But to answer the original post...

Oscar Mayer, Spam, Lewis Bread, and Nonesuch mincemeat is where it's at.

I can't speak to the $2000 scopes and waders.

Good: Dobbins
MB
Night Owl
Bad:. Dicks sporting goods

I wouldn't know but would assume kuiu or Sitka are good brands when you pay 400 dollars for a pair of hunting pants yeah they better be good ..who actually buys that stuff you'd have a grand in a jacket an pants ..here I am in my bobs army an navy camo the original camo

Hollow Socks
Darn Tough
Smartwool
Patagonia
First Lite
Kuiu
Oboz
Minus 33
Toyota

all brands seem to produce a rotten apple here and there it is how they stand behind it , how they treat their people employee and customer

if you have to preface any product brand with before year X then the brand and name has failed

that would be like me saying old timer knives are good pre 1990 the reality is they were a US company who make a decent knife now they are a name owned by china

I think Vortex is a good brand , they treat their people in WI very well I have talked with a bunch of them , they have higher end and lower end products but they support and stand by them all

yup they have some turds from time to time , bugs the heck out of me that they try and put night vison settings on a 200 dollar red dot making half the brightness settings about useless to me
if I am going to buy a 5K NVG then why am I spending 200 on a optic for my gun.
but aside from that I have very few complaints and they stood behind every product I have ever had a failure with.


brands that stay true seem to have a few things in common , someone's name, family name or is employee owned is on the product or they own the company and they value their brand unfortunately this is sometimes lost in the 2nd or 3rd generation . but mostly this holds true

fastest death to any product seems to be if it is owned or bought by a private equity firm , just death to the product they will run it to the ground faster than word can get around the name is now poop.

If you want truly warm, go with the "woolies" wool union suit. Not always the most comfortable, but they are the warmest and last. The best were made in Canada, but there are also USA made versions that are good.

What I have been wearing most of the time the last few years are some cheap poly longjohns I bought off Amazon, Hero Biker brand. I know they are foreign made (probably China, I'd have to check though) but they are cheap, warm, and super comfortable. I bought a pair one year on a whim when Christmas shopping, after wearing them the rest of that winter and about 100 days of the next winter, I bought another pair, I switched those back and forth the entire last winter. If they both go into the wash together I can't tell which top goes with which bottom, there is no visible wear on the older pair yet. So I would call them durable.

The MAGA brand!

I use the Army's ECWC system. My base layer is their Gen 3 Level1 (silk weight). Over that I wear their Gen 3 Level 2. Both are polyester. For long sits on really cold days I have several older (Gen 1 or 2) heavyweight polypropylene long johns.

There are lots of aftermarket retailers. The Gen 3 stuff isn't cheap but It works very well for me.

Otter Sleds
Lund Boats
Wild caught fish, no farm raised especially from China

any surprise that things seems to have started changing when they were sold then resold and then went publicly traded?
they were always just buying stuff made to their specifications from what ever place would source it , it was their demand for high quality that rejected sub par stuff.

X2

Great base layers, Wool Power by ostersund, a Swedish company....not cheap, but worth every penny. Have different weights for different levels of cold...Merino wool. Comfortable, washable, with nice long tails....

I second Crispi and Honda! Crispi boots have been a godsend for my picky feet. Hard to swallow the prices, but some are even resolable. Happy trapping! ScottW

Good
Toyota cars/trucks/suv
Honda atv/utv
Shimano and Diawa reels
Alpha Angler rods (USA made)
Gloomis rods (older IMX)
Cashion crappie rods
NO BS traps
Danner boots
Sthil chainsaws
Ingram knives
Duramax diesel

These are some of the brands that I will pay extra for knowing the value will get extracted

Bad
The list is long, some I have gambled on and received enough value to justify but most I am disappointed no matter the cost

Stihl chainsaws are not on my good list. Sit still with Stihl. I also love Jim being on the bad list.