Tubbs Discovery Series

Summary

Found these at a thrift store several years ago for $30 when retail at the time was $250, as per internet at the time. I would not have paid the retail price but for $30 they've been fabulous.

Found these at a thrift store several years ago for $30 when retail at the time was $250, as per internet at the time. I would not have paid the retail price but for $30 they've been fabulous. Lighter weight by far than my real snowshoes, my Browning rawhide and wood beavertails, my go-to shoes for deep snow. 

The Discovery's are not good in deep snow. I'm a 150 lb. woman, 5'8" tall. The Discovery's are 27".  The Discovery's sink way further down into deep soft snow and snow builds up on the decking so I have to tip my foot every step to dump it off.  The solid decking also provides a spot for my Labrador Retriever's feet to land, something he can't do on the tail of my beavertails, and he causes me to face plant — all part of the fun.  :)

I received these snowshoes as a gift, For an inexpensive snowshoe they can keep up with the best of them in all conditions. I have trekked miles and climbed mountains and they have never let me down. I cannot see myself needing more snowshoes for a long time.

Features: Non-anodized aircraft grade aluminum frame. Waterproof and durable maintenance free decking. Quickdraw bindings, recreational toe and heel crampons. 9"x27".

The best feature of these snowshoes is the quickdraw bindings. Just place your foot in the binding, pull on the two straps, and your toes are secured. The tricky part is trying to secure the heel strap while wearing gloves. It's not gonna happen. You might as well take your gloves off, and tighten the strap.

Walking around with a pack, I end up on the upper limit of these shoes. Going through powder and packed trails seem to be a breeze. Small hills are easily handled by these shoes, however do not take these shoes to go up steeper slopes. You will slip and fall, as the crampons are not aggressive enough to bite into the snow.

Getting out of the snowshoes is even easier than getting in. Reach down, pull the tips of the two ladder locks together, and pull up, away from your toe. Scoot the entire foot forward, and you're cleared of the heel strap.

Only things I don't like about the binding:

* Ice tends to form in the pocket created by the forward crampon (I suppose all of them do this), but in order to get it cleared you almost need to whack the things against a tree.

* They're not the lightest snowshoes in the world. 3.0 lbs a pair starts getting on my nerves after a while.

* The straps from the quickdraw system tend to "flop around" while I'm walking. It also starts grating on the nerves, particularly when you've been hiking for awhile.

* At 9 inches wide, your stride is severely affected. If you're looking to hike AND run with these... I'd suggest something else.