Looking for a second set of pants for a fall archery elk hunt and trying to decide if I should add another pair of synthetics or go with the First lite Obsidian pants. You guys think the merino wool is worth it from a scent perspective?
I just got my Obsidians size Large today. I did nearly a year of research on them before buying them. $180 is a lot to spend on a pair of pants you can't even try on. I wore them for 10 minutes and decided they're going on the classifieds. To me, they don't really feel any different than a normal pair of cotton twill pants. Not stretchy at all. If you are stepping over anything anything about 18" high they will bind up on you, at least they did for me. Seemed very warm and didn't seem to breathe any better than the Nomex pants I wear for work and I was sweating in them just standing in my house. Lastly, they fit like a pair of MC hammer pants, and I have fairly large thighs. I'm sticking with my Tiburons. 4 years with them and I have been through every snag and bush you can think of without so much as a tear. Bombproof to be sure. And they are barely any heavier than the underwear I wear underneath. Just thought you should know a tidbit about how they feel. I really wish I could make them work after all this waiting but they won't be finding their way into my bag . Its just my .02 though. Tons of people have the opposite experience as me.
Quite a few of the guys I hunt and work with have used/use Kanabs and Obsidians from 85 degrees down to single digits. Merino works great, but I expect that the reason other companies haven’t jumped on it is durability. I got less then 30 days of wear on two Kanab 2.0’s before they popped seams, blew the crotch out, stitching let go, etc. Same for a 2017 Obsidian.
The Kanab 2.0 pants were awesome in design, pocket layout, cut, fit, and the temperature regulation of the merino is excellent. But people that probably need to put the fork down... complained enough that they changed the fit- MC Hammer pants is about right. FL replaced the pants that failed, but the new fit is so baggy and loose they’re unusable for me.
great info...so you your 17 obsidians didnt fit well or last either? What a mess...a lot of money for a heavy pair of odd fitting and not durable pants.
Since there are more people that are over weight than fit- companies get more feedback from them and consequently start making baggier and baggier clothing. This isn’t meant to be a jerk, it’s just reality.
This is odd, because most of the hunting pants I've seen in recent years are more like the skinny jeans you see around. Even those like EB Guide Pro's fit like skinny jeans, and at 6'6" 220 I am skinny, and even up-sizing them fit tight.
This is odd, because most of the hunting pants I've seen in recent years are more like the skinny jeans you see around. Even those like EB Guide Pro's fit like skinny jeans, and at 6'6" 220 I am skinny, and even up-sizing them fit tight.
At 6’6” you are so far outside the norm that any clothing with a cut and design that works for the vast majority of males (5’7”-6”), won’t work for you and vice versa- any cut that will work for you, is ridiculous for the vast majority of people that are between 5’7” and 6’0”. What most companies wrongly try to do is to be everything, to everyone.
In the hiking community it’s generally true that clothing is more “skinny”, but in the hunting clothes world not so much. Some start off with athletic fit clothing (Firstlite), then gradually shift to fit the desires of the masses- loose. I’m not talking about the ones’ies or two’sies that have over muscled thighs; the vast majority of hunters (just as the population as a whole) are clinically overweight, with a significant portion being clinically obese. Right now there are two main hunting companies that offer athletic fit clothing- Sitka and Kuiu. And not all of their items are.
Instead of saying “skinny jeans” let’s say what it really is- athletic fit. That means that the clothing is cut to be as form fitting as possible, while not restricting movement. As long as the pants aren’t restricting movement, I want them to have the least amount of bulk and loose fabric as possible, a high gusseted crotch, no big cargo pockets, and nothing to snag on.
Firstlite ought to come out with a Kanab 3.0 pant that combines their merino and the pocket arrangement of the Kanab 2.0, with the cut, design, stretch panels, and sewing of the Kuhl Radikl.
Instead of saying “skinny jeans” let’s say what it really is- athletic fit.