Monday, November 21, 2011

Orvis Disappointment

I don't even know if anyone still reads this blog, it has been dormant for some time. But I had to vent this.

A while back on this very blog I wrote of the failure of a pair of Orvis waders HERE and then again HERE. Well since I tried to patch them and it didn't work, I decided to send them back to Orvis. I was excited when I got them back because they had patched like a dozen pinholes I didn't see when I tried the whole flashlight-in-a-dark-room trick.

So when we headed up to New York again for a special trip in pursuit of large brown trout, it was November, not January. I left the neoprenes at home and decided to give these Orvis waders one more chance. Temps in the upper thirties is still not warm, so you can imagine how I felt our first day of fishing when as soon as my boots hit the river, I knew my waders were filling up with water. But I had to fish in them, so my feet froze as I fumed.

That night the local fly shop sold me a pair of very nice, comfortable Redington waders. They are extremely comfortable and, lo and behold, actually WATERPROOF! I love these waders. And as an added bonus, I now have a convenient box I can use to send the Orvis waders back. But not to repair, I'm done with that and with them. I just want them to know that those waders have ruined a day of fishing for me for the last time, and maybe they'll notice the box they arrive in. Brand loyalty for fly fishermen is a long term prospect, and I have wanted to like Orvis. But these waders pissed me off for the last time.