more tapered fit. Sorry no experience with the Catalyst Foundry, but the Axis pants are a game changer for the late season cold hunts.