Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Badlands' cust. service

My wife purchased a Badlands Monster Fanny pack as a christmas present for me. This weekend I got the first chance to use it, during Missouri's Youth Turkey Season.

The pack was perfect for this sort of thing. Very comfortable, well organized, lots of room, even places to tie decoys on. It held all my calls, gloves, headnets, and even lunch w/ drinks for two. It was quite simply the perfect Turkey hunters pack. that is until day 2.

At the end of the morning sunday the stitching that held the shoulder strap to the waist belt of the left side unraveled. I can assure you that the pack is useless without the shoulder harness.

This morning I pulled up Badlands website an got the Warranty info, shipping addresss, etc. After shipping the pack off I called Badlands CS and asked if I would be reimbursed for the shipping costs. The gentleman, Bill, was very polite and apologetic. He said while he couldn't reimburse the shipping costs, he would send extra mechandise to offset the costs. Seems fair to me.

while I would prefer for the problem to have not occurred, I know that somethings can't be helped. Sometimes stuff just happens. Hopefully I will get my pack back before the opener of regular turkey season. It was a really cool pack, before it broke!LOL

I'm curious, but why didn't you take it down to a sewing shop and have the gals bombproof it. They'd have probably charged you $10.

well I guess it never occured to me. seems to me that a pack used for 4 hours needs to go back to the company if it breaks. Maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe I wasn't clear. The shoulder strap came completely loose.

I was just making a suggestion. Sorry if I came across as critical. I've stitched up a bunch of stuff myself with dental floss, and back when I had a sewing shop in town, I always was bring stuff down to get restitched and reinforced. The gals got a kick out of it, and the most I can recall paying was $10 and it was usually all done before I finished my cup of coffee.

Chances are that if badlands did a chitty job stitching it up the first time, it won't be much better the second time.

Get a 5 dollar sewing awl and you'll be covered to fix any problem and won't have to pay shipping costs. I've had gear break no matter what name was on the tag. Some things are not that difficult.

Bill at Badlands has always been great and it sucks your pack was a lemon. All of my latest Badlands packs have been great. Heck even some of the stitching came loose on my Kifaru pack, so it happens with the best of them.

I agree with your decision to send it back given that you only had it for a couple of days. If you'd have been hunting with it for awhile by all means get it sewn up by someone local. Almost all of my well-used gear has "after market" repairs of some kind.

However, breaking after only a few hours of use warrants a replacement or free fix. It sounds like Badlands is making good on it and it looks like you might get some "free" (sort of) stuff.

Good luck with the pack in the future - I'm sure it will be fine. If it breaks again either get a refund or take it to someone else to get sewn up. (NOT to come off like I have the only correct opinion - those are just my thoughts on the matter and that's what I'd do. Obviously (I hope), you should do what you feel is best.)

I picked up an OX at a good price, without doing a lot of checking. I was surprised when i put it on a scale 6lbs 8 ounces way more than I was planning.

Actually, the packs are made in Vietnam and the repairs are done in SLC. They will do a great job sewing it up and making sure nothing else is amiss.

I bought a Monster pack and put in on and decided I hated it. I sent it back and traded it in for a Superday. They did not have a problem with this- very helpful folks. I have a 2200 that has literally 10,000 miles on it. It is due to be restitched in a spot or two. I have to wash and lube the zippers a couple times a year, but otherwise, it is a great pack. It weighs almost 6# so the OX is a lightweight considering what you get.

A much lighter pack is just not going to hold up. I have packed elk quarters, bear quarters and an entire antelope out on mine. They are pretty dang tough!

You win the internet award for most miles hiked with a pack. I don't think anybody can top 10k miles. Kudos..

Lee24 could...

Just sayin'.

I'm pretty damn impressed with 10k miles, for a pack that's only been out for 12 years. Dude must be a machine.

Ok, so I exaggerated, I sat down and tried to figure out as close as I could. It is between 1500-2000 miles, many of them heavy laden. It generally weighs about 22-25 when hunting. It sucks carrying all that dang water!

My point was that the stitching holds up real good after it has been repaired. I have torn the shoulder strap of one side and several of the other straps. I tried a couple of other packs- Crooked horn and one I can't recall but they broke in weeks. There may be better packs out there but I haven't used one myself. I think that new one that Cameron Haynes endorses is too light duty to hold up for multiple trips. Mine is old enough that it has kevlar thread.

I personally never would have guessed he was actually eaggerating to make a point. I'm so glad we have internet police to make sure no one is mislead... Thanks so much for your contribution to legitimate reporting, Calvin.