I've been debating whether to post or not, but I decided I would give my feedback. At the risk of sounding like a hater, the pants were a pretty big miss for me, and the hoody is decent. I'm personally shocked this is what resulted from so much testing from hunters that I greatly trust and respect. I am kind of an Exo fan boy and take almost everything they say as gospel, so the fact that my opinion and preferences are so different is surprising. I am genuinely happy that the pants and hoody seem to be a success and work for most of the guys who have reviewed them here. Before I get into the details, I'll also give the caveat that maybe I'm the weird one and have backward preferences and expectations. I'll try to explain my perspective and justifications for my feedback, but it's likely that many of you think differently, and that's a very good thing.
I'll divide my feedback into 3 buckets: Great, Fine, and WTF.
GREAT
Pants:
Integrated belt- ALL western hunting pants should have an integrated belt PERIOD. It blows my mind that the earth muffins that run Prana figured that out, and none of the hunting brands have done it broadly.
Hoody:
Deep Zip - Love letting the girls breathe... you know what I mean?
Breathability - I run hot and sweat a lot. I've never had an active insulation piece, so I can't compare to the competition, but I was impressed.
FINE
Pants:
Fabric - A little too much stretch for my liking, but not a deal breaker, and the feel to the touch is a little too pajama like, which I don't enjoy. (I'm sure I'm in the minority when I'm basically saying it's too comfortable).
Durability - It's fine. I don't really care if it gets pulls and snags and burrs stick to it. As long as small holes don't become large rips on their own, I'm cool. I'm surprised how many guys are commenting on the look of the pulls. For me, they are hunting pants, and I expect them to look like I beat the shit out of them because I did. With that said, my Prana Stretch Zions have been through hell and back over and over, and they barely show any wear at all.
Hoody:
Everything else - The rest of the hoody that I didn't call out as great, is fine. Not great, not WTF, just fine.
The fit is a little off for me, but it's not terrible. It's a little tight in the torso (yes, I'm a thick boy, but XLs usually fit great). The sleeves are too long. I'm 6 ft. 230#, and the sleeves were 2 inches too long. If I went 2XL to get a looser belly fit, I could get a job as the dancing inflatable at the car wash with the sleeves hanging off my hands.
Durability is fine. I don't care about pilling or pulls. It's not meant to bust brush without something worn over it. It's a mid-layer.
Applicability is interesting in my case because while I think it's a cool piece and it does what it's designed to do, I don't think I'll use it that much. Because I run hot, I cannot imagine wearing a layer over the hoody unless it's really cold. I don't hunt a lot in cold weather, and I do bust a lot of brush both on foot and riding narrow single track on my dirt bike. It would get shredded. It's not a knock, just my personal use case. After I realized it wasn't going to be that applicable to my hunting style, I wanted to return it but had already cut and tossed the tags. Oh well, it will mostly be a camp hoody, and I'll have it when I do go out for a cold hunt or 2 every year.
WTF
Pants:
Fit - The waist was true to size, but the thigh was very tight. I have bigger than average thighs, but nothing crazy. They were like yoga pants. At first, I thought they still might work because they are so stretchy, but after walking up and down my stairs, I realized they pulled on my boxer briefs and made them ride up. Then I tried wearing a very light base layer pant under, and they were pulling and scrunching them so badly it made my skin crawl. Using extra stretchy fabric is not a substitute for getting the fit dialed, but I know they will work just fine for all my chicken legged brothers out there.
Hip vents - Too short! Why go through the effort of making hip vents, and not make them a decent length. I would make them about 2 inches higher and 5 inches lower on the leg. I would also not put mesh if it was my design, but that's not a big deal because I could cut that out.
Pockets - I just don't get it. 3 different types of pocket, and they all suck.
Front/hip pockets are way too short/shallow. The mesh is annoying, uncomfortable, and feels cheap. I hate having anything in my pockets get soaked from my sweat, so I prefer no mesh at all, but there are much better meshes they could use for fit, feel, and function.
Back pockets are also too short. The fold over flap design doesn't keep things in if they don't fit in there to begin with. And while I like that flap design for everyday security of my wallet while still being accessible, I'd rather have zippered back pockets on hunting pants to make absolutely sure my wallet doesn't fall out busting through a brushy hell hole. How often do you need to access your wallet in the backcountry? I thought I loved the folded flap pocket on the Pranas until I just happened to get lucky and feel my wallet halfway out. It's also nice to have zippered back pockets for securing light gloves or something else you just need to tuck away in the heat of the moment, but don't want to lose. I know guys love the folded flap, so I think companies would be smart to do one folded and one zippered to have the best of both worlds.
Leg/cargo pocket is too small. There should be a second on the other leg, and the mesh sucks too. I don't want big military cargo pockets and I don't even use them that much to carry things, but having somewhere to tuck away small items either in the heat of the moment, when you're posted up on a glassing knob, breaking down an animal, or doing things around camp really reduces the amount of things you leave on the mountain. When I'm glassing, if I finish eating something with my spoon and don't want to pack it away completely, I tuck it in my cargo pocket to make sure I don't leave it on a rock when I hike away. Same thing with knives, digiscoping adapters, headlamps, lighters, ear buds, gloves, beanies, etc. It's not permanent storage for hiking, it's a temporary place to hold something so you don't lose it.
Well, if you have read this far, you should seriously get your head checked. I hope it is somewhat helpful to someone. I sincerely hope that the things that matter to me, don't matter to you. I want you to buy these pieces and support the good people that make them. I am used to being the outlier in my opinions and preferences. You can carve me up in your replies if you want, but just know my feedback is not hate at all. Mark, Steve, and some of the testers of these pieces are literally my heroes. I love those guys, I just hate the pants.
Oh, I forgot to review the colors… Who gives a damn? They are hunting pants.
Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk
