Ok another beer induced product review by the Lone DBag. (IE, Yours truly)
Item number 1:
MidwayUSA Turkey vest
My First official Turkey vest, it's an older version of this one currently being sold:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/939171133
PROS:
- Relatively cheap when on sale
- Holds all your turkey hunting crap without any problem
- Easy to fold the seat up with good retentin with a center fastex buckle that keeps it in place while hiking/ running and gunning. THe best thing I can say about this vest is buckling up that seat easily so its not flopping me in the ass.
CONS:
- The back padding is tantamount to 1/4" foam insulation that will make you sweat like an SOB. Frost on the ground, humping up the mountain in the dark, nothing on but my base layer, and I'm STILL sweating. I've literally had to stop and let my back air out.
- Seat sucks in terms of thickness/comfort. You'll end up duct taping another seat on top of the vest seat.
The upgrade, Item number 2:
Alps Outdoorz GrandSlam Turkey vest
As described here:
https://www.alpsbrands.com/alpsoutdo...ear/grand-slam
PROS:
- The kickstand is nice. Especially here in Utah when you might be setting up under some scrub oak or otherwise can't lean your back against a proper tree. You can setup almost anywhere, and you can adjust the kickstand legs to allow for any back incline you like. You can get really comfy with this, and that translates into less movement.
- Holds all my crap, and has holders for two water bottles, and a water bladder.
- The seat is nice, I no longer have to duct tape another seat onto my vest.
- I like the pocket layout. I set my ass down, this vest becomes my workbench. The shoulder straps do detach if you want to allow more freedom of movement with your shoulders/arms, though I never bother.
- I don't sweat in this vest like I do the midway vest.
CONS:
- If you plan on walking 8-10 miles round trip, that kickstand gets heavy. If I intend on doing a lot of hiking/ running and gunning, I take it out. I don't recall how much it weights, ill say 1-2 pounds. When ounces are pounds and pounds are pain, this matters.
- The seat retention sucks balls. There isn't a single middle strap like the midway vest, there's two straps on either side, and a set of magnets. The magnets DO NOT RETAIN the seat for very long. It's supposed to make the seat fold up nice, easy, and quick, what ends up happening is you take one step down a boulder or log, the seat jostles loose and hits you in the ass all the time. When your trying to slip in on a bird this is REALLY ANNOYING. So I end up struggling with one of the slide clips, trying to be a contortionist.
In the end, the pros outweigh the cons on this vest.