Simms Freestone or G3 pants for AK moose trip?

[mcseal2]

I have a local guy who wants to sell me his Simms Freestone wader pants and Freestone boots for my AK moose hunt with Papa Bear next September. It will be a 10 day hunt from Sept 19-29th. Steve from Papa Bear recommends ankle fit hip boots, so waist waders should be sufficient for the hunt and chest waders not necessary.

The waders and boots show to be my size according to Simms chart. He wants $200 total for the pants and boots. They were used one time on an Alaskan bear hunt a couple years ago and have been in his closet since. He will give me my money back if I try them and they leak, or find any other fault with them.

I had been leaning toward purchasing the G3 wader pant and G3 boot for this hunt. I may find them cheaper but Simms site shows about $730 total for the pair. That is a substantial investment for what very well may be a once in a lifetime trip. At a minimum it will be 5 years before I save up enough for another Alaskan adventure, and if I'm successful on a moose this trip next one may be for caribou. On the other hand I don't want to have my waders fail and ruin a once in a lifetime hunt. I've never been afraid to spend what is required for gear I will use year after year, but this is a little different situation for me. If I buy the G3 pant and boot I planned to try to re-sell them after the trip. With the cheaper Freestones I would keep them for catfishing the river and use them to get the boat off sandbars in cooler spring water, and as rain pants on cool rainy trips.

From those of you with experience what route would you take? Either way I'll be taking repair materials.

Thanks once again for your help.

 

[Russp17]

I have a local guy who wants to sell me his Simms Freestone wader pants and Freestone boots for my AK moose hunt with Papa Bear next September. It will be a 10 day hunt from Sept 19-29th. Steve from Papa Bear recommends ankle fit hip boots, so waist waders should be sufficient for the hunt and chest waders not necessary.

The waders and boots show to be my size according to Simms chart. He wants $200 total for the pants and boots. They were used one time on an Alaskan bear hunt a couple years ago and have been in his closet since. He will give me my money back if I try them and they leak, or find any other fault with them.

I had been leaning toward purchasing the G3 wader pant and G3 boot for this hunt. I may find them cheaper but Simms site shows about $730 total for the pair. That is a substantial investment for what very well may be a once in a lifetime trip. At a minimum it will be 5 years before I save up enough for another Alaskan adventure, and if I'm successful on a moose this trip next one may be for caribou. On the other hand I don't want to have my waders fail and ruin a once in a lifetime hunt. I've never been afraid to spend what is required for gear I will use year after year, but this is a little different situation for me. If I buy the G3 pant and boot I planned to try to re-sell them after the trip. With the cheaper Freestones I would keep them for catfishing the river and use them to get the boat off sandbars in cooler spring water, and as rain pants on cool rainy trips.

From those of you with experience what route would you take? Either way I'll be taking repair materials.

Thanks once again for your help.

I have had both the freestones and the G3 in the past. I fish a ton and hunt in Alaska. The freestone boots are nice and the freestone waders are not bad. My dad leaves his freestones up here and they have worked for him for years without leaks. I would buy the freestones and try them out real quick for that price if they don't leak go that route. Yes, the G3 are better but that is a big price difference and I would go the freestone route.

 

[mcseal2]

Well I got the Freestones and tried them out last weekend. There were no leaks. The boots are a great fit. The pants are a bit baggy and the material seems pretty loud but maybe all waders are that way. I have a pretty baggy pair of First Lite Obsidian merino pants I got real cheap last summer I don't wear much. They are really thin, light, and quiet, just so baggy I usually wear some synthetic Kryptek or Sitka pants instead that fit me a bit better. I'm thinking of trying layering them over top of the Freestone pants for the hunt to reduce the noise of the legs swishing together and add a little brush protection. If I ruin the pants in the course of this hunt I'm really not concerned about it, no more than I spent on them it's still far cheaper than getting G3 waders. I tried it around the house tonight and it was comfortable, now I need to try it at the pond and see how it works. Reading some older posts by Micheal Strahan I see he was recommending layering Helly Hansen rain pants over the earlier breathable waders back in 2004 for durability. Maybe this system will work for me.