The Real KUIU

[Saltyag15]

I don't know much about their line....why wouldn't it be good for stand hunting? Walmart camo and jeans works for stand hunting. Am I missing something?

My opinion is based purely from reading the clothing descriptions and seeing how it is used by others, but all the pieces are very lightweight and don't seem to have a very good wind blocker. All their jackets, except maybe the Yukon, have some sort of sentence talking about breathability. If I'm sitting still outdoors for a long period of time when it is cold as heck, I want every little ounce of heat I have to stay inside that jacket.

[Chew]

My opinion is based purely from reading the clothing descriptions and seeing how it is used by others, but all the pieces are very lightweight and don't seem to have a very good wind blocker. All their jackets, except maybe the Yukon, have some sort of sentence talking about breathability. If I'm sitting still outdoors for a long period of time when it is cold as heck, I want every little ounce of heat I have to stay inside that jacket.

Gotcha. That makes sense. I just assumed they had light, mid, and heavy lines of clothing.

[niceg3s]

I just sold $1200 worth of Sitka gear on ebay. I'll hunt in shorts and sandals this year until November when I put on some jeans, boots, and a light jacket. I bought a Kuiu guide jacket for a friend. It was nice, but it is all just clothes. I wonder if the deer know the difference?

[Deers & Beers]

Gotcha. That makes sense. I just assumed they had light, mid, and heavy lines of clothing.

If you're active, merino wool is nice because it wicks sweat away very well and really keeps you from stinking. If you're sitting in a stand, synthetic layers will keep you much warmer.

Also, if you're in a stand, unless you are rifle hunting in the rain there's no reason not to run fleece or wool or something like that. The technical clothing is mostly too loud for bow hunting and the breathability isn't really needed. It's also not as warm when still either.

[bphillips]

I just sold $1200 worth of Sitka gear on ebay. I'll hunt in shorts and sandals this year until November when I put on some jeans, boots, and a light jacket. I bought a Kuiu guide jacket for a friend. It was nice, but it is all just clothes. I wonder if the deer know the difference?

You will know the difference on a mountain hunt

[hooligan]

Joe Rogan did an episode with them on his podcast. It was good and had lots of info.


I don't know about the "average joe" being able to afford it

[Deers & Beers]

Joe Rogan did an episode with them on his podcast. It was good and had lots of info.


I don't know about the "average joe" being able to afford it

I love Joe Rogan. He gets some great hunters on there: Steve Rinella, Remi Warren, Cam Hanes, etc.

There was one awesome one about a lifelong Vegan turned hunter and meat-eater.

[Houston4x4]

My problem with Kuiu is less about who they support (although I've heard bad stories about this, like SFW & Don P.) and more about their business and moral ethics.

I bought Kuiu when they 1st started and only had a couple products for sale. I bought into the whole idea of innovation and transparency and more than anything that it was made in North America and not China like every other company.

Then, one thing after another happened.

1) My first pair of Attack pants I was promised a 1-2 month wait. At 11 months, I cancelled my order.

2) When I received my 2nd batch of clothing I noticed all the tags said “made in China”. When I called and asked them “what the hell?” they denied it and said it was a mistake. When this happened to other people the word started to get out. A couple weeks later Kuiu had a big announcement “We’ve moved to China, and it’s better for you! It will be cheaper with more quality control and less wait time!”. Of course, the prices and the wait time stayed the same. Not sure how moving from Canada to China would INCREASE your QA/QC?

3) Kuiu got caught deleting any post whatsoever on their forum that said anything negative about their products (including mine), whether something had broken or there was a QA/QC problem or anything. Weeks later they claimed an intern did it and was fired. Transparent?

4) Kuiu was a sponsor of my favorite hunting site (besides the green screen) Rokslide. The owner of Rokslide was doing a Tongue and Cheek review of all their sponsors backpacks by throwing them off a cliff to see how well they would hold up as a joke. Kuiu called the owner and said that he was not allowed to throw his backpack off a cliff and he was pulling his sponsorship immediately. He then proceeded to do his own “cliff test” which was literally a “mild hill test” and put it on Youtube. I guess he wanted to do it as an FU to Rokslide but just came off to everyone as a ****. Quick Note: It didn’t survive the “mild hill test”

5) Kuiu’s specs on a lot of their gear is way off, they pretty much just make them up. For example, the breathability on their rain gear doesn’t take into account the camo pattern imprinted on them, which makes the numbers much lower. There was actually an independent test done comparing Kuiu and rain gears breathability to other brands and let’s just say it was less than half of what they claim. Unfortunately, the person/company that did the test decided not to publish it but I did get to witness the results first hand. Another example is their tent weights. Don’t expect them to weigh what’s on their website, they weigh them barebones with no stakes, guylines, anything. When they started coming in the mail half a pound over weight, people got ******.

6) There’s nothing very transparent or innovative about Kuiu. If you research the materials that they are using, it’s been done for 15-20 years! All he did was take mountaineering gear and put camo on it. Nothing new at all. If you start looking into some of the other big name brands you’ll realize Kuiu is way behind on technology. Besides technology, they just steal everyone else’s design. Do their tents look familiar? That’s because they are a 100% replica of Big Sky tents. Do their sleeping bags look familiar? They are a complete replica of Marmot Plasma bags.

7) They hardly test any of their gear at all, that's why they "update" their packs twice a year. They do one Alaskan Sheep hunt with their prototype gear, take a ton of pics, then that’s it. The consumers are the Guinea Pigs, not the company. Their first batch of tents leaked heavily. They should be happy they didn’t kill anybody. If you ask them about it they won’t say anything, they were quickly removed from the website and basically Kuiu pretends like they never existed.

8) Their packs are a joke. They’re so proud that they made the 1st ever carbon fiber pack. It’s been done for 20 years! It just sucks as a pack frame so no one actually produced it! Kifaru played around with it in the 90s and came to the conclusion that it doesn't hold up at all.. It’s fine for 30-40 pounds of weight. If you need to pack Elk meat out miles in the mountains, you’re screwed! See if you can find a pic of an Elk quarter sticking out of one? I bet you'll see quite a few pics of cracked carbon frames though.. Doubt you'll find any cracked frame pics from Kifaru, Stone Glacer, or Exo Mountain..

I could keep writing but my hand hurts. There’s no reason to buy anything from Kuiu with all the good brands that are out there now.

tell us what you really think lol no but seriously you have a huge bone to pick with them where did this all come from? Do you work in the industry? Im just trying to understand what you know because all i have herd is good things nothing bad really especially to this extent and I am going on a moose hunt this year and was considering there stuff but like i said this is the first real bad review i have read. Please PM me if you don't mind elaborating

[Deers & Beers]

tell us what you really think lol no but seriously you have a huge bone to pick with them where did this all come from? Do you work in the industry? Im just trying to understand what you know because all i have herd is good things nothing bad really especially to this extent and I am going on a moose hunt this year and was considering there stuff but like i said this is the first real bad review i have read. Please PM me if you don't mind elaborating

Haha.. I'm not in the industry, I'm just a gear and hunting whore

I've just been there since the beginning of Kuiu and First Lite so I've witnessed first hand everything that's happened with the two over the years. I've also owned just about everything each company makes at one time or another so I can tell all the differences between them.

Shooting you a PM now

[niceg3s]

You will know the difference on a mountain hunt

I didn't.

[hooligan]

Haha.. I'm not in the industry, I'm just a gear and hunting whore

I've just been there since the beginning of Kuiu and First Lite so I've witnessed first hand everything that's happened with the two over the years. I've also owned just about everything each company makes at one time or another so I can tell all the differences between them.

Shooting you a PM now

Is First Lite worth it? Their stuff looks well made and I was considering their wool. Definitely not gonna get kuiu after reading your review

[bphillips]

I didn't.

I can't even take you serious if you claim you can't tell a difference in jeans and a jacket and quality hunting clothes on a long backpack type mountain hunt. If you just use it for deer hunting here yes it's "just clothes"


It can be had cheaper than full priced Sitka for sure but you can tell a difference in quality clothes made for hiking and the outdoors

[niceg3s]

I can't even take you serious if you claim you can't tell a difference in jeans and a jacket and quality hunting clothes on a long backpack type mountain hunt. If you just use it for deer hunting here yes it's "just clothes"


It can be had cheaper than full priced Sitka for sure but you can tell a difference in quality clothes made for hiking and the outdoors

Sorry, I cannot tell the difference between Sitka and much cheaper gear. I have a lot of hiking gear and Sitka is no better, just has a camo pattern, in fact it is worse. The stitching in my Sitka gloves has come out. Thumb loops were coming unraveled in shirt and fleece was getting fuzzballs. Less than 5 times used and only washed once. That's not quality.

[x1jett]

First Lite and Kuiu have both worked well for me. First Lite is my favorite, Kuiu's Attack Pants are great.

[randal]

Bought kuiu for an elk hunt last year.. Best money I've spent..