Kuiu Icon a flop?

[sammy-j-peppers]

Well it sure seems the Kuiu band wagon has fallen by the wayside.

And a total redesign of the Icon frame, harness, and bags. Does this mean Jason is admitting his original design was a total fail? Sure looks like it to me. He seems to be taking a lot of flack on his blog these days.

How many of the Kuiu fans will be reordering a new pack from him?

[pg83]

I never bought the original icon so the changes they have made do not affect me. I plan on buying an icon in the next year or two. Old bags fit on the new frame. New bags don't fit on the old frame. Doesn't seem to be too much of an issue to me.

[Buck]

Well it sure seems the Kuiu band wagon has fallen by the wayside.

And a total redesign of the Icon frame, harness, and bags. Does this mean Jason is admitting his original design was a total fail? Sure looks like it to me. He seems to be taking a lot of flack on his blog these days.

How many of the Kuiu fans will be reordering a new pack from him?

I will buy one in the next year or two as the concept of the internal meat shelf and the light weight are really appealing when you're trying to shave weight for alpine hunting. I bought the Mystery ranch just when the ICON came out as i
figured there would be problems.Kudos to Kuiu for continuos improvement.

[Superdeuce]

I don't have an Icon either as happy with my MR 7500 and Crewcab.... but I did spend a lot of coin on a new carbon bow this year knowing full well Hoyt will be introducing a new model in 2013 with some tweaks and mine will be outdated....just like most things, the companies try to evolve and build a better mouse trap each year.... mainly to keep us suckers coming back to the trough for the latest and greatest.

I probably wouldn't be real happy if I had bought an Icon as well. but you assume that risk as a consumer especially when buying a brand new product no matter what the company's quality control testing. I imagine the old Icons are ok, but the new ones should presumably just be better. I think Jason answered the bell pretty well in his response on his blog on the Kuiu site and I don't think you are going to see that kind of direct customer interaction with any other company. Sounds like some of the consumer frustration stemmed from people mistakenly thinking the old bags were not compatible with the new frame should they want to upgrade.

[Eastbranch]

I know a few guys who have them and I haven't heard any complaining. I haven't even heard any specifics on what caused the design change....all the reviews I saw were positive. But as with all prototypes, there's going to be some growing pains but that didn't stop me from ordering the new 7000 and frame last week. If it can stand up to 20-some odd kills in one year from a guy like Kootenayelkslayer, I'll take my chances. Plenty of complaining in the last week from guys who have the 2011 models and are choked that 2012 models aren't completely interchangeable. But that's product development for you.

[ryanb]

There were definately some design flaws in the previous model. Good that they are fixing the issues (hopefully). They should have seen the negative sentiment coming though from purchasers of the previous version. They should offer a deal to trade in the old 6000 for the new one for cost.

[sheephunterab]

I spoke with two people that had frames break.

[todbartell]

broken frame sounds like a great feature when you're a few days hike from nowhere

[BlacktailStalker]

People who buy the first release of any product are victims of their own foolishness !

[Eastbranch]

Ding ding ding. Winner. Dropping $600 on a prototype of anything is a big risk. The only way I'd be sporting the first gen of anything is if I got it for free or at a huge markdown.

[The Hermit]

Jason replaced my first frame when the pivot bolt that holds it all together spun out of the CF housing due to my attempt to tighten enough to stop a squeak that sounded like a calf elk mew. It ended up costing me some $100+ dollars in shipping... wasn't too happy about that but the pack and frame have been great since, albeit with only moderate loads so far.

I don't mind being an early adopter if the timing is right, but it would be nice if they would give previous owners a deal on an upgrade!

[budismyhorse]

It isn't a total redesign FWIW........Stiffer Frame and a larger bag with more headroom.....
I'm on the pre-order list for the new frame and bag.......(I can play around when its company money ;))

I'll let y'all know how they work out.

http://blog.kuiu.com/

go down to the videos about the new gear.......

[budismyhorse]

whats wrong with a few improvements? Thats just business...innovations are part of growth.

For all the MR and Eberle lovers can I ask if those packs have ever made a few changes?

Gawd its amazing how people love to hate this brand.......

[2x4x16]

I have the first generation Kuiu frame and 3000 bag. I bought it with the intent that it would be just a day pack. The 6000 never looked big enough to me. I have used it all winter snow shoeing and hiking. I love it. I have not carried 80lbs in it yet but have loaded it to 45 lbs and works great. I had some squeaking sounds in the very beginning, but they all went away. I bought it at the end of last season sale - I certainly don't regret my purchase.

[Bearen 09]

If you spend enough days in the hills you will love kuiu.. The packs are second to non, and I use a mystery 6500 and the weight alone you shave in the kuiu is impressive.. All the guys that pack sheep out will know what I am talking about.. Nuff said.
There are good and bad in everything so don't be haten....

[BiG Boar]

I've packed 2 elk, albeit short packs, 2 goats, and 1 stones sheep in mine. I've hunted with it for over 90 days, and for the 5 pounds it saves me over my old pack, I think it's great. I'm definitley not getting rid of mine any time soon. To me I take it on all hunts and always have a pack frame if need be. I can't say the same thing about my old pack frame the only time that thing came out was long hike in trips. Like any product, I'm sure improvements can be made. Heck we've been making cars for a long time and yet every year you see newer models. Icon a flop? I'd rather walk a mile in my boots with my pack on that most other guys.

[Matty_ola]

I think they make a fantastic product.

The one and only think I hate about kuiu is the price to ship items north of the border. I mean a pair of pants to every state including Alaska is $9.00 but ship it to Canada is gonna run you $30.00..... Where's the sense in that? The bloody product is made in Canada, why the heck would you ship the finished product to the USA just to ship it back to canadian customers?

There must be another more feasible solution.

That said I bought the icon 6000 with frame for $250 when they had their outlet open. I complained about the straps always coming loose so they sent me the "new" version thicker straps and it's been perfect since.

The squeek problem in the hip pivot was quickly fixed by rubbing bees wax onto the rubber that contacts the frame.

[Rubicon500]

Whats wrong with making improvements ? Its called good bussiness continually trying to better a product , taking customer feedback etc.

[Coop]

I would say not a flop. http://blog.kuiu.com/2012/08/02/petersens-hunting-editors-choice-award/

[rem338win]

Whats with the haters?