# Would You Pay More $$$ For a Better Quality Blind?



## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

*Would you pay $50-75 more money for a blind that is guaranteed to last at least 6 years?*​
Yes6068.18%No1314.77%Maybe1517.05%


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

This poll has *NOTHING* to do with any particular brand or model. I've hunted and owned many and every one except one has needed repair to function...some after just a few hunts. I was finally putting away all the hunting gear for the summer and shifting the 4 blinds around and it got me thinking..."Why doesn't someone come out with a Cadillac of blinds? One that has more stitching/layers on the corners, quality hinges, a COMFORTABLE backrest, etc. etc. etc. I'm talking a blind that takes a serious beating that most serious waterfowlers give throughout a year and you never think twice about something going wrong.

Just curious...because I personally wouldn't think twice about it. It sure beats having to keep rebuying.

Thanks.


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

As Napolean D would say, "Heck yea I would." 
One of my buddies and I (on separate occasions) thought of something that would really make the life of a layout blind user WAY easier, but we wanted to see if it was patented first. I'm sure someone on here has thought of the same exact thing and frankly; I'm amazed they haven't come out w/ it yet.


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## nickwesterholm (Nov 16, 2006)

i think you're completely right. if there were a cadilac of i would buy it. why not?


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

I do believe that there is a market, albiet a limited one for a good blind. Unfortunately the reality is most guys are price point shoppers.


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

While working at Cabelas, I found that about 25% of the customers would pay a high amount for comfort and durability while the rest wanted a compromise of price and durability. That was a few years ago so I don't know how that's changed.

One common response (as with anything) "why would I spend the money for 1 when I can buy 3 for the same price" I guess they meant that they could use 3 to your 1 over that 6 year period.

As far as the Cadillac of blinds, I believe an actual price needs to be associated with the question. There's a big difference between $400 and $600. People will say they'll spend the money, but once it comes to actually spending it, it's a whole different story!

I know this personally because I'm told time after time how my "DHD Travel Guides" are so great and such an great idea, but when it comes to spending the $10, most pass.

Lastly, I believe people will pay higher prices not so much solely for the durability, but rather the customer service. Build a blind that is strong, but more importantly, stand behind the product and do the customer right. You do that, and they'll come back over and over again.

Sorry for the book...

Mike


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

Out of the guys i hunt with most of use bought (average) blinds. Nothing that was too expesive, but something that will last a while. Three of them went with the really cheap ones, cabelas and field house blinds and wanted to get rid of them after the first year and did, and upgraded. 1 was after the first time out, but that was a powerhunter.


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## live_4_quack (Mar 1, 2007)

I have to agree with Taddy on a couple points. There is only one guy I hunt with who has ponied up to even buy a layout blind. That left me with three options 1. go by myself and be hid. 2. take a guy with me who is trying to hide in some goofy camo burlap or 3. buy an extra blind so my lame hunting buddies have somewhere to hide when they go hunting with me, which is what I did. So, I ended up buying finishers. Not the cheapest, not the most expensive, but they work. If i could count on just buying one for myself I might buy a more expensive one but when I am buying multiples I am going to buy cheaper. Another point he had was, why don't they stand behind their product? How about a warranty on frame members (which is what broke on my finishers). Anyway, I think in an ideal world we all would lay down the money for nicer gadgets, we're waterfowlers aren't we? But when you start budgeting out what you can spend for more gear you end up shopping by price tag.


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## Madison (Mar 1, 2002)

Buy/Try a finisher or a migrator and you'll be happy.. comfortable, good seating with adjustable straps, roomy, durable, stubble straps work great and are positioned correctly, durable metal tubing, Adujustable supports make them low profile, etc. etc.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

live_4_quack... You should really charge your buddies when you take them hunting. If you even gotta buy blinds for them, that's pretty rough.

All my buddies bought Power Hunters. None of them like them. They complain how uncomfortable they are. Also, I said it all along, and now they are finally starting to agree with me, those bug nets face cover things look like crap. They are "so low profile blah blah blah" is what I always hear. But when you stubble a Power Hunter, and then stubble a Finisher, or a SUB, or whatever, and then walk out 100 yards. You can't find the Finisher, but you can see exactly where the Power Hunter is. Now just think, geese see that in the early season and think nothing of it. That is until they get shot up a few times. Then they know that they need to start watching for that damn bug net. Busted.


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## dukegoose (Jul 17, 2006)

I have hunted out of a couple different blinds over the last couple of years. I would pay extra money for a bigger blind. I am a big fan of the FA SUB, but they seem to have got smaller over the last couple of years, as the prices go up. I have one from three seasons ago, and it is much wider then the one my brother got last season.


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## OSUChad (Apr 23, 2007)

I'm planning on buying the Beavertail. This seems to be a great blind that has no breakable parts. It's a little pricey, but I think over the next several years of use I will be glad I bought it.

http://www.fisherbeavertail.com/comfortzone.html

Chad


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## mshutt (Apr 21, 2007)

My freinds and I all use the GHG blinds. Three of us have just the plain brown and "painted" mud on them to reduce the glare. Others have bought the shadow or praire grass I forget which one, but either or are GREAT! COMFORTABLE! AFFORDABLE! RELIABLE! and look invisible when you walk 100 yds out to see what the look like.

Plain brown (khaki) are 200$ and I have no idea if the shadow grass is a higher/lower price.


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## Decoyer (Mar 2, 2002)

> and look invisible when you walk 100 yds out to see what the look like.


Not gonna kill many geese at 100 yards...


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

Decoyer said:


> Not gonna kill many geese at 100 yards...


In all fairness, I don't think that's the point he was getting at. If the geese can't see em' at 100 yards, there is no reason for them to stop coming in and eventually into shooting range.

Hopefully, this thread doesn't go down the path of "what blind should I buy??" on the other hand. :wink:


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

I was suprised reading this that still no one has asked Chris what his intentions are. So what's going on, can we expect the NOSSGB?
Nodak Outdoors Signature Series Ground Blind.

That would be pretty sweet, you could call it your NOSS blind. Leads to fast limits :lol:


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Allow me to be the first to volunteer to assist in design and testing of the NOSSGB. We could call it the Nodaker for short.


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

I LIVE YOUR WORLD MY FRIENDS! Try buying 6 dz full bodies, at the same time, load them in your rig and drag them to the X you spent a week looking for. (alone)!!! Would I buy the best, of the best blind out there? something in maybe the $400 or $500 range. No question, but the free rides would be over, I've spent to many hours covering the forth extra guy that I didn't have a blind for, telling his *** not to move after covering his army and navy burlap. I'd sell mine and the two spares (all finishers) And buy the cadillac for $500. And go to the real deal, JUST ME AND MY CHESSIE!!!! :sniper:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

goosebusters said:


> I was suprised reading this that still no one has asked Chris what his intentions are. So what's going on, can we expect the NOSSGB?
> Nodak Outdoors Signature Series Ground Blind.
> 
> That would be pretty sweet, you could call it your NOSS blind. Leads to fast limits :lol:


Nawwww....I don't have time to deal with China. :lol: I'm just sick of rebuying blinds all the time because either something breaks or it's just flat out an uncomfortable, poor design.


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## mach (Aug 29, 2005)

Not too many years ago..most of us up north used the old trusted standup willow cattail burlap slate bind we built ourselves with 5 gallon pails to sit on.. the were durable and worked..nobody thought about building a Caddy of all blinds.
Then recently I met some guys the "jones" from down south and they had Deluxe blinds.

Later I built my own blind..
I tried to buy a blind but there were few suppliers up north and the prices with duty taxes and tarrif and the question if it was 100 % made in the USA drove the selection to Caddy prices..so many of these sports shops.. who were gouging us ..I finally got a good deal as some of the smaller Canadian sports shops realized we wanted to be like the "jones" and got some volume orders in .. fiekld tested them for the Manufacturers, and got some affordable pricing hence I bought the FA Express Elinimator because the supplier gave it to me for under $200 Canadian..besides the Can dollar came up and it helped.. The other high end blinds were in stock and the prices shot up to mercedes prices..only at year end disposal prices did they sell.
WE are sbout now a year behind in having the prices and opportunity to even have a chance to look feel try out a Caddy.
WE haven't had the time to try and report on any breakage warranty problems yet
If I lived in the USA..yes I would buy the Caddy! If it lived up to all the hype that a Caddy should be.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Thanks for all the comments guys. This was the kind of responses and voting I expected.

Chris


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I wanted to bump this topic back up, so more people can get a chance to vote.


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

Hopefully, this super-blind hits the market pretty soon. :lol:


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## dlip (May 16, 2004)

You get what you pay for. But there are some mid-range blinds out there that are solid 90% of the time.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

bandman said:


> Hopefully, this super-blind hits the market pretty soon. :lol:


I'm trying to help with one being developed right now. It's got a good start and it's back to the drawing board for some more tweaks. I wouldn't call it a super blind but it's going to combine the best parts of many blinds into one.


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## Honker Hunter 1 (Jun 24, 2007)

The majority of hunters are looking for a good price as the cost of hunting keeps going up.

Gas for example $3.50 a gal 100 miles a day scouting is going to run you $30.00 a day or more.

Ammo is going to go up 25 - 50% by fall.

And who will guarentee a lay out for 6 years? They get thrown in trailers dragged through mud, corn stalk and plowed feilds walked in jumped into and thrown back in the trailer at the end of the day. Product makers are trying to make them cheaper to sell more and cheaper means less quality.

Durable means more weight and everyone wants a lighter blind to carry.

Steal rather than aluminum and plastic.
Canvas rather than light weight material for covering and floors.

Just my thaughts but look at the decoy quality just to make cheaper decoys to sell more. 4 DSD or 18 GHG. Most will buy the 18 GHG.


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

Chris Hustad said:


> I'm trying to help with one being developed right now. It's got a good start and it's back to the drawing board for some more tweaks. I wouldn't call it a super blind but it's going to combine the best parts of many blinds into one.


Yea, I figured you were up to something by the way you were so concerned about this thread.  
Best of luck to ya and I can't wait to see the results. 
:beer:


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

I guess one would have to define "better quality" before I could answer that question. To me as a consumer, I would like to see the manufacturer strive for better quality at a *lower* price, not higher.

I'm on my 4th season with my original X-Terminator and it has held up to everything I've thrown at it. I'm so impressed with them that we added our 3rd to the trailer a couple weeks ago....


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

> I'm on my 4th season with my original X-Terminator and it has held up to everything I've thrown at it. I'm so impressed with them that we added our 3rd to the trailer a couple weeks ago....


Bought my second from Reeds as well this week. Thanks again for posting that up. I first used this blind with Porkchop. I got a helluva deal on my first one...$100 brand new and then only $150 for the second.

I also agree with your first statement about aiming for quality, but with not incredibly high prices.

Mike


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I see the price going down b/c the manufacturers are finding way to do things cheaper and unfortunately, cut corners to keep that cost down. Maybe it's just me but I always feel you get what you pay for with _most_ things in life.

Great opinions though guys, always interesting to see other people's take.

FYI - I'm still using my Xterminator as well...I've bought 2 blinds since but they both disappointed me and I went back.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

NDTerminator said:


> I'm on my 4th season with my original X-Terminator and it has held up to everything I've thrown at it. I'm so impressed with them that we added our 3rd to the trailer a couple weeks ago....


Mine have held up to everything with the exception of Zettler and Chunk! :laugh:

I bought two from Chris right when they came out. I think they made some modifications since that first year like a thicker screen and more material on the bars. It has worked for me. I do wish they would have a brown or black pipe system instead of silver. Also mine did rip on the door seems but so has my finisher.


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

just added a 5th xterminator to the trailer. good blind at a great price.


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## HATCHETMAN (Mar 15, 2007)

I agree with Chris 100% about getting what you pay for. Paying any sum of money will never compensate for a company's lack of care for the customer and high volume / lower prices mentality. More people should do business with companies that CARE about the customer, not just the prostaffers that pimp the products and get new blinds and decoys every year whom never get to see the products fail, and with this level of customer service usually comes a better product because they listen to the customer, and care about their product (no matter where its made). No product is infallable, but some products come with a better intrinsic value because of this level of customer service, which IMO is worth the extra money. Thankfully there are some companies out there that still do business this way! :beer:


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Chop, I also noticed those modifications on my newest X-Terminator.
I was hoping they would make the frame a dark color, but took care of this myself with a can of OD sray paint...


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

I have painted mine numerous times but got tired of it. I ended up bying that nonstick surgical camo tape that Cabelas and Sportsmans sells. It just sticks to itself and it is stretchy. Anway it did the trick. Anyway I think I may paint the two I have now solid white for winter time and get me a new one.


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