General gripe

[Gascan4X4]

I'll preface this by stating that I don't spend weeks-on-end in the wilderness, I'm more of a "weekend warrior", if that. In my experiance with buying North Face cold weather gear (gloves/jacket) circa 2008 from their official store, at full MSRP, I was left cold and severely unimpressed... I later heard similar complaints from others; will never buy their gear again. On the other hand, all Columbia Sportswear (and Mountain Hardwear under their ownership) has performed well and kept me warm. Biggest issue I had was zipper failure on several of their soft-shell jackets of a certain vintage/style. I also have several of Columbia "fishing style" button down shirts and a soft-shell jacket or two that are over a decade old and still wearable. In the last few years I purchased a handful of Eddie Bauer fishing-style button down shirts and have been impressed how well they've lasted and the material/design is overall better than Columbia Sportswear. Someone here mentioned seeing Eddie Bauer clothes appearing at Costco recently... I picked up two pairs of light hiking pants their and the cut/fit/material seem better than what I've seen from Columbia's offerings. MY personal opinion is that Columbia Sportswear and Eddie Bauer are a great bang for your buck.

 

[MTVR]

I knew Tim and his late mother (Gert) Boyle professionally- I helped them out with some stuff back in the '90s. My office was right up the hill from Columbia Sportswear corporate headquarters.

They were always nice to me, and their stuff has always done me well...

 

[WeLikeCamping]

Carhartt works for me.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Carhartt works for me.

I do dig Carhartt (although I think I prefer Wrangler Riggs pants now) but they're terrible for anything athletic so I don't view them as an alternative to TNF etc.

 

[fullybalanced]

so, i used to swear by Mountain Kahiki's but their repeatability was horrible (i wore anything from a 32-40 inch waist and i didn't vary in size)... now i'm stuck on Kuhl. they are built well and wear well. i find the very comfortable and long lasting.

 

[Delsh]

I'll second the motion on Kuhl pants; whether more technical-type pants or heavy work-type pants, they always fit the same (and well), move well, are comfortable - and they have the best pocket to keep your cell phone secure without your sitting on it.

 

[ripperj]

I just found by accident the Ridgecut jackets at Tractor Supply .
Seem really heavy duty (Arctic weight version ) Condura , much heavier than Carhartt and on sale for half the price.
I have been wearing Carhartt as long as I can recall (still wear their pants), but the last two jackets I had had zippers fail while the rest of the jacket was fine.

I see how many years I get out of the Ridgecut


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[montechie]

Biggest issue I had was zipper failure on several of their soft-shell jackets of a certain vintage/style.

Lol, Mountain Hardwear is probably sick of me returning my Conduit softshell jacket and bibs to get the zippers fixed. However, they keep fixing them under warranty and I bought those around 2008? Those are still my workhorse outerwear for hauling wood, fatbiking, backcountry skiing, etc.

 

[montechie]

Re:TNF I've had the same general opinion as others here over the years since they sold, my first TNF gear was a Mountain jacket in the 90s and put it through the ringer. In general the acquisition of outdoor companies by investment firms is not great for the industry, looking at you Backcountry.com who sued small companies over use of the term "Backcountry"

That being said, I still find TNF tend to honor their warranties, I'm wearing a jacket that is effectively a 2nd or 3rd gen warranty replacement from that original Mountain jacket. Past several years they've produced some of the best mountain running shoes and clothing out there that really shows they're listening to people in the sport. In the last ten years I haven't noticed TNF being worse in quality than any other high-end outdoor brand.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Them and a company called 32 degrees ---- great base layers at a fraction of the cost of boutique stuff.


My fancy REI-bought (forget the brand) rain hat stopped being waterproof. $40 hat.
Got a $9 Marine camo WP hat that works better. It's not fancy but my noggin is dry.

Ya. I have a great Columbia 3 in 1 coat, supposed to keep the rain off. An hour in drizzle and my shoulders and cell phone in my pocket are soaked. Makes me want to go back to a yellow slicker like I had in grade school

 

[ThundahBeagle]

For t-shirts, you should check out Russell Athletics dri power series at walmart. They last forever. They are headquartered in KT. $8-15

I use these long sleeves as base layer. They work great for me. As do the Wrangler hiking pants, though my LLBean hiking pants really are better quality when seen side by side, but for the price...

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Eddie Bauer make good kit, North Face is over-priced and not that good in the real world. Craghoppers make the best clothing we've found (we took two shirts and two pairs of trousers with us for a total of 19 months travelling in Africa and Australia and will take them with us on the next trip). Lippi also make good clothing.

Craghoppers has an outlet in North Conway up in the Whites. I only gave a passing glance because I thought they were a knock-off.

I'll take a closer look
.thanks

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Re:TNF I've had the same general opinion as others here over the years since they sold, my first TNF gear was a Mountain jacket in the 90s and put it through the ringer. In general the acquisition of outdoor companies by investment firms is not great for the industry, looking at you Backcountry.com who sued small companies over use of the term "Backcountry"

That being said, I still find TNF tend to honor their warranties, I'm wearing a jacket that is effectively a 2nd or 3rd gen warranty replacement from that original Mountain jacket. Past several years they've produced some of the best mountain running shoes and clothing out there that really shows they're listening to people in the sport. In the last ten years I haven't noticed TNF being worse in quality than any other high-end outdoor brand.

TNF sued a small company called The South Butte, run by a dad and son that used sort of an upside down TNF logo as theirs. It was started as a gag. Put them right out of business

 

[DirtWhiskey]

Rab and OR. Almost every outerwear piece I have is from those two companies.

 

[COAKXterra]

Totally depends on what I’m doing.

Skiing? TNF has done me well for years. I also had great luck with arcteryx and helly Hansen (issued uniforms when I worked as a ski instructor).

Rain? My current jacket is Kathmandu and I love it. But it’s nearly 10 years old and probably only has a couple years left.

Seriously seriously cold (ie Antarctica)? Carhartt arctic gear with a good puffy (arcteryx). Caveat to that is these are temps where the outer layer won’t be wet, just snow-packed or frozen. Cotton kills a lot of folks. Always had wool base layers underneath.

I’ve had some mixed luck with mountain hardware. Shells seem okay but their zippers weren’t great. Arcteryx puffys have been awesome, I own three. Base/mid layers of wool, always smartwool or icebreaker.

There was a comment of outfitter store vs big box and I agree. Although I do like the selection and return policy at rei.

As an old guide employer used to always say… there’s no bad weather, just bad gear. Buy what works for you and the conditions you’re in.


Side note about the “good old days” of gear…. Back in 1996 our Boy Scout troop did the boundary waters high adventure base in Minnesota. Dad sprung for nice sleeping bags (single father, not actually sure what this meant to him at the time)…. Mountain hardware 32F “crazy legs” down bags. Nearly 30 years later that bag is still my go-to for mild weather. Cared for properly, Washed, hung, etc. it’s honestly mind-blowing that it still lives. But a testament to good gear and taking care of it.