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Asio Gear or Sitka

BTaylor said:
Wore the Asio set yesterday morning. Forecast was for a low of 40 and I wanted to sorta test it so I wore a light base layer, the first lite furnace top, and the jacket up top and a light base and the pants bottom. When I got out of the truck it was 35. The wind was 5 or less all morning. Fully expected to be chilled but was perfectly comfortable all morning. The beanie was really toasty. The gloves are early to mid season if your hands have to stay out of your pockets. That said the jacket pockets are really nice. I never wear a glove on my shooting hand once up the tree and didnt even sorta come close to needing a hand warmer in my the pocket to keep my hand warm. No issues with noise but I didnt try to draw on a deer even though I had a couple shot opps. Prolly should have done that but really dont feel like there will be a problem there with slow dilberate movements. Overall, very pleased. With different layering I dont think it would be a stretch for this to work fine down into the mid 20's for me.
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Prefer it over Sitka?
 
alabamahunt22 said:
Prefer it over Sitka?
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I dont have comparable pieces of sitka, so no way to say for sure. All of my sitka stuff is early season stuff. It has been used hard for several years and is still in perfect condition. What I can for sure say is that for the combo meal price of $299 with free shipping and one pretty cool morning of use, I am not in the least disappointed with the purchase. Will have to see how it does for durability and wind before I say it is on par with sitka.
 
Bowtie747 said:
Sitka Sub alpine stratus set just went 40% off. That’s crazy hard to pass up. Hard to pass up when I have a set even. Might have to order a set for work. That wind blocker is key and I work outside in the air.
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Too bad no large bibs. Would’ve got some at that price. Think I’m going to try the solitude from FL being 40% off too.


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Yea, with the sale, I bought the Sub Alpine Stratus set to go along with my EV2. Probably need my head examined. Aggravated though as I put the bibs in my cart and before I completed the order, the bibs were sold out! Had to get the pants but found the bibs on sale at another site so I bought them. Of course they were not discounted as much as the Sitka site. Still a good deal.
 
@roosterstraw - I can't speak for the Code of Silence clothing lines, except for the Coldfjall Dialed In Stand Cap, which has been very good at keeping my ears warm on cold breezy days lately. My first Code of Silence purchase was their DoubleBak Xtreme Backpack. It's has very quiet fleece material and fits well for an unframed pack. Unlike my Mystery Ranch pack setups, in which the platform and stand are carried between the frame and the bag of my choosing, ( I have a variety of different size MR bags depending on the type of hunt I'm doing ). The DoubleBak Xtreme is designed to strap in saddle gear, bow, crossbow, or rifle on the back of the pack and makes it real easy to get to when you pick out your tree to hunt in. I still have to take the pack off to get to my platform and sticks, but with the fleece material of the pack it makes it much quieter than my MR setups and the material they are made of. The COS camo pattern fits in well in pretty much any hunting environment also. If their clothing line is made anything like the hat and backpack I have, it would be good quality hunting clothing. On a side note, the owner of Code of Silence had worked at Cabela's for 35-40 years developing various in-house lines of clothing, equipment, and accessories in the areas of hunting and fishing.
 
I ending up ordering the Sitka Fanatic jacket and used it on three hunts this weekend. Temps from mid 20's up to 40. The jacket is nice and warm and the hand muff is great. I had on a 400g merino base layer and a light fleece vest. I didn't get to test it much in the wind. However doing the blow test I can push some air through it. I can't do that with my Asio gear. I was kind of surprised by that. Two dislikes are the price and pack ability. I may try the Asio late season jacket down the road.
 
HeavyD said:
I ending up ordering the Sitka Fanatic jacket and used it on three hunts this weekend. Temps from mid 20's up to 40. The jacket is nice and warm and the hand muff is great. I had on a 400g merino base layer and a light fleece vest. I didn't get to test it much in the wind. However doing the blow test I can push some air through it. I can't do that with my Asio gear. I was kind of surprised by that. Two dislikes are the price and pack ability. I may try the Asio late season jacket down the road.
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If you wanted a packable warm Windproof jacket you should had bit the bullet and got the incinerator. It packs down to nothing.

I ordered the Midweight Sherpa 2.0 whatever it’s called bibs and jacket from ASIO to check out.
 
enkriss said:
If you wanted a packable warm Windproof jacket you should had bit the bullet and got the incinerator. It packs down to nothing.

I ordered the Midweight Sherpa 2.0 whatever it’s called bibs and jacket from ASIO to check out.
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I thought the incinerator was noisy though? I don't have any retailers close to check it out. I just heard that the Fanatic was the gold standard for cold archery hunts and went with it. The midweight Asio stuff for me is great down to around high 30's with a few layers. I also picked up the beanie and neck gator thing on sale to complete the set and they are great.
 
enkriss said:
If you wanted a packable warm Windproof jacket you should had bit the bullet and got the incinerator. It packs down to nothing.

I ordered the Midweight Sherpa 2.0 whatever it’s called bibs and jacket from ASIO to check out.
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Have you had the incinerator and fanatic? What’s the biggest difference between the two besides incinerator being water proof.
 
roosterstraw said:
Have you had the incinerator and fanatic? What’s the biggest difference between the two besides incinerator being water proof.
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I have had them both. The fanatic went through several renditions. They made it less warm when they went to the mapping of the primaloft/berber locations. The incinerator is warmer.

At first the incinerator is kinda noisy but after some break in the outer softens up and it gets quieter.

The incinerator jacket you can roll up and the whole thing tucks into its hood nice and compact. Or you can roll them both together and the bibs have straps on them to tote them together nicely.

For cold weather the incinerator is king. The fanatic is very bulky to pack in.
 
enkriss said:
I have had them both. The fanatic went through several renditions. They made it less warm when they went to the mapping of the primaloft/berber locations. The incinerator is warmer.

At first the incinerator is kinda noisy but after some break in the outer softens up and it gets quieter.

The incinerator jacket you can roll up and the whole thing tucks into its hood nice and compact. Or you can roll them both together and the bibs have straps on them to tote them together nicely.

For cold weather the incinerator is king. The fanatic is very bulky to pack in.
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I always appreciate your posts as you speak from experience with some high end gear! Thanks

May have to check out incinerator but I have had good luck in MI with fanatic bibs and stratus jacket


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I bought some Midweight ASIO stuff Sherpa lined Windproof 2.0 jacket, bibs and a beanie. Got them over the weekend.

They are already in transit being returned.

Not in the same league as Sitka. I was very disappointed.

The bibs weren’t terrible. I did not like the double pockets on the top of the thigh. That’s a dumb location for 1 pocket. Now double up the pockets like inside one another??? That’s doubly stupid. The jacket fit tighter than a typical jacket in the same size. It would need to be sized up. They use nice zippers on the bibs but the ones on the jacket are light duty pieces of crap that felt frail. Also, that grunt call pocket… how the hell do you reach it to unzip???? Awkwardly with the right hand or impossible chicken wing maneuver with the left??? The beanie is pretty deep so it covers your ears… but if you cover your ears with it you can’t hear a damn thing. Overall… I hated the stuff.
 
enkriss said:
I bought some Midweight ASIO stuff Sherpa lined Windproof 2.0 jacket, bibs and a beanie. Got them over the weekend.

They are already in transit being returned.

Not in the same league as Sitka. I was very disappointed.

The bibs weren’t terrible. I did not like the double pockets on the top of the thigh. That’s a dumb location for 1 pocket. Now double up the pockets like inside one another??? That’s doubly stupid. The jacket fit tighter than a typical jacket in the same size. It would need to be sized up. They use nice zippers on the bibs but the ones on the jacket are light duty pieces of crap that felt frail. Also, that grunt call pocket… how the hell do you reach it to unzip???? Awkwardly with the right hand or impossible chicken wing maneuver with the left??? The beanie is pretty deep so it covers your ears… but if you cover your ears with it you can’t hear a damn thing. Overall… I hated the stuff.
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What did you think about the windproof of the pieces? I love the bibs. I did up size on the jacket. The jacket hand pockets are great. Not sure about the grunt call pocket, mine doesn't have that, just the two chest pockets.
 
I ordered the sherpa lined pants. I have yet to wear them in the woods though I am happy with the quality. I get the double pockets. One would be plenty fine.

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enkriss said:
I bought some Midweight ASIO stuff Sherpa lined Windproof 2.0 jacket, bibs and a beanie. Got them over the weekend.

They are already in transit being returned.

Not in the same league as Sitka. I was very disappointed.

The bibs weren’t terrible. I did not like the double pockets on the top of the thigh. That’s a dumb location for 1 pocket. Now double up the pockets like inside one another??? That’s doubly stupid. The jacket fit tighter than a typical jacket in the same size. It would need to be sized up. They use nice zippers on the bibs but the ones on the jacket are light duty pieces of crap that felt frail. Also, that grunt call pocket… how the hell do you reach it to unzip???? Awkwardly with the right hand or impossible chicken wing maneuver with the left??? The beanie is pretty deep so it covers your ears… but if you cover your ears with it you can’t hear a damn thing. Overall… I hated the stuff.
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Thank you. Almost placed an order. Don't mind the camo though.
 
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