Not so hot....

[Jacob_Outdoors]

I've never had any merino from any company last two years. But I will say the Aerowool is pretty tough for a merino blend.

Ryan,

I used "within two years" because some
pieces failed much sooner than that, while others lasted closer to the two year mark. I think if the life expectancy of merino wool base layers and mid layers is <2 years (and this is known and admitted by the manufacturers) then prices or information should reflect as such. It's said to think a guy would pay $115 for a shirt that's described as "top of the line" and utilizes all sorts of other buzz words and marketing while the company knows the shirt won't last the average hunter through two seasons. That's a low and sad standard.


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[Yellowknife]

I got sucked into buy a bunch of MINOX optics a few years ago when Doug was pushing them pretty hard. They all sucked and/or malfunctioned. Scope, Spotter, Binos... the lot. CS was good, but that didn't help on Day 4 of a 7 day hunt!

I was also less than enthralled with floorless. They work fine, and the lack of floor didn't bother me, but the benefits were somewhat counterbalanced by having to chose between draftiness and condensation. I've still got one, and like it for certain things, but use standard tents more. To me it's sort of just one option in a good quiver of shelters. Suspect if I lived in a place like Colorado I'd get more use out of one.

Merino I've never had a problem with. Get all mine from Ibex and expect to get 3 years or so of steady service from a shirt. They do rot, but I've certainly gotten my moneys worth from all of them.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

I love floorless shelters. I live in a really wet environment and never had an issue.

Not so hot would be Sitka Polygiene.
It stunk after a day on two different backcountry hunts. But did keep me warm on some very cold day. I'm going to stick with merino from now on.

And my quilt! Froze my ass off trying to make it work.


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I had the same experience, I've never heard anyone else come on line and say it, so now I feel a little less crazy

 

[archer wapiti]

Thanks for starting this thread. Very interesting. I was literally days away from dropping some $ on merino. Think I'll stick to the synthetics that I've been running.

In the interest of building the resource for future users of this site, I will take a moment to defend (sort of) floorless shelters:

I think tarps and floorless shelters have their place, but can imagine how frustrating it must be to be camped in wet conditions without a stove and have deal with condensation. I was just watching the Gritty Bowmen Trad elk series this weekend, and they mentioned it. But I never thought about it as a chronic problem for floorless shelters in wet conditions. I love my tarps for hammock camping or hunkering down during a monsoon.

My worst burn was on Danner Pronghorn boots. Entirely underwhelming perfomance, longevity, construction, etc. I eventually just gave them to goodwill after only 2 hunts (ca. 20 days and less than 200 miles on them).

 

[missjordan]

The one purchase I regret the most was skimping on boots. Started out with a cheap pair of danners then thought I was upgrading when I bought the Solomon GTX boot. They were terrible, feet would be soaking wet every time you were in wet weather and they fell apart really fast. Finally upgraded to some Kenetreks and haven't looked back since


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[KMT]

1. Kryptek rain gear (jacket and pants) and light weight pants. Rain gear wasn't even water resistant. The non-rain hunting pants fell apart on day one. This was 3-4 years ago.

2. Sitka jetstream. Heavy and bulky. Not warm, but too tight to effectively layer underneath. No point in having it as a mid layer. For that, I would use a puffy.

3. Danner pronghorn boots. Owned 3 pairs even though I bought just one. Why? Because they leaked after a few days. Danner kept replacing them with more crappy, leaking boots.

 

[IdahoElk]

For me it was using a quilt,after one trip I sold it.

 

[Roy68]

Under Armor for me. After 1/2 a day in that stuff, it smells like I haven't bathed for a month. Gave all of it to my brother. I only kept an orange UA branded ball hat. Wish I had that money back.

 

[Ohio Darin]

Lathrop Customized Boot System. Paid a lot of extra dough for what turned out to be a stock boot without any adjustments.

At the time it seemed like a good idea as I was coming off of getting burned by a Kuiu Zamberlain boot purchase. Tight in the the forefoot and loose at the heel - the exact opposite of what I needed - that boot was never going to work let alone being way too stiff. Boots in general have been my nemesis.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I too regret the eberle pack. Hung like a brick. Glad I made the switch a few years back to MR, only hinderance is the weight of it.

I've been researching on here thinking about a tipi for hunting with my son whom will be with me for the first time this year.

I really want a light weight unit for use with a stove without worry of being cramped it am hesitant on the floorless design because I am beyond hygiene crippled at times and hate dirt and crap all over my stuff. Definitely more thought is needed.

Hygiene crippled doesn't even come close to describing it bro.


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[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I love floorless and quilts.

Most of my firstlite has been great, the one piece I am underwhelmed with is then Llano. It's not very comfortable and it stinks way quicker than my minus33.

I also had some heavy wool socks that only made it half a trip with me in the mountains. I washed them out in a creek on day 3 and 3 days later they were still soaking wet so I tossed them in a fire. I use smart wool or darn tough now.

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[Hunter Sargent]

My wounds are mostly self inflicted. The GIF convincing me to carry too much gear, mostly. And I'm not 100% sold on the Elite bow I carried for 2016...going back to my back up bow, a 5 year old Hoyt.

I love floorless shelters with a stove, which I didn't think I would. You can vent each side and fire up the stove for a nice combo of airflow and warmth, but I discovered that trick a little late last year after 3 days straight of rain in Colorado. I can see how they might suck in the PNW. I also like merino. My first lite boxers and Llano served me well last year. The Uncompahgre jacket is really nice too.

 

[Dobermann]

In general, I think most of the gear I regret is the stuff I've bought without doing enough research on. If I really devote the time to researching, while I might end up with individual differences due to sizing, style, etc, I rarely end up disappointed in terms of quality.

In particular, I was an 'early adopter' of Icebreaker back in the mid-to-late '90s, and their stuff rocked. Fast forward 20 years, and I bought a vest, online, because it was cheap. Turns out it was cheap and nasty - they'd long since switched to thinner material that won't last.

I've been personally happy with my First Lite, but for those looking for other options, the crew t-shirts by Silkbody are amazing - smoother and even less itchy than quality merino wool, and not as susceptible to moth attack. They do come with an absurdly high price tag, though, and precious few sales to make it feel viable. That said, I've got some that are still going strong 7 years on ...

 

[5MilesBack]

Darn Tough socks were probably my worst purchase based solely on internet recommendations. Hated them, but love my Smartwool Classics.

It's funny reading about some others' experiences with stuff. I've been preaching about how bad the Danner Pronghorns were since 2008. I've also been saying how useless heavy merino is as a mid layer. And how bad Vortex Razor spotters were.......and how much I hated the Bikini frame.......

This is where you really need to know or understand who is giving a review on something as everyone seems to be different. What is garbage to one is another man's treasure.

I still don't understand what people are doing to their merino base layers to ruin them in less than two years. I still use a Llano that I bought in 2007. For base lowers I'm finally retiring my Cabela's branded TALL merino bottoms. After 10 years they look like a moth invasion got a hold of them. But they've been fantastic up until last season when the smaller holes opened up to larger holes and now make them pretty useless. I can't even find a hole in any other piece of merino I have. I've been wearing the Core4 original 100% merino boxers for several years, even year round, and they're still fine. Maybe some of the newer stuff just isn't as well made as it was several years ago?????

 

[justinspicher]

I think a lot of the issues with gear is due to poor craftsmanship. When a company starts out, they build gear to last, to make an initial impression. Once they are big time they fall into the needs/demands of their customers so they start churning out more goods with less devoted time to QA, hoping their customer service will make up for it.

 

[durangobrad]

I also get much longer life out of my merino stuff. I use so much of it for backcountry skiing and hunting that I just wash it separately and on cold. Then hang to dry. Also I dont wash it after every use. Just when it needs it.

 

[durangobrad]

Darn Tough socks were probably my worst purchase based solely on internet recommendations. Hated them, but love my Smartwool Classics.

It's funny reading about some others' experiences with stuff. I've been preaching about how bad the Danner Pronghorns were since 2008. I've also been saying how useless heavy merino is as a mid layer. And how bad Vortex Razor spotters were.......and how much I hated the Bikini frame.......

This is where you really need to know or understand who is giving a review on something as everyone seems to be different. What is garbage to one is another man's treasure.

I still don't understand what people are doing to their merino base layers to ruin them in less than two years. I still use a Llano that I bought in 2007. For base lowers I'm finally retiring my Cabela's branded TALL merino bottoms. After 10 years they look like a moth invasion got a hold of them. But they've been fantastic up until last season when the smaller holes opened up to larger holes and now make them pretty useless. I can't even find a hole in any other piece of merino I have. I've been wearing the Core4 original 100% merino boxers for several years, even year round, and they're still fine. Maybe some of the newer stuff just isn't as well made as it was several years ago?????

Curious what you didnt like about darn tough socks?

I absolutely love mine and buy them every time i see them on sale. Comfortable good fit, quality wool, I cant think of a single thing I dont like about them. I also use smartwool, REI brand, and a handfull of others I cant remember at the moment.

 

[5MilesBack]

Curious what you didnt like about darn tough socks?

It's like they had a Teflon coating on them or something. I literally had to take my boots off at least 1/2 dozen times a day to "pull them back up" out of the bottom. With the Smartwool ones, I haven't had to adjust my socks even once throughout the day in the last 4 seasons.

 

[jmez]

My worst has been the Asolo Powermatic 200GV boot. The boot didn't fit my feet correctly and blistered me terrible but that is just a function of them not working with my foot. The problem with these is the sole. These boots are flat dangerous on anything other than dry ground. Any rain or snow and they are like wearing a pair of ice skates. I've taken a couple of pretty bad falls wearing them. The soles are also not durable. After two years mine were pretty cut up with chunks missing out of the tread.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I used to be a hard core Smartwool sock user, even though they never seemed to hold up all that well. I have since gone to Darn Tough and am very impressed with them.


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