Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Has anyone compared Kahtoola Microspikes with the Amazon knock-offs?

Kahtoolas are $70.00 and up, while the clones start at $17.00. My initial impression of Kahtoola remains: a superbly useful item at a stunningly high price for a glorified rubber band with spikes on it.

After three seasons of a lot of use, the side band on my Kahtoola Microspikes broke yesterday while I was picking wild berries. I use them way more in summer and Fall than I do in winter snow, and need to replace them ASAP. I'm getting old enough to need all the traction I can get on rough footing or slick wet wood.

In case somebody else was wondering.

I use cheaper for ice fishing when on glare ice which work okay and slip off easily when I get in the truck. Else I spin while the auger stays still which would make for a funny video.

I Ice fish about every day all winter here in Northern Vermont. My footwear is always Muck Arctic pro boots and Kahtoola Micro Spikes. With heavy use I normally get 4 to 5 years from them and they are worth every penny they cost. Last year I had a 2 year old pair and for some reason one of the rubbers broke. I possibly damaged it with an ice auger but am not really sure what caused the clean break in the rubber. I contacted Kahtoola and the immediately sent me a replacement pair and never asked for the defective ones back. All they wanted was the manufacturing stamp information taken off the rubber. They make the best ice creeper I have ever used and I have tried them all. First class customer service makes them #1 in my book.

I LOVE the Microspikes and don't need to be sold on them. I've picked berries twice this week in steep terrain covered in deteriorating logging debris and brush and worn them every step. Pick berries, wade fish, hunt deer in wet coastal slick wood forest, predator hunt all winter, and I have come to put them on virtually every time I get out of my vehicle unless it is on a mowed lawn in dry weather.

My only question is quality of the cheaper versions. I can buy four pair of the lower cost ones for the price of one Kahtoola. That's a much bigger price differential than usual in such items. We're not talking saving five or ten bucks, or even half the price, in which case there would be no question but to go with Kahtoola.

Looking at the Kahatoola site this morning, I am tempted for another $30 to buy the K-10 hiking crampons. At $100 for K-10 vs $70 for the silicone rubber Micro Spikes, the K-10 seems like a much stronger item and a better buy for the money.

Got a link for the clones?

At $17, we’ll worth it as a ready backup. Some winters I use them around the house for chores and feeding horses.

That price is lower than some “ordinary” grippers.

I've been using these for 3 years on my winter boots and have been pleased. Have not ended up on my a$$ and that's what counts for me. I gave my old pair to an old farmer that lets me hunt, then got lucky and picked up a life time supply @ $2.50/pair on the clearance rack this spring.
Celsius

Okanagan,

All that wearing of those temporary boot spikes/ice grippers, might you be better served with a pair of caulked (corked pronunciation in some places) boots? I hear some models last for years, are resoleable, and the logging community, especially in the wet PNW use them daily. Romeos for driving the truck to your berry picking, hunting, fishing spots, then the boots when you get out as you're already doing similar with the Microspikes.

Just a thought. Good luck with finding something to suit your needs.

Geno

Thanks. Good thought. I wish I could try some caulk boots. I think that I like the longer, more aggressive Kahtoola spikes for deeper soft moss and debris though on bare wet wood caulks are undoubtedly better.

I do like the easy on and off feature of Kahtoola. Day before yesterday I was scouting for where the berries are ripe and was in and out of the vehicle 6 or 8 times for short forays. (Lots of bear sign where I found ripe berries. I need a radio collared bear to show me where the berries are ripe at each date and elevation.) Yesterday, I spent the whole time in one patch found the day before. Lace up caulks would have been fine.

Ditto for on/off when driving to each point on a contour road and glassing basins for deer in late season snow, and when driving from one calling stand to the next. Hunting deer two years ago I didn't put them on for a slick snow walk of 30 feet-- and broke my wrist in a fall.

As this day progresses, I am leaning toward buying the K-10 hiking crampons plus buying a pair of the cheap stretchy ones to try them out.

Bbassi, the Celsius look great for hard slick surfaces but they don't have long enough spikes for my use in loose surfaced forest duff and moss.