What manufacturers do you trust?

Good question.

Mountain Laurel Designs
Tarptent
Mchale Packs
Sierra Designs
Hyperlite Mountain Gear

Without reservation.

Feathered Friends
Z Packs
Hyperlite Mountain Gear
Borah Gear

Deuter
Platypus
Western Mountaineering
Feathered Friends
Tarp Tent
Salomon
Petzl
MSR
Wigwam
Osprey
GoLite

MSR
North Face
Feathered Friends

–B.G.–

ULA

in my limited experience, so far so good:

ULA
Traildesigns/Caldera Cone
Enlightened Equipment
Mountain Laurel Designs
Warbonnet

EE
HMG

Trail designs
Osprey
Zpacks
Enlightened equipment
Hammock gear
Goose feet gear
Tarptent

Mec
OR
EB

Folks that stand by their products 100% without question

;)

Elemental Horizons – Backpacks
Tarptent – Tents

I would add Titanium Goat and Stone Glacier to the mix. Also have had positive experiences with the usual suspects, ie MLD, EE, ZPacks, FF

Western Mountaineering

Tarptent

REI

Trail Designs

Merrill boots

Steripen & Katadyn tablets

Thermarest

MSR stoves

Osprey packs

Hilleberg

Cabela's

> What manufacture's products do you trust, without reservation, to deliver exactly as advertised?

None of them.
They are, after all, profit-making entities.
I might trust some gear items, but that is different.
Good reps are hard to get, but can be ruined so easily by some idiot.

Cheers

ZimmerBuilt Packs
Feathered Friends
EE (pending my new quilt!)
Elemental Horizons
Z Packs
Tarptent
Darn Tough
HMG
Katabatic Gear

Hope I didn't forget any

I'm thinking, "What makes trust?" Well, as stingy as I am with money, my criteria would be, "If a retailer says they have a new item that meets your needs and it costs $200-300, would you give them the money no questions asked?" In this regard,

Western Mountaineering. Quality, simply quality.
Rab. A good head on their shoulders, they know what they're building.
Patagonia. Patagucci, but they know what they're building too.
TarpTent. Henry Shires is a great man. $200-300 would get an amazing tent.

In no specific order:
Zpacks
Enlightened Equipment
Western Mountaineering
Osprey
Dream Hammocks
Thermarest (Cascade Designs)
Snow Peak
MSR
Feathered Friends
ULA

>None of them.
>They are, after all, profit-making entities.
>I might trust some gear items, but that is different.
>Good reps are hard to get, but can be ruined so easily by some idiot.

+100 what Roger said!

I'm more inclined to trust small cottage manufacturers. One (or very few) person outfits whose personal reputation and pride are inextricably bound to the company appeal to me…Zpacks, MLD, EE, Tarptent, etc. As soon as any such company is sold, I become very cautious and am unwilling to give them (and their products) the same kind of (blind?) loyalty I may once have. Anyone remember Gary Fisher bikes? Of course there are 1000's of similar examples.

ULA handled the transition well. I was not familiar with it before, but the current owner was very helpful in making sure I got a pack shipped on short notice.

Of course that was individual-to-individual, not to a larger company.

So we qualify these recommendations as "assuming status quo in ownership," and just suspend trust during an ownership transition.

My experience and products have been top notch with Bear Paw Wilderness Designs, Enlightened Equipment, Z Packs, Lukes Ultra light, Gossamer Gear and Mountain Laurel Designs.
As far a customer relations go, John from Bear Paw Wilderness designs and Tim from Enlightened Equipment have not only met my expectations, but they have personally far exceeded them with their products and communication. That's not to say the others I mentioned have not been a pleasure to do business with, it's just that for me personally, John and Tim really came through when I needed it.
I'm also gonna throw out there that this site, BPL and MOST members on this forum have really been a huge factor for myself and where I am at this point in my life while enjoying the outdoors. So thanks to everyone!

There's only one manufacturer I trust:

Mom + Dad

Everything else has been touch and go. Most stuff works, few things work perfectly forever. I consider everything I own "consumable" and sometimes, things last longer than expected, but on a long enough timeline, everything WILL die.

I have shifted from the most expensive stuff to middle-of-the-road stuff because of this mindset. My snowshoes have lots of scrapes, someday they'll break. My hiking poles might snap. My sleeping bags will eventually wear at the zipper and seams, or a draw cord will fray and snap.

It comes with the territory. Remember the post from the woman who thru-hiked for several years?

My titanium spork, I guess I trust that…

I'm surprised that Gossamer Gear hasn't been mentioned more. I'm not trying to start a debate, but I have been using their gear for at least a dozen years, back to when Glen ran the business out of his house as GVP Gear. I've purchased numerous gear items (packs, shelters, Trekking poles, etc.) and have NEVER not gotten exactly what I ordered and expected. I know there are a few thru-hikers out there that knock GG for their customer service, but I think they represent a minority of the end-users and tend to have demanding needs and expectations. Just my 2 cents…

These are my subjective impressions after 5 years of buying from a lot of small brands:

Professional Quality
HMG (shelters)
Katabatic Gear
ULA
Western Mountaineering
GoLite
Locus Gear

Good Quality
HMG (packs)
Mountain Laurel Designs
TarpTent
Gossamer Gear
Enlighted Equipment

Marginal Quality
BearPaw Wilderness Designs
Zpacks
Six Moon Designs (new packs aside, they're very nice)

I'd add to the list:

Nunatak

I mentioned Gossamer Gear…