Share your “Buy once cried once” lesson

[Goatie]

I used to buy some optics that had lifetime warranties and great customer service. They proved quite expensive in lost time and opportunities. Now I buy stuff that doesn't require warranty work as of yet anyway.

My pet peeve and not sure it is related to this thread but will mention it. American companies come up with great product ideas, start out making products here, holding companies buy them out, then outsource the manufacture overseas. Drives me nuts and I go to great lengths to pay more for American made stuff. So in regards to that, I never ever worry about paying more to support fellow Americans even though I hear the "have to buy the cheap crap to stretch my dollar" line all the time.

Great post and couldn’t agree more with how truthful it is. I desperately wanna know how to buy american “made” optics.

cough nightforce... cough leupold... cough sorta assembled... depending on price point

 

[TheGDog]

Absolutely do not tell her you think she’s a Chevy

I shared that quote on my FB wall, and one of the ladies got cheeky and had to ask so which one is my Mrs? To which I replied "Uh.... how about a "Chevarri"? She got it and showed approval. The Mrs on the other hand... arriving home from a hard day at work, frazzled since its a payroll day, she said she'd have to look it up. And I'm like "Look it up? Hello.... ?" She goes "What?" I reply "Which two brands did they talk about in the quote?.. Ferarri....Chevy... so 'Chevarri'? A mix between the two?" It was cute watching the tired grin form across her face when the light turned on.

 

[30338]

Great post and couldn’t agree more with how truthful it is. I desperately wanna know how to buy american “made” optics.

cough nightforce... cough leupold... cough sorta assembled... depending on price point

There will be certain product categories where there is sadly no American made option. I do like that a few of my Nightforce scopes say made in USA but I have defaulted to just using those that track well for me regardless of country of origin. If a USA product is of poor quality, I won't support it.

Other product categories like hunting packs, there are actually quite a few USA made options. That is all we use in those categories.

 

[txhunter581]

I am not a “name brand” kind of guy. I get some of those when they go on for half off, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to get good stuff

That said I learned early never to be cheap on 4 items: 1) base layer (socks and long Johns). 2) boots! 3) rain gear and 4) sleeping bag

if you are wet or cold you will NOT have fun on your hunt. I remember being so cold one night, I would have paid any amount of money to be warm. And blisters! You got to walk to hunt. . Now when the temp drops 40 degrees at night I stay warm. And when the weather turns nasty wet, I stay dry.

 

[TheGDog]

Ugh.. aww man... wakin' up at 3am low-and-behold it's dropped 10 degrees lower than the rating of your bivvy so the shivering wakes you up... then you gotta put back on all your freezing clothes now so you'll have more layers... then get back into the bivvy and shiver even more for a bit until those damn freezing clothes start to warm up.

I can take heat basically without much issue since SoCal native, but cold? No Spank You! That takes a bit before a persons body shifts for that kinda climate. Takes a few for the blood to get thicker and so on. Last year added a good quality packable PrimaLoft jacket, specifically with this time of year in mind. That thing is soo nice.

 

[Thegoatinboots]

Some great lessons here.

Cried when I bought my Fierce Fury. So expensive here in Australia.


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[Karson88]

Optics binos went from vortex-sig- now leica. Spotter went from vortex to swarovski.

 

[CApighunter]

Like many it's optics for me. I just ordered my 4th spotter ill have owned, a kowa 883 and hopefully the last spotter ill ever need to buy. On the bino side I compared my current set up(maven b2) to my dream binos(8.5x42EL) and decided I was happy with my current level of investment. The jump from 8x and 10x diamondbacks to 9x mavens was easily the best money I've spent.

 

[ShortMagFan]

Struggled for years to find some rubber boots that were perfect. Tried all the brands. My feet must be funny because every pair was too small or too big. Many hard to get on or off, clunky, hot, easily torn

on a whim last spring I bought a pair of Le Chameau Chaussers. perfect in every way. And I do not baby them

 

[S.Clancy]

I here this a lot but have so many Vortex products and have never had to send a single one if for repair? I have a HST scope, Razor 65mm Spotter, Razor 10x42's, Razor HD 4000 range finder, summit tripod, skyline tripod, a window mount, 5 sets of viper HD's 10x42's, and one Viper HD 85mm spotter for work. I've had most of them for over 5 years and some for 10, my Razors all have the paint worn off of them they've been used so much and my HST has held zero and still hits steel at 1K after 6 years on the rifle and has killed a dozen animals.

They do offer a great warranty, they are the only company to offer a lifetime warranty on the electronics in their range finder, leica, swaro, zeiss, leupold, sig, etc. none of them do and most don't offer over 3 years. I am on my 3rd range finder in 5 years, I feel like my new Razor's will be the last pair I have to buy.

Maybe I'm just lucky but if feel like they get a pretty bad wrap online for offering a great warranty. I do know one thing is for sure, my gear gets used and used hard, I've had seveal motorcycle crashes with my Razors on my chest and have spend hundreds of hours behind them as well as my older viper glass at work.

There's also people that win the lottery...

 

[wingmaster]

When I first got into hunting I was looking for my first pair of binoculars in the $200 - $500 range. I saw an old birdwatcher post up his Swarovski 10x42EL on the local Craigslist page for $1200. It was way over my budget, but I somehow came up with the cash and went for it. Now this heirloom comes with me for every outdoor activity: hunting, birdwatching, national parks, hiking. I just don't see myself ever needing to buy 10x binoculars ever again.

 

[SneakyThunderCat]

Amazon spotting scope>Diamondback>Viper>Razor>Planning to upgrade soon for the last time
The worst binos in the entire world>Barska binos>Crossfire binos>Viper binos>SLC binos>EL's

Along with just about every piece of gear I've bought, optics and clothing are the big ones for me. 6-7 years ago, it about crippled me when I paid $60 for a pair of Barska binoculars. I couldn't wrap my head around why anyone would ever spend more than that on a pair of damn binoculars. Boy did I learn a lot.

I wish I would've realized sooner that a good pair of binos are far more valuable than a spotting scope 90% of the time. At least for what I do.

 

[Rock-o]

I've never understood the buy once cry once saying. Why would one cry about making a solid purchase? Only a bad purchase should make one cry.

 

[Spiral Horn]

Like many others here I’ve done my fair share. Have to admit that in my younger days I was far more susceptible to advertising. But experience has provided a far better sense of what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t. So, I compromise a lot less often. The best pieces of kit are the ones we actually use and are happy with in real field conditions.

Binoculars - owned quite a few and been very happy with most of the Alphas, upgrading every decade or two when something clearly superior comes out. Zeiss Dialyt to Victory SF as my go to. But I didn’t start there and was also convinced I could find that gem which was “just as good” for less money - most often I spent a lot of time and money to end up frustrated and disappointed.

Clothing - hunting clothes evolved quite a bit during my lifetime. I‘m still a fan of merino baselayers and my Autumnwood Wool Anorak is irreplaceable on deer hunts. Synthetics have come a long way and most of todays high-end stuff works well (Sitka, Kuiu, FL, etc). Spent quite a bit trying stuff out. Appreciate staying dry, warm and comfortable in Alaska or Siberia where a raingear or shell failure can be dangerous. Had a Raingear failure and learned that lesson the hard way.

Boots - glad I finally had sense enough to use Lathrop and Sons for my mountain boots, very satisfied. Kenetreks also worked well. My 3x criteria for boots are proper fit, support and durability. Saving $100 and getting blisters or a twisted ankle on the first day of a sheep hunt just isn’t worth it.

 

[Sconnie42]

Mine goes all the way back to 2003, when I made a lot less money. The decision wasn't over a lot of dollars, but it was a lot to me at the time. I was a couple of years out of school, just welcomed my first son and had plans to try and add another that year.

It was then that I bought my first rifle and scope. A left handed Model 70 270 Win. My debate was on spending an extra $50 to get the Leupold VxII I wanted instead of the Bushnell that was cheaper. I went with the Bushnell and never got over it.....so, 8 years later my wife bought me that Leupold for Christmas. Times have changed now and I have several other rifles and scopes in various price tiers. I will never forget that decision though and it still affects me today because it meant so much back then. The good part of the story is that my Bushy went belly up, and they replaced it with an upgraded version for free. It now resides on my first son's 30-06!

 

[mitchamafied]

I grew up in Nebraska. At the time you could buy a Lifetime Hunt and Fish License for like $550 (it may have been more but that's the number I remember). This would be valid for small game even if you became a non-resident. Man I wish I would have bought that so I could hunt pheasants and do a bit of fishing when I'm home.

This right here. At 27 I bought my lifetime hunting/fishing/everything license for Florida for $1000. If I bought it at 18, it would have paid off by now. Also, if I move out of state and come back for anything, I don't have to deal with those nonresident prices.

Everyone should buy them for their kids.

 

[Firestone]

Most stuff i believe you slowly upgrade. For me it was do to funds. Who can afford all high end hunting gear as a young adult or in my case as a kid. I really wish somebody would have given me some better rain gear right out of the gate though. I spent many miserable days on the mountain with bad or even no rain gear back in the day.

 

[eltaco]

Biggest financial mistake of my hunting life was not buying my lifetime license in ID. I came from the Midwest where tags are guaranteed every year and had no idea what I’d stepped into when I moved out West. Unfortunately, we left ID much too soon and I hadn’t yet learned the system. What I wouldn’t give to go back and buy that lifetime license.

 

[Mosby]

I bought Leupold 7x30 binoculars and a Bausch and Lomb spotting scope almost 30 years ago for my first elk hunt. Both were the best I could afford but neither were considered high end at that time. Hunt didn't go well and I convinced myself that neither were big enough or good enough glass and they sat in my closet for years. Came home and focused on hunting big whitetails and raising kids.

We sold our house a few years ago and it gave me a reason to re-evaluate both cleaning out my closet. What I realized is that I was under estimating and under utilizing both.

The 7x30's are relatively light weight, clear glass and the magnification is perfect for deer hunting in timber. Much nicer to carry around then my 10x42 Leica's and they were paid for a long time ago. They go with me on every whitetail hunt now. The BL spotting scope has a straight tube, lightweight, made in Japan and is a great backpacking scope. Has quality Japanese glass and easy to drop in my range bag when I go shooting. I use it a lot more now than my more expensive, bigger and heavier spotter.

My mistake wasn't in buying them but not using what I had and believing what everybody else said I needed to have. Be practical. Buy what you can afford, use it and enjoy it. You don't always need the "best".

 

[Squamch]

Not hunting related: Stiletto ti bone hammer. $350 is worth it all day if you do it for a living. Unfortunately I'm now used to it, and need a little one for finishing work.
Also tool boxes. Just pony up and buy the damn packout system. Stop trying to bungee cord a bunch of different shit onto a moving dolly.

Hunting related- boots.
Rocky (junk).
Under armour (junk).
Irish setter (heavy junk).
Lowa tibet (success!)


The struggle continues for gloves. Lightweight and waterproof, without much insulation. I think the simms I bought last year may be the ticket, but we'll see about longevity.