Breathable waders (gator, banded, etc...) ?

[Mallard_maniac]

Learned the hard way this past saturday it's time for a new pair. I've not ventured into the world of breathables yet for waterfowl. Refuse to spend $1K on sitka but do spend 95% of my waterfowl season in them (about once a year a degenerate buddy that doesn't know any better will talk me into a field hunt and I immediately regret going). The biggest POS waders I've ever owned were drakes and I've been fortunate to get 4-5 years out of other economical neoprene choices (cabelas, macks, etc....). I take pretty good care of them other than when I'm actually hunting, spend a fair amount of time in the timber so getting poked with sticks and whathaveyou is a concern. I keep hearing rumblings about how great the new breathables are from banded, sitka, simms, gator, etc... Questions:

1) are they as abbrasion resistant as neoprene?
2) is there a brand in the $300-$500 range that's better than another?

I get a pretty good discount on a few brands but absolutely despise buying the same product over and over again. It took me one pair of drakes to never want to invest in them again. A friend has frog toggs that he loves but when I handle them they seem "lighter duty". Would prefer to spend a little more upfront now to have them last longer. What say you that have had both?

[Drunk_Dynasty]

Can’t help too much with waders. I’ve never had “breathables” last more than a year. We will see how these Drakes I’ve got last. Neoprene has always had the best durability for me.


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[kwackkillncrew]

Check out Dryft waders. I used their wading pants moose hunting and they worked great. They are around the 300 to 500 dollar range and they only sell waders and rain jackets. Personally i wouldnt buy any wading gear from any other the duck hunting brands. Buy waders from a wader company. If you want something even cheaper i would take a good look at the Frogg Togg Pilot 2 waders. I havent use the waders but i did use the wading pants Pilot 2's for 7 years from land surveying, moose hunting, duck hunting and fishing. Finally caught them on my trailer and put a snag in them. The Pilot 2s are much thicker then the other frogg toggs and have extra layering on the knees and butt. I now have dryft wading pants and use the frogg toggs as back ups. The ones i have mentioned have stocking feet so not sure if you wanted a booted wader or to wear wading shoes. If you are doing any type of long hikes or walks in i would go stocking foot and buy some wading boots that have some ankle support. I will never use a booted wader again but I am doing alot of hiking in my waders as well.

[Nershi]

Drake is garbage products and have no customer service. I'll never buy any of their crap again.

I bought my first set of breathables that are Rogers brand before teal season this year. They have zip out liners so they can be used for early and late season. They were on sale and I picked them up for a little under $200. I just checked and it doesn't look like they are available anymore. My Rogers neoprene's are still going strong after a few seasons but I had a buddy coming hunting who didn't have waders so it gave me an excuse to try out some breathable's. I have about 10 hunts in them so far this season and so far I love them. They are so much more comfortable and easy to walk around in. Assuming they hold up it will be tough for me to go back to neoprene. We'll see how long they last.

My guide buddy owns Simms and uses his waders to fish and to duck hunt. He uses his waders a ton and hasn't had issues. Simm's stands behind their products very well similar to Sitka. I think you can buy some Simm's in that $500 range. I wanted to try breathables before spending big money on them and will probably be looking at Simms for my next pair. Most of simms aren't camo but the dull green and grey one's work fine for most hunting situations, for me anyway.

I don't think you're going to get abrasion resistance out of breathables compared to a reinforced brush buster type neoprene. That said, I have seen sticks go through brand new high end reinforced neoprene's.

[Mallard_maniac]

Camo isn't really concerning.

I actually had my heart set on a pair of simms G3's but recently heard most (if not all) of their production has moved overseas and overall quality has slipped from even 3 years ago or so..... Think they might be a part of Vista now which might be the proverbial nail in the coffin. Could be all hearsay though, flyshop banter among divas is more egotistical than even hunting.

Kwack - I've heard great things about Dryft but have never actually seen a pair in person.

[Drunk_Dynasty]

Simms is indeed under Vista now.


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[emptymag]

Damn is was going to say simms.

Sitka it is, brah

[lanyard]

I just stopped by to say- Drake sh!t sucks

[bigdog]

Question about the stocking foot style, do you wear an extra pair of socks either inside or outside of the foot? Just wondering how the foot stands up to wear. Buddies son was talking about waders vs hip boots a couple weeks ago and had never heard of the wader pants.

[Drunk_Dynasty]

I always wear a pair of socks inside the neoprene booty, but you don’t need too. I can’t imagine it being comfortable if you didn’t tho. And the boots protect the booty just fine, and order ur true size in wading boot, they are made big to fit right.

They are pretty awesome if you have to walk around. I wear my fishing waders until it gets real cold. They are much easier to move around in muck too.


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