Gear fails of 2025

[JohnJohnson]

NF ATACR 7-35's zero stop was defective out of the box and had to be sent to them for repairs. Turnaround time is 6-8 weeks (we'll see) and they didn't provide a label so I had to pay for shipping to get a factory defect fixed which kind of sucks.

 

[twall13]

SO Redcliff- zipper failed mid hunt. I just had the zipper replaced after it failed on a bear hunt in May. The new zipper had less than 1 week in the field.

Nemo chair- failed in the weirdest way possible.
View attachment 981940

Mathew’s quiver- hood broke while busting brush. Still usable but annoying considering the price of their accessories.

Sevr 1.75 hybrid- bad penetration, broken/bent blade. I’m going to back to 2 blade sevr/fixed combo

Did Nemo warranty this? I've heard good things about their warranty but never had to actually use it myself so I'm curious about your experience.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[huntnful]

Swarovski NL 12x42 lost collimation on a light drop. Still usable, just feel a bit cross-eyed using them.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

That happened to my buddy’s as well. SWARO fixed them for free in about 3-4 weeks

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Had a camelback bladder rupture.

Sea to summit etherlight xt has a slow leak, blow up every other day

Broke a leg angle adjuster on an older pro master aluminum tripod

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Did Nemo warranty this? I've heard good things about their warranty but never had to actually use it myself so I'm curious about your experience.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro using Tapatalk

They did. It took about a month for them to get back to me but it was peak season so don’t really fault them on that. They sent me a new chair no problem.

 

[Wrench]

I learned that if you pierce a primer it can break the balls in a bix n andy trigger and there's no way to get them to fix it or sell you the parts.

 

[horpensky]

As posted in another thread, Aclima woolnet fishnet leggings came apart at the seams after only a few uses.

Main compartment zipper on a Redhead 900 daypack failed in first year of use.

 

[BSLugnut]

Somewhere in mountains of CO is the PEAX Backcountry Duo charging cable...
Without their cable, you can charge their headlamp.

PEAX Backcountry Duo headlamp is essentially a rebranded Sofrin D25LR ($30/USD), with some tweaks to brightness settings and battery capacity. The real sticking point is the power cable—so much so that the Sofrin cable won’t even charge the PEAX, despite Sofrin being the actual manufacturer.
My workaround has been to swap the PEAX Backcountry Duo headlamp battery into my Sofrin headlamp unit to get a charge it with a standard USB-C cable. Not ideal, but it keeps me running two solid headlamps when I’m deep in the backcountry.

I really like both headlamps, but won't be buying the PEAX unless they switch a standard USB-C cable.

 

[SkunkCabbage]

Took a few weeks last time. I haven’t started the process with this set yet

 

[camelcluch]

The only thing that didn’t go as planned was the Initial Ascent pack. Trained all summer with it. Field use was a mess. Straps everywhere, buckles loosing all the time, load lifters coming out. I think they are close but a few items could be improved.
I did pack out two elk with the pack but each time was an adventure.

 

[BBob]

I learned that if you pierce a primer it can break the balls in a bix n andy trigger and there's no way to get them to fix it or sell you the parts.

If you need just the ball’s you can get carbide ball’s from McMaster that fit. I’d bet you could also get hardened stainless but I haven’t looked for them specifically.

Follow up: McMaster has hardened stainless 5mm as well as the carbide.

 

[Wrench]

If you need just the ball’s you can get carbide ball’s from McMaster that fit. I’d bet you could also get hardened stainless but I haven’t looked for them specifically.

Follow up: McMaster has hardened stainless 5mm as well as the carbide.

That's my plan *if* they will return my trigger. I have an email to them asking for it with no response so far.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Tricer RP bipod - but read the whole post -

Picked it up so that my wife and daughter could use a sitting height bipod since they both don’t practice frequently enough to feel stable off a backpack or trekking poles. It worked great during practice.

Fast forward to deer season, and my daughter is majorly struggling to get stable. It turns out the pan lever lockout had developed play in the mechanism. We could never get it tight enough to eliminate panning instability.
We were able to troubleshoot the final shooting position and my daughter successfully harvested her deer. But I vowed to figure out a solution to the bipod.

I ended up drilling and pinning the pivoting ball head with an 1/8” steel roll pin. This completely eliminated the pan feature.

Tricer has since listened to user feedback and now offers a much better pan lockout.

Wait, Tricer has a panning lockout method? Is it available on their website?

 

[43.6N]

Wait, Tricer has a panning lockout method? Is it available on their website?

Post in thread 'New tricer bipod'

Dec 5, 2025

Thank you for listening to the people

• 43.6N

• 

Post 574 on this thread. Tricer updated the pan-lockout. Looks like it will be their new standard configuration going forward

 

[silver15tacoma]

Waist buckle broke on my MR Beartooth 80.....first load of my 5 mile solo pack out of an elk. Made that pack out a lot of fun. Had to tie my waist together with paracord to make it even slightly bearable.

 

[mtnbound]

Somewhere in mountains of CO is the PEAX Backcountry Duo charging cable...
Without their cable, you can charge their headlamp.

PEAX Backcountry Duo headlamp is essentially a rebranded Sofrin D25LR ($30/USD), with some tweaks to brightness settings and battery capacity. The real sticking point is the power cable—so much so that the Sofrin cable won’t even charge the PEAX, despite Sofrin being the actual manufacturer.
My workaround has been to swap the PEAX Backcountry Duo headlamp battery into my Sofrin headlamp unit to get a charge it with a standard USB-C cable. Not ideal, but it keeps me running two solid headlamps when I’m deep in the backcountry.

I really like both headlamps, but won't be buying the PEAX unless they switch a standard USB-C cable.

I use a regular USB C cable to charge my Peax headlamps with no issues.

 

[mtnbound]

Waist buckle broke on my MR Beartooth 80.....first load of my 5 mile solo pack out of an elk. Made that pack out a lot of fun. Had to tie my waist together with paracord to make it even slightly bearable.

I had this happen years ago, and it's the reason why I carry a spare buckle in my possibles pouch.

 

[elkhunter505]

OR Crocodile Gaiters.

I’ve been running these for the last 2 years.

Pair #1 - 5 days hunting near the end of a season - bottom Velcro keeper tab delaminates and bottom main Velcro seam lets go.
Warranty

Pair #2 - Slight redesign pair from previous - Half a season of hunting - bottom Velcro keeper tab delaminates - warranty again

Pair # 3 - Complete redesign for what I think is the better. Doesn’t even make it out of the house and I realize the bottom keeper tab is not even glued together right from OR itself. - Warranty

Pair # 4 - 2 days- bottom strap let’s go. Rivets pulled through on the one end. I have to contact them again and sort the out. Frustrated with these.

I have had nothing but trouble with those gaiters that many people touted as being the best thing on the market for years. Broke pins on the buckles multiple times. Switched to the SG gaiters and haven’t had a problem with them once. The metal buckle being so low on the gaiter for me is the issue.

 

[Poser]

Somewhere in mountains of CO is the PEAX Backcountry Duo charging cable...
Without their cable, you can charge their headlamp.

PEAX Backcountry Duo headlamp is essentially a rebranded Sofrin D25LR ($30/USD), with some tweaks to brightness settings and battery capacity. The real sticking point is the power cable—so much so that the Sofrin cable won’t even charge the PEAX, despite Sofrin being the actual manufacturer.
My workaround has been to swap the PEAX Backcountry Duo headlamp battery into my Sofrin headlamp unit to get a charge it with a standard USB-C cable. Not ideal, but it keeps me running two solid headlamps when I’m deep in the backcountry.

I really like both headlamps, but won't be buying the PEAX unless they switch a standard USB-C cable.

Its not the only USB-C cable that will work with the headlamp. I have generic UBC charging cord for my Iphone that also works with the Peax headlamp so, that actually simplified things for me as I only needed one charger cable for both my Iphone and my headlamp. I can also charge my headlamp with the phone cable that's always in my truck.

 

[TL406]

Sea to summit etherlight xt has a slow leak, blow up every other day

Mine was a disaster this year, it’s something with the baffle design, I patched 5-6 leaks over a couple weeks, all on the top of the pad in the dimples of the baffle seams.

Sea to Summit warrantied it and sent me the new model for free. New model is supposed to have fixed that issue, plus it is lighter and packs down way smaller. Haven’t used it yet.