Stumbled across this. Not my review but hopefully sheds some light... spend your $$ else where
https://youtu.be/E-dI8tOW2Y0
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Stumbled across this. Not my review but hopefully sheds some light... spend your $$ else where
https://youtu.be/E-dI8tOW2Y0
Awesome review!
Good to see reviews like this and would be great to see more as shitty gear seems to be a bit of a problem across heaps of brands - cheap Chinese shit painted camo and being sold for big bucks (for us commoners anyway).
Its tough for the average bloke parting with his hard-earned cash on a quick tire-kick at Hunting and Fishing, wondering if that $500 jacket is a decent product, the $600 one is what he should be getting, or the $400 one is better than both of the others.
Great watch
ive watched that several times now, interesting comparing it to some others on YT by guys who have been given the gear
It’s a challenge… @hotsoup
Given bushbuck, firstlite, stoney creek, huntech, ridgeline, torpedo7 all get there gear made in the same places, all easily found off alibaba. It makes it hard to decide what’s worth paying for.
It seems to come down to quality control and a good returns warranty.
There's a saying that only a rich man can afford a cheap riflescope. When gear fails at the worst possible moment, the price can be extreme - in some cases it can even cost you your life.
Based on a review like this, would you buy a budget PLB from them, if they sold one?
@Freezer - I have heard of goods being ordered from far Eastern countries, where the trial batch met or exceeded expectations. Thereafter, once orders had been received, and money exchanged, the quality took a nosedive and the company supplying the goods made it as difficult as possible to return or exchange. The retailer is left with a consignment of dud goods, and the only realistic option left to recoup some if their costs is to sell the dodgy goods on clearance. The supplierbthen finds another mug to fleece.
That's all well and good when it's a dinner plate and failure in the dishwasher just means you turf it out in the morning, but if your camp stove hose bursts and sets fire to your tent in the middle of a blizzard, customer satisfaction takes on a whole new meaning!
Na,
Chinese manufacturers will produce any quality goods you wish to pay for. Pay a decent amount and get good quality, pay a shitty amount and they’ll still produce it for you but will cut corners.
The major brands have QC at the factory for the production runs. The small brands don’t.
Macpac years ago would send QC to China for their sleeping bag run. A years worth of bags would be completed in 2-3 days.
The trap I believe for bushbuck is trying to hit their price point. They went at it from the get go to be cheap.
I've seen more MSR's bend, break, collapse, rip etc than everything else put together. End of the day it's ALL made in china just varying levels of QC, if the materials etc are the same you're only relying on QC to maybe get a better run out of something. Even the "high end" (ie: it costs so much you baby it and get a "good run out of it") stuff is all made there. Kuiu, Yeti etc are all brilliant examples of this, all their stuff is made in china, quite possibly in the same factories that stuff costing 1/4 the price is made, they spend big time on marketing so everytime you open Instagram you feel inadequate as a hunter without kuiu gears and a yeti cooler on your truck, they then spend a little extra to have another labourer on 70 cents an hour to stand at the end of the line and have a look at the stitching as it goes past and boom "high end"
Yes. There was a time when I was sucked in by opening Instagram and believing I had to have the flashest camo patterns etc also. Vietnam/phillipines/china. It's all the same. I'm not saying that you are getting better/worse value for money with different brands but there is a hell of a lot of people out there that think that just because they paid more for something or because it was deemed as popular or all their favourite social media stars use it then it must be the best product which is really far from reality.
The thing that irks me with bushbuck is when they have these 'HUGE SAVING SALES!!' 40% off our down jacket, $799 down to $299! Grab a deal!
Utter BS. You're paying their full RRP for rubbish
I'm constantly targeted by their advertising on YouTube and wherever else, I can't seem to avoid it
Yeah I agree with that. If you're half savvy you can work out the shit over marketed brands to the ones that are quality
I'm a fruit salad when it comes to clothing. All sort of different brands, my favourits tend to be the NZ made ones like WOE and earth sea sky, they haven't worn out or failed me yet.
Items I'm using from kuiu are pants and a fleece & shell which take a while to wear out
I don’t mind cheap gear, Fleece from the warehouse is as good as most others fleece.
But the likes of firstlite erk me. Really cheap nylon based merino sold at a premium.
It’s the throw away culture of all this clothing that is becoming fast hunting fashion. Hunters element seem to be leading this here.
There's fleece then there's fleece. You're probably referring to the proper cheap and nasty pieces.
Polartec grid fleece is an outstanding material that is extremely difficult to wear out.
Agreed on the merino. I no longer use merino as a baselayer, it's all polartec now. Polartec baselayers will last 10-15 years. The merino blends from all the hunting brands wear out and stretch for me, probably an unpopular opinion but is just my experience. Not a fan of paying $160+ per merino top for it to wear out after a year or so
Yeti is the most jumped up, over-marketeering-wanked shit I have come across since Stoney Creek realised they could pay the likes of the Hunters Club to sharn on about it on TV. $400 for a 30L box that looks just like your chilly bin but is just made to carry all your fruit with a bit of organization? Got rocks in your head if you think I'm throwing down nearly half a weeks wages for that. The travel mugs/thermal cups are rubbish too.
Kuiu... The only pair of pants I can find in a 28" waist with vent zips. I can live with that. Sadly the range of fleece gear and jackets they have is also tempting but the exchange rate is fairly prohibitive these days.
Back to Bushbuck, I think the old saying about Briscoes "Don't ever buy anything from them if it isn't on sale, and know that it's definitely cheaply made" applies. A mate forked out for the 3 man tent and I have to say I wasn't impressed after sharing it with him for a week on the west coast. Barely fit the two of us and we're a pair of racing beans... The inner tent sagged quite a lot and swallowed up valuable space.
I still reckon that for fleece gear the good old Warehouse's Back Country brand is as good as any... I live in it everyday and it just keeps chugging along. I recently saw a hunting pic of mine from about 8 years ago and realised that I was still wearing that fleece bush shirt. The small front zip packed up about a year ago; but it's been worn most days and I still wear it. No holes etc and it's had a shit ton of washing! Now do I say "Found at your local Warehouse"...... :thumbsup: :D
Te Bushbuck elastic rifle covers are ok and good value on sale
I laughed when Bushbuck started bringing tents out, knew immediately they were AliExpress models, had just been looking at getting a few of them in for a kids camp. Anywho…
We have a couple sets of bushbuck defender jackets and wet weather pants. They’ve been pretty good to be fair, especially when bought on sale.
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Had a pair of bushbuck gaiters a few years ago. Stitching came apart after one trip, sent them back. The new replacement pair did the same after two trips (no jokes). They were so badly made it was kind of funny, but not!!!. To be fair the customer service guy (think it was the owner) was real good and refunded the $$$. He didn't even seem surprised at the performance, which I thought was wild. This was a few years ago now so may have changed. But I'll never buy bushbuck after that experiance.
I suppose they fill a gap in the market so all good for them.
I have the 2 person model, maybe $300, and when I was shopping I comoared the specs to the Aliexpress models. Clearly they are made to the same pattern, but the waterproof rating in particular is significantly higher. Do we reckon thats genuine or is there something shifty going on?
They are definitely screening their reviews on the website as there isnt a single one star review on any product, and even the best stuff eventually gets at least one!
Fair bit of hate towards Bush Buck but have a Ranger bush shirt and it does the job. If anything it’s too warm at times. Wear it with a thermal top and maybe a Warehouse Back Country top underneath when sitting out overnight waiting for deer/pigs to show up. Temps down below freezing. Also wear a pair of nylon/fleece back country pants, again these get too warm if moving around. Also got a couple of pairs of bb waterproof socks. They do the job ok, just a chore to dry after washing. None of the above gear is any worse than Stoney Creek, Hunters Element, Huntech, etc. some of which is overpriced and overhyped trendy crap.
Thought that review was gold. My kuiu mountain star tent hurt my pocket (like any good one will) but I would never look back now.
I think bushbuck gaiters are great ! They forced me to learn a new life skill …. Sewing . I get to practice every time I get home from a hunt.
This and also having to chase up a warranty on a jacket when the seams fell apart after the first use has highlighted to me the value of my time.
warehouse polarfleece lasts well for me..Ive also got a real mismatch of polarfleece gear...got given a top to toe pack for my 40th birthday...its ALL still going strong ten years later...so are the fleece Tshirts I already had...my only bit of swazi is an early fleece shirt..stil lwarm still good,no holes,no tears.
I looked at going into making it commercially then realized it would only take the warehouse to bring out camo fabric and the bottom end of market would be gone,so pulled pin on idea at 11th hour......
still got the prototype shirt and vest we made... the vest got given a reverse side in a weird safety fabric,they took out the tan from std DPM fabric and replaced it with bright orange..... my good wife had belly full of bubs when first sewed it and put waist pockets on backwards LOL...given her shit about it for 20 years and she fixed it the other month ....
polarfleece fabric has come a long way in 30 years....
You guys are all to kind to your fleece as mine all fill off holes but the grinder & welder are a big maker off holes for me lol
I recently purchased a couple of Bushbuck items and have found the quality quite poor. I was Googling reviews to see if I was alone and came across this thread.
A pair of their "combat" leggings with "ultra tough knee reinforcement" turned up with a big hole in the knee stitching. Loose threads everywhere.
The Apex crew baselayer long sleeve had more threads hanging out than I could chop off. The fabric itself was already unravelling in the collar and at the ends of the sleeves.
Got a pair of their gaiters as they were half price, haven't used them yet but expectations are low based on the comments in this thread.
In my opinion their gear is cheap quality sold at a price point where you'd expect better. Next time I would sooner buy from The Warehouse as the quality is actually superior.
They run a slick marketing operation where you get store credits for leaving reviews, following their social media, etc - hence the hundreds of shining reviews for all their products on their website.
Lesson learned anyway. It's pretty rubbish stuff.
I've got the two person msr clone tent and so far rate it quite highly. Got it on "sale" for slightly more than the AliExpress version but without the sometimes laborious wait for shipping.
Also as Thar said the rifle cover is good for what it cost.
I'll second whoever said that warehouse polar feece is the way to go.
I got the bushbuck sleeping mat on sale and I quite like it for the price. but I definitely feel that their target market is more people who talk about going outdoors than actual outdoorsmen, since 90% of the stickers I see of theirs are on the back of lifted utes with all the gear bought for them and not a scratch or dent on them
All of my fleece gear is from the Warehouse. No problems with it and reasonably priced. If they sold summer hunting camo gear they would corner the market really well. Awesome review on the tent. I will keep looking for a decent one.
I brought their Spitfire 1.4 litre gas cooker recently just before this thread started. Seems to work well on my hunting trips to date. Paid $105 with discount. Appears far cheaper that the competition gas boil branded stoves? I also have their 2 man tent - used once so far, again paid $389.00. Does seem a copy but still works for me so long as their 8000mm rating is correct? How do you prove otherwise? Must admit the few hundred great reviews did raise suspicion but to take this long for someone to question online about it?? Still must be many happy cusomers out there?
I've seen fishing gear for sale on AliExpress which is being sold in NZ under the Catch and Shimano brand names. Stuff is too specialised for anyone to bother copying, so I suspect the big brands are searching the catalogues looking for stuff to make a quick buck on.
I run a spitfire cooker too and it gets a thrashing as we also use it in the caravan as it is much quicker than putting the jug on the stove. Having said that a friend who is a rafting guide just uses $99 Kmart jetboils
while we are on the topic of expensive gear that is not worth it, what sort of stuff do people have that was worth the premium?
Glad someone made that point.............My son had same problem with poles piercing through tent, they replaced fly....... i wrote a review for the bush shirt on Bushbuck, was rather scathing on a few points cause i felt they needed to be said, and for the growth of the company to accept constructive criticism. They chose not to publish my findings which seems to be only available for fantastic reviews. I choose not to finance them anymore. I buy Swazi and Stoney Creek. Buy once, cry once