Simms G3 Guide Pants - It Just Isn't So 28Apr21

I have owned a number of pairs of G3 Guide Pants from Simms. The fit is awesome. However, I need to alert folks that reliability and longevity is not good enough for such expensive ($500) gear. Basically, through four pairs of these things I've determined that they begin to leak around 30-40 outings; that's less than 1/2 year for me... and I don't beat them up on these wearings either. When they begin to leak I ship them back for repair and use my backups (which typically have been a prior pair of G3 Guide Pants that have, or have not, been repaired to non-leaking). I sometimes do a repair myself but one is not supposed to repair the seam between the GoreTex pant and the neoprene booty, and that is where I often have trouble. So, on the 2nd or maximally 3rd trip back to Simms for repair, I get a return notice saying they are "beyond repair" and they are returned to me "as is," aka leaking. At that point I will buy another pair and move the 2nd best pair to backup. So, when I found this chart on the Simms site, intended to justify their high cost, and the standard measurement was 150 outings, I had to laugh - in a dark and misled kind of way. Despite their own chart suggesting 5 years at 30 outings, I get an average of ~40 outings before leakage and then need to do a hard replacement after 75, or 90 max, due to terminal failure. My version of this chart would show 2X the daily cost for a short period and I've payed  $2000 to cover 5 years of service. I am now searching for  alternative wading pants and will be trying the Patagonia Swiftcurrent Pants.

 

Well it happened even sooner this time - Simms sent back my 18 month old G3 Guide pants (which were "in" for the first time) unrepaired. It was accompanied by this email and ultimately letter. I had the same issue on the seam between bootie and pant but they implied that this fail after ~40 outings is somehow my fault I guess. Weak response IMO.

Sure - I can fix these relatively new $500 guide pants that I just spent $18 bucks sending to them (and I guess I will have to so do) - but they should do it happily. I'm done with Simms, I hope the Patagonia Swiftcurrents are awesome.