POE/WXTex Clones @ Cabela’s

[Nathan Moody]

Reading PJ’s recent post on lumbar packs for Super-Ultra-Small/SUL packing, I wandered over to Cabela’s, figuring they’d have something along these lines.

I noticed a company called Simms, which I wasn’t familiar with, that seems to have several products that appear to be nearly identical to a few products from Pacfic Outdoor Equipment’s WXTex sub-brand.

Compare, for example, the Simms Dry Creek Stuff Sacks to the WXTex Pneumo Dry Bags. And then the Simms Dry Creek Chest/Hip Pack to a number of WXTex Global Transport products. Et multiple cetera.

It’s hard to tell if one is less expensive than the other. Of course, as you might expect, it’s also quite hard to ascertain weight on the Cabelas site of most products.

Just makes me wonder which company failed to file that patent paperwork first to avoid such a similar product in a similar market… :-)

I love my Insul-Mat, and my Pneumo LTW 15-liter dry bag, for what it’s worth…just thought it was interesting and wanted to point out the alternative brand.

[John S.]

Potentially, POE makes them for Simms who then sticks their name on them.

[paul johnson]

Figure a couple of pounds for the hunter’s lumbar pack.

Heavy, robust fabric (often waterproof, but NOT the seams and zippers, though some cover the zippers with a flap of waterproof material), very robust, and a lot of padding in the wide hip-belt (making the use of the removable shoulder-straps optional in many cases) accounts for the weight despite the relatively low volume.

NOT an UL solution by any means (i should have made these facts clearer in my prev. post under “Disadvantages”), but a low volume sol’n that keeps my back cool in 90+ deg summer days. Obviously, not a recommended sol’n for everyone.

Here’s a link to other hunter’s packs on the Cabela’s website

Here’s a link to the first of three pages on the BassProShops website

I bet the DIY’ers amongst us could work some real magic, recreating some of these designs (with vast improvements) in UL fabrics.

[Case Carpenter]

POE does make the SIMMS products. SIMMS is a fly fishing company located in Bozeman, MT that wanted welded fishing produts. The items you are seeing at Cabela's are similar to POE products because they rely on the same molds in order to create them. In the case of the SIMMS stuff sack vs the POE Pneumo they are pretty much the same. SIMMS distribution is outside of POE's normal distribution so it allows us to sell fly fishing products without having to create and then run our own rep force, trade shows etc.

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