$1000 waders are long term repairable investments.
If you aren’t going that route just get cabelas dri plus or rogers waders of your preference for $200-$300 and view them as consumable items like running shoes.
$300-$600 waders are no man’s land where you don’t pick up durability just extraneous features.
I have owned several over the past 40 years and my number one are SIMMS and their customer service has always been outstanding for me.
If I could get a discount, I would be buying the Sitka’s. I have seen them and those things look ultra durable.
I'm on my second pair of Rogers toughman waders. Bought a pair last year for $140. Noticed a leak during early teal season this year. Was inside the warranty period, so I called them. They covered return shipping and I had a new set of waders at my front door within a week of shipping my leaky pair out. Not happy that I only got 1 season out of them but if I get 1 year out of the replacements, an average of $70/year in waders seems reasonable.
I stay away from neoprene (Texas) but there's a guy I see hunting from time to time where we go and him and his wife were showing up in Tidewe neoprene waders from Amazon for several years and he said they were good to go. For breathable waders I've used a pair of Bassdash for two years now and about to go into their third season, for cheap off brand waders I like them quite a bit and they're holding up well. I wear them more often than my Simms boot foot waders.
I can’t say what’s the best, but I can 100% tell you to stay away from banded and drake. I used to work at a hunting store that sold a pile of waders and we eventually quit selling those brands because over 50% got returned as defective within a year.
I’ve heard good things about Rogers in the past but it sounds like their quality has slipped with the more recent models. I also have a pair of Cabela’s breathable waders that are going on their 9th year of fly fishing and early season action, but I wouldn’t trust anything from them now. Especially with their lack of customer service.
I second this. I got a pair last year and I love them so far. This will be my first full season with them but I used them fishing in the early spring as well and was super happy.