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Castle X Gear Any Good?

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22K views 28 replies 28 participants last post by  thermsen1966  
#1 ·
Hey was just wondering if anyone has tried or uses the castle gear. I noticed its price tag is much lower than the namebrand Arctic Cat gear we usually buy. Any imput on if its cheap junk or worth the money? Thanks.
 
#3 ·
I've had the best luck with the coats. They seem pretty nice and I keep my old one around and wear it frequently even though I have a new Arctic Cat coat. The boots that I had SUCK!!! They are very prone to getting wet. The pants are okay. They work but you can get a wet ass because they aren't goretex.
 
#6 ·
Always liked there jackets and snow pants. Had very good luck so far with any Castle gear I've bought. Just got there new series goggles.
 
#7 ·
I've got a Castle X jacket .... it's been very good. The gloves ... not so impressed with them. Maybe it's just me, but my hands sweat pretty easily when riding hard and the gloves I have (had) don't breathe very well. They get wet and tend to stay wet.

Love the coat ... hate the gloves.
 
#8 ·
Castle is ok but for the little bit more you spend on FXR it is 10 times the quality. I mean if your looking at a switch jacket the FXR helix is like 20 bucks more and it actually has a waterproof membrane not just a coating like the castle jackets do. I have had tons of FXR coats and they have always lasted a long time and kept me dry.
 
#9 ·
I have pants and gloves, same pants for three seasons now and love them. very adjustable for a great fit.
Under them I wear my under armor bottoms and nothing else, well boxers :rolleyes: and never been cold.
the heavy gloves get too hot if its over 25*but they are great when colder, i have two pair so i can swap from day to day. less then $30 bucks too:thumbsup:
 
#26 ·
Sold it for 3 years before we dropped the line, Worst gear we have ever had. Returns galore. Its not even made for snowmobiling. Check out there joke of a warranty-you have to pay.
If you want quality at a great price look here at Arctiva, FXR and Slednecks. We also carry Klim with lifetime warranty: Arctiva Snowmobile Jackets, snowmobile bibs, handle bar risers, riser blocks



Agree 100 percent. If you don't mind ripped seams and wet hands castle gloves are great. The Coat I have I've barely warn and seems have ripped in 5 different places.

Also good luck trying to EVER get anything warranted. I wore a pair of gloves for a total of 30 miles the seems ripped on the throttle hand. I took pictures with my phone immediately as the rip started and as it progressed till I got back to the truck. Send the gloves in with the pictures and a letter expressing exactly what happened...

So what did they do sent me the gloves back saying I ABUSED them no warranty. I said I guess if pushing the throttle is too much for these pieces of shit then what good are they? They sent them back to me and I put them in my sled tote and they've been there ever since. Totally worthless to me I wouldn't spend another dollar with them.
 
#14 ·
I had the switch jacket and fuel pants in the 09 LE 'nightmare' pattern. I really liked the pants. They were warm, comfortable, stong, had good flexabiliy. The jacket I didn't like so much. My biggest issues with my jacket were it had no droptail or windskirt to keep the wind out of the jacket when it was cold, and the jacket's interior was not very breathable so I always had a cold damp jacket aftet each pit stop.
 
#19 ·
I've been a dealer for castle gear (one of their highest volume dealers - top 10), and seldom had any issues with their products. If their was an issue, I called them directly, and they took care of it. As a racer I wore their sno-x gear, and it was great. I continue to wear their gear to this day. The only clothing I liked more (for extreme cold) was Reima, but Scott ruined that brand.
 
#22 ·
Have the switch jacket and fuel pants and gloves for the past two seasons, I guess I havent had any issue at all with them. They're plenty warm for me, I often have to open one or two vents in the jacket. The gloves are great but do tend to suck when they get wet. So i got a pair of klim gloves and wore them 3 rides and threw them in the closet cuz they froze my damn fingers. Rode twice in my brothers castle boots to see if I liked them and they are like everyone else said, cheap and you will hate them. Thats just my experience with the stuff though, everyones different
 
#23 ·
I had very good luck with my Castle Gear. I bought a pair of bibs and a method jacket 9 years ago. The bibs were warm but my knees seemed to get cold on the coldest of days, the seem in the crotch ripped 3 seasons ago trying to pull my buddy out of a 7 ft drainage ditch. The jacket was warm and had plenty of ventilation which I licked. The liner tore on the inside near the elastic strap the buttons around your waist a few seasons ago. Not bad for a $300 investment 9 years ago. I bought my wife a complete Castle suit last season and she has been very happy, dry and warm...

I replaced the pants when they ripped with Klim and I just received my Klim Tomahawk Parka this week to replace the coat. I really only replaced the coat bc I bought a Tekvest and it didn't fit under my old jacket.
 
#28 ·
I think what we are finding out is that some manufacturers make a cheaper line and higher end line of clothing with the same logos on them. Others may skip the entry-level and just produce the high-end lines.

What we find is that the cheaper lines can tarnish the name.

Castle/HJC is one of those companies. They have some of the nicest snowmobile clothes on the market that are good quality and function. They also produce a cheaper line to get the entry-point riders onto the same brand. These cheaper products really tarnish the entire name.

Both my wife and I have Castle jackets. The quality difference is amazing, but then again, the cost was big too. Hers has zip out liner and much more adjustment than mine. That being said, mine is still a great jacket and I have had very good luck with it and saved quite a bit with it.

My Castle pants are warm and quite durable, but since I paid a bit less, they are not made of a breathable material and the SWASS is crazy. As someone else said, if you are riding all day, wear as little as possible underneith or the SWASS will get ya! If I had paid a bit more I would have had the same comfort as my North Face Ski pants I use Skiing.

You get what you pay for. My guess is Klim has such a good name in the business since I have not seen a cheap line from them. I can't say that I have shopped them much either.

So read your tags and buy from a dealer that will honor the warranty even when Castle doesn't want to. They may have more pull with the manufacturer than you do.

Those of us that buy the overstocks online or last year's color on Ebay, we get what we pay for. I just learned how to sew some stretch fabric in the crotch to make up for that bad seem!

Good luck!