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Why does Hawk hate you?

Imho. Its just his opinion. Someone else may love that saddle. Take all these million review videos to a point. Even the ones I do.
im not gonna tell you dont buy this. Im gonna tell you hiw my experience was with a certain piece of equipment.
This guy im sure is giving an honest opinion but i dont get how you can do that by not even using it.
i always say what alot of old timers say.
That seems to be a forgotten thing with every other garage yanker being an expert.
Quote “ what works for one may not work for another. “.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
I would suspect the originators of Hawk Products hate seeing what the company has evolved into since the buyout from the corporate conglomerate.
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Sadly this has happened to many great original companies... like Remington, SureLock Sights, Kwikee Kwiver, there are bunches and bunches... its called horizontal integration. That's why I like this site and the many cottage businesses developing from it with high quality gear for hardcore hunters. Not saying competition is bad at all but I would hate to see Aerohunter, Tethrd, Treehopper, Tactisaddle,Latitude, Cruzr, and the other "originals" get bought out for $$$$$ Quality and uniqueness will go down.... that being said, what last saddle did I purchase? A Notch Floating D but at lease they are a climbing specific company in a unique market niche. A couple of younger hunters around my area went to the Hawk Saddle Systems when they first came out. They were in a price point they could afford and they seemed to enjoy using them this season but from just appearances alone, these saddles seem to look pretty worn out relatively quick. Have I used one myself yet to be objective? Probably not.
 
First post , I’m Realy interested in the saddle hunting is the reason for joining. I agree with the Hawk seems to be way lower quality thanks your other saddles but ive never hunted in one. Midway had the whole kit for $199 and something kept saying don’t do it
 
People might not like what Hawk sells, but they are not going to sell something that will break or not be safe. One person falls out of a tree and dies there will be a huge lawsuit. Companies like Hawk (GSM Outdoors) have 100's of lawyers and would never let a product go out the door without testing. Also, not smart marketing. Hawk makes products where there is a market. Not everyone can spend the money some of you guys spend on equipment. I am sure that none of you shop large box store you only wear Prada Shoes, Tom Ford suits and Burberry Jackets. Or never buy any of the products from the companies below. All part of GMS Outdoors. If there was not a market for their stuff, they would not make it. As hunter we should be happy for people to be able to hunt and use any equipment that they would like. I would love to see only products made in the USA, but it is not the world we live in. You can all spend your money as you see fit, but we should support each other.

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FisherHawk said:
People might not like what Hawk sells, but they are not going to sell something that will break or not be safe.
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Watch the news and hear about all sorts of people hurt in accidents caused by faulty products (from all sorts of industries) that were either not designed well or had quality issues. In fact, you could probably fill several books full of such incidents with only devoting a few paragraphs to each.
 
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The hard part for me is knowing where Hawk started and seeing where they are now. They are still selling sticks knowingly with broken parts. Now, some will argue the parts are not necessary. I then say, I didn’t pay for a brand new, in the box, broken item. It may just be me but it seems to be getting worse as well. I would love to see them fix it as they do have some great items. I used to recommend them as a nice budget way into the sport. No more.
 
This guy is talking about QC based on his purchase of a USED saddle.

He also discusses how comfortable it WILL be. Next sentence is he hasn’t spent any time in it.

I’m not a Hawk fan, but making a decision based on this is just silly. Just trying to get some likes by hating on Hawk I guess? Don’t forget to smash that subscribe button.


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I heard alot of opinions in that video which means nothing.
Was that bridge just worn or was it replaced by PO? Who knows
Except for the rope sliding both ways thru that acender I seen nor heard anything of concern
 
For anyone waiting to pull the trigger on a Hawk saddle, there are plenty of better videos or posts out there from people who have actually used their products, good or bad. I'd rather hear from someone with actual experience than someone who bought a used saddle and never sat in it, giving his opinion on the level of comfort. Seriously? I have a Hawk saddle. I inspected it before using it. For me, it is a comfortable saddle. I also make my own equipment and understand what I'm looking at with sticthing and webbing. Buried Amsteel ends sticking out don't look pretty, but they don't make the bridge any weaker. Neither will a few frays. There are tons of people who doubt the strength of Amsteel based on diameter and weight. There are also tons of videos where you can see Amsteel load tests with your own eyeballs if you're skeptical.

Just my 2 cents
 
Camelcluch said:
The hard part for me is knowing where Hawk started and seeing where they are now. They are still selling sticks knowingly with broken parts. Now, some will argue the parts are not necessary. I then say, I didn’t pay for a brand new, in the box, broken item. It may just be me but it seems to be getting worse as well. I would love to see them fix it as they do have some great items. I used to recommend them as a nice budget way into the sport. No more.
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They lost my business after I bought their updated sticks last year and several of the male parts of the suction cup system were broken out of the box. I ended up getting replacements after two phone calls to GSM. I sold them and am much happier with my Novix sticks that I actually got cheaper than the Hawk sticks seeing as I "pre ordered" the Hawk sticks from their site and ended up paying $165. Not to mention that other vendors were selling them for like $100 before I ever received my "pre order."
 
Same here I sold my hawks and love my novix minis when I'm not one sticking with a DIY stick and aider.
 
I went round and round with Big Game treestands awhile back. After my experience attempting to buy replacement parts from them - which they showed as being in stock when I ordered - never receiving the parts, and having to follow up a ridiculous amount of times, (and eventually having to pull my credit card company into the mix to contest the charges) - I will never give a SINGLE penny to anything under the GSM outdoor brand. Zero. Zip. Nada. I will spend my money elsewhere or do without. (And, yes, they do have quite a few brands under that umbrella....but....I am taking a hard pass.)
 
Every company needs to make a reasonable profit. They should be as efficient as possible. While treating employees decently and making a quality product. When your in the PPE business. You can only cost reduce so far. The areas where they can save are manufacturing innovation. Employee productivity. Smart materials purchasing, art of the deal. To make it cheap in PPE, long term is the kiss of death. Customers will leave and or you will be sued out of existence. Some want more than a reasonable profit and try to get it by cost cutting to the point of compromising quality - not expectable. Many years ago I had a lone wolf step on their gen 1 sticks break on me when I was 18' in the air. Thankfully I had a lineman belt on, it saved me. I contacted LW and asked for my purchase price back. I provided pictures of the defective product. They returned my money. They also redesigned their steps on the sticks. That is how it should work. Our feedback to them in letters to the company and our united voices through sites like this, and the ability they give us to communicate with each other, allow us to put pressure on the poor companies to improve or get out.
 
Maverick1 said:
I went round and round with Big Game treestands awhile back. After my experience attempting to buy replacement parts from them - which they showed as being in stock when I ordered - never receiving the parts, and having to follow up a ridiculous amount of times, (and eventually having to pull my credit card company into the mix to contest the charges) - I will never give a SINGLE penny to anything under the GSM outdoor brand. Zero. Zip. Nada. I will spend my money elsewhere or do without. (And, yes, they do have quite a few brands under that umbrella....but....I am taking a hard pass.)
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Good to know about GSM. There is power in knowledge.
 
Two phone calls is not bad. 4 months of calls and notes before I was allowed to speak to a manager. He tried to dismiss everything but when I read the list of dates, times and people I spoke to, he finally sent me parts. In doing so he admitted to knowingly shipping broken equipment. Then tried to fix that by saying they were prepared to ship the parts. GSM has a horrible business model that is for sure.
 
Camelcluch said:
Two phone calls is not bad. 4 months of calls and notes before I was allowed to speak to a manager. He tried to dismiss everything but when I read the list of dates, times and people I spoke to, he finally sent me parts. In doing so he admitted to knowingly shipping broken equipment. Then tried to fix that by saying they were prepared to ship the parts. GSM has a horrible business model that is for sure.
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Their customer service is definitely lacking. I get that it's the busy season, but still, it doesn't take all day to send an email response. I purchased the 20 inch sticks for super cheap and went out before reading anything about how the suction cups are nearly impossible to separate. Ended up wrenching a few loose at the base of a tree and breaking a few. I reorganized them in a manner that makes sense and grinded some down to make things easier for myself, but I reached out to Hawk customer service about the issue through every possible means. This was back in November with still no response.
 
Camelcluch said:
Two phone calls is not bad. 4 months of calls and notes before I was allowed to speak to a manager. He tried to dismiss everything but when I read the list of dates, times and people I spoke to, he finally sent me parts. In doing so he admitted to knowingly shipping broken equipment. Then tried to fix that by saying they were prepared to ship the parts. GSM has a horrible business model that is for sure.
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It wasn't just necessarily two phone calls for me. I sent am email with pictures. Then had to call them and they only sent my about half of the replacement pieces that I needed. So I had to call them a second time and it took like two weeks to get the rest of the replacement parts. Learned my lesson with Hawk.
 
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