I see they have two lines, "Trophy" or entry level and "Wrangler" or premium level. Can anyone give me the good, bad, and ugly on either one?

Thanks a bunch!

I have about 7 of their blinds that are about 15-17 years old at this point. They have held up very well and the new ones are basically the same design and material. I have made several modifications over the years that have made them better and more water tight.

We installed them onto concrete pads that we poured specifically for the blind. Also secured them with guy wires on all 4 corners. They have withstood many very high wind storms with minimal damage. One blind that sits on top of a hill suffered a bent support from the winds but I was able to fix it and then re-enforce it. No problems since.

The main frustrations was that the windows and door were subject to blowing open in a high wind. I tried several things before I cam up with the proper fix. I built a small metal tab with threaded holes and bolted it above the window. Then run a small bolt through the metal tab and through a hole in the thicker green window pane. This holds the green pane in place and blocks the clear pane from moving. On the door I ended up bolting a small gate hinge with a bolt sticking out of it on the outside of the blind just behind the door when closed. Pressing the hinge flat against the blind forces the bolt on the hinge to go through a hole that blocks the door from sliding. To enter you just pull the hinge up. After these mods I no longer have any windows or doors blowing open.

Also you need to silicon up the outside of the aluminum window rails as they will leak into the blind.

For the money they are hard to beat. All we have done for maintinance is tighten bolts every couple of years.

L

We have both at our lease. Minus the legs being attached, the Wrangler was pre-built when it showed up. So I think that's how those are sold. They also aren't like the "erector set" ones that make up the trophy line. From an extra's perspective, the Wrangler has all the various options you can get on the hunter line (full door, shelf, tinted windows ...). I also looks like the wrangler is only avail in 5x7.

For the trophy ones, I have 2-4x8's and they are almost 10 years old. The plywood on the floor is starting to rot on one of the corners, but given the simplicity of these blinds, it wouldn't be hard to go out and buy a new 3/4", 4x8 sheet of plywood and replace it (I could also by a new floor from Texas Hunter). Other than that, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't last another 10 years. they are very simple to assemble and it's all bolts and nuts. A few things to keep in mind for these. they provide felt stickers to put on the edges of the windows. Make sure you use them or your windows will rattle anytime you move inside the blind. The 1/2" or 3/4" insulating boards you can get at home depot work really well to insulate these blinds. I insulated the bottom 1/2 of the blind and used screws with washers to attach the boards to the walls. Since the walls are basically made out of 1/4" plastic, you can drill new holes anyplace you want and you don't need to worry about the walls rotting out on you. The other nice thing about the trophy blinds is that every part on them is replaceable by Texas Hunter. We had one of our 4x8's blow over earlier this year and it cost us about $100 to get the replacement parts from Texas Hunter (we ended up replacing most of one side).

Thanks hogbranch good info