Hello gals and guys,
Have any of you had experience with Dan Bailey waders? I’m thinking about a nice light travel pair. They do have some nice looking thigh highs. Their prices seem to be decent, so for a decent inexpensive wader, how do you think they will fair? I bet I will use them only 5 times a season.
Thanks a million everyone.
I don’t have a pair myself, but one of the local shops carries them. Since my waders are getting old, I’ve talked to a couple of people that have used them and they all spoke highly of them. And the owner of the shop also wears them himself (I actually saw him in them on the stream - not just taking his word on it). So I think you’d do fine with a pair.
They are not a sponsor of ours, and we do have several sponsors who carry waders, but I know the guys who run the company that makes them for Dan Baileys and they are well thought of in the industry. And Dan Baileys has their own reputation at stake. I doubt that you will be disappointed.
I highly recommend them. I have the DB lightweights and loved them until they finally sprung several leaks in the feet after 2 seasons of VERY hard use…Plus, it looks like they have a great warranty (I haven’t tried it only because I have a problem with using warranties on products that wear out because you actually use the product as intended–no wader is built to last forever under hard use).
~Randy
Bravo!!! Great post Randy!
I know a guy who bought a pair of wading boots and he is rough, very rough, on his equipment. After 3 years of heavy use, some of the seams started separating. He called the company and raised all matters of cane until they sent him a new pair of boots. I was like, what the crap? Did he really think they would last forever or something??
I guess that’s why that boot company’s boots went up in price last year!
I have the barebones dan baileys and have had no problems with them.
Janus
I have a pair for 3 years with not one problem! I am pretty hard on waders, too. I recommend them (& their boots).
Later,
an Oregonian
What is the country of origin for these waders? They don’t seem to indicate on their web site.
I have used Bailey lightweight hippers and waders for about 5 years (maybe 50 days a year) and have had no problem except where they have had an unscheduled interaction with barbed wire. I also had a pair or their boots that went bad after a season. I called to ask if I was to fault and they replaced them immediately without any pressure from me at all. My experiences with them have all been excellent.
David
i have a pair of the stockingfoot light weights and think they are a good wader. after about 4 maybe 5 years they started to leak around the booty. i calld them and they will do a free reapair for you, you sent them they send them back. i did that and they have not leaked the last 2 outings. a friend did the same thing with bootfoot waders. as said, not the best out there but not the most expensive either.
My wife got a pair 2 seasons ago. She loves them. She has gone through most of the other makers and has liked these the best.
I had a couple pair throughout my life. The last pair I had, I wore out in the typical 6 months (compression leaks in the feet, after several hundred hours of hard use), took them INTO the shop in Livingston while I was on a trip, and was told the warranty did not apply to wearing them out, regardless of the time frame. For $200 I can buy two pair of almost identical waders that last the same length of time (or three pair of the ones I just got), so I didn’t buy another pair. They were decent waders, tho.
Am I missing something? $200 gets you 1 year of wading? I bought the Simms Lights for $200 8 years ago and still have no leaks…
I had that problem with Orvis waders. I blew through them in 6-8 months. I stayed with them because they kept replacing them for free, but eventually I got sick of it and went to Simms too. I’ve had them for 2 seasons and not a leak yet.
Chewy, I have yet to find a wader that will last me longer than about 6 months of fishing. But I fish HARD, and am wading all the time, in some pretty nasty country at times. So 6 months translates into about 3-400 hours of actaul standing and walking in them use.
My waders almost always fail due to compression leaks in the neoprene feet, which would happen with any wader brand. If I really thought a $400 pair of Simms would last me long enough to be cost-effective, I would get someone to buy me a pair to try. So far Simms hasn’t sen fit to send me a pair to use to convince me to give them that kind of money down the road.
[QUOTE=DG;213831]
My waders almost always fail due to compression leaks in the neoprene feet, which would happen with any wader brand. QUOTE]
Please forgive my ignorance here, but what’s a compression leak?
Dennis -
My first pair of Simms, their Lightweight that cost a couple hundred bucks, went over three hundred days with probably 4-5 hours walking / wading per day before I replaced them. I had to do some minor leak repair along the way ( mostly brush, trees, and an occasional fence crossing ) and they are still quite serviceable for warmer weather, to stay mostly dry with just a bit of “cooling.” Simms discontinued my size in the Lightweight so I upgraded when I bought new, but got a good deal on a closeout of that model. After over a hundred days of the same kind of fishing, they are a bit dirty, but no leaks or obvious wear.
Don’t mean to contribute to hijacking the thread, but …
For what it is worth - Dennis makes an excellent point. Its not how long you own stuff, its how you use it. Using equipment frequently in tough conditions is a real test of the product. Having something for eight years and using it lightly may not say much at all about how well the product is made.
Getting back to Fly Tyer’s original question. If you are only going to use them 5 times a year, I would recommend getting the most comfortable least expensive pair of waders you can find. To make the point, those Simms Lightweights I referred to above would last you about SIXTY YEARS, if they didn’t likely just rot away before then. ( Maybe you can skip the waders altogether and wet wade ?? )
John