[uphillklimber]

Just for perspective, I have had very good experiences with TNF. I sometimes ski a little rough and have to sit down. I cut my Ski pants on my bindings (old rental bindings, so they project rearwards a bit) or on what I was sitting down on.

Now, I recognize that I did not buy Kevlar goretex, I bought regular goretex pants. I contacted TNF and sent the pants back to them for repair. This was not a failure of their product, it was rightfully labeled damage (from abuse, I suspect). They offered to return them as is or to repair them for $35, maintaining the waterproof guarentee. I chose to have them repair them for me. They unstitched the whole panel that was cut and replaced that panel, tested it and sent it back. It has worked flawlessly since.

It is unfortunate that every now and then, something goes wrong for someone at virtually every company in the world. It could be a misunderstanding, clash of personality, unrealistic expectations, or plain old bad service by the company. Afew bad reports on a company, hey that happens. Get too many, that's a developing pattern....

Old rule of thumb for business: For every bad report, it takes 10 or more good ones to balance it out.

I have heard from several folks at various forums, complaining about TNF. Pretty much, they call their products junk, and expensive. The word is that their gear ain't what it used to be. I don't really know about that. Every poster deriding TNF just makes the blanket statement: "Their stuff is junk". Not one of them has ever said WHY their gear is junk. Oh sure, they throw in the statement that their junk doesn't last or something like that. But the statements lack substance.

Here is my take on folks complaining about TNF. TNF is expensive, very expensive. My dollar goes much farther buying other brands, and I get similar performance. You buy the TNF label when you buy TNF. That won't keep you any drier or warmer. So later, after a purchase of TNF gear, they realize they paid $350 for a widget that EMS or REI was selling a similar model with similar performance for half that cost. That will sour anyone on TNF real fast. It's not that their gear is any less than anyone else's comparable gear, it's that it is only more expensive.

Personally, if TNF didn't have their clearance outlet nearby in Freeport Maine, I probably wouldn't own any of their gear. Way too expensive for my taste. But I find it performs as expected, and to be very durable and long lived. I have only had the one instance where I cut the seat of my ski pants, but I can pretty much guarentee that would have happened with any brand of ski pants. Perhaps snowboard pants, which are reinforced in the knees and seat, would have fared better.

Anyways, this whole thing sounds of folks speaking about Fords, Chevys and Dodge. That's not to say there aren't any Vegas or Merkurs out there....