Frabil Sno Suit vs Gray Ice Armor vs Ice Force

I’ve got the Frabill Sno Suit jacket and the Ice Armor Insulated Bibs. My bibs finally ripped out this fall after 8 years of fairly hard use. So now I need to, at a minimum, get new bibs. I don’t know that I want to drop $330 on Frabill’s matching bibs, but I’m considering it. I was semi close to pulling the trigger on the Ice Armor Gray Suit. Then I found Ice Force gear online, and it looks awfully nice.

I’m familiar with Frabill’s and Ice Armor’s gear. Has anyone tried the Ice Force gear yet? I figure the IDO guys are on board with Ice Force, so what have you got to say, boys?

Striker

If I were buying a new suit this year I would want one that floats. Striker makes a good floating suit. Clam also came out with a floating suit this year.

Tough to beat the ice armor grey suit. I have not had them all but a few buddies have some of both the frabill and the strikemaster. They seem nowhere near what the ice armor is. Jmho

It is harder to enjoy the money you saved if you drown.

Both the ice force and sno suit bibs are better quality than the clam ice armor suits. I had a ice armor extreme suit 3 years ago and was not impressed! I would go with the sno bibs first. I inspected the ice force bibs snd they also seem better quality than the clam extreme bibs.

I would consider the striker complete suit myself at this point. However I’ve got a arctic armor suit and a sno suit. Seems like striker drastically increased to quality of there 3 models since inseption!

I have a Striker suit and it’s really nice and will float you if you do break through the ice. Warm and dry as well.

Can’t speak for any of the other suit but I have had the Grey ice armor suit and it has been everything I wanted and more, very durable and warm. IMO you can’t go wrong with that suit. I just wear a nice small life jacket under the suit rather than buying the more expensive suit. But it is your money.

Another vote for the “Striker”!!! If you’re going to spend the cash, the Striker compares favorably in warmth, comfort ability and of course, it FLOATS lol! I haven’t had mine long enough to comment on durability but it sure seems like that won’t be an issue. No matter what “suit” you go with, you will NOT have any problem with keeping warm and dry!!! GL!!!

You can buy the Frabill Snosuit bibs online from Walmart for 197.00.

Snosuit Bibs

Striker x3! I bought their Gardian suit at the Northwest sport show Feb. this year. It is lightly insulated. (50 grams) Had it out on the ice late a few times shorlty after, in the boat both spring and fall and out on the ice in the sub zero temps this year and have nothing bad to say about it! My face and hands get cold with not a chill anywhere else. The wind doesn’t blow through it at all. I dress in layers no matter what the conditions and adjust them accordingly. -4 this morning felt like 30 did in my carhartts while setting up and taking down. Its not their dedicated ice suit so I imagine that would only be warmer. I bought my suit as a fitsall uses as I’m on a budget and it exceeded my expectation!

I’ve been looking at the Striker Predator bibs for $179
They seem to look,fit and feel like quality stuff for the price might want to take a look at those!

Striker is the only option….why pay for something that doesnt float?

Anybody have any actual experience with the Ice Force? Or are they brand new, and I’m not asking a fair question?

Been wearing Striker Mojo bibs for several years used for snowmobiling and ice fishing and love them, added a Striker jacket this year on sale and almost to warm. Was out yesterday in just a t shirt and jacket/bibs and plenty warm in 8 degrees…Wife has the whole Striker Lite suit and loves it I’ll be adding the bibs at some point to complete my set…

One last bump to see if any one has any experience with ICE FORCE stuff.

I own the sno suit and love it. I almost never use my portable .
I also own an Arctic Armor suit. While it is suppose to float. I do not think there is anything arctic about it. It is an Ok early ice season or late ice when warmer. Or good fall and and early spring open water. The quality is not to the level of the sno suit. You have to layer considerable to stay warm and the suit does not breathe at all. While the sno suit is warm it also breathes. The AA suit will actually condense water inside as if your wearing a plastic bag.

Also mine came with gloves and I ended up throwing them away.

The AA was the rage a few years ago but you almost hear nothing about them.
Bob

Quote:

---

One last bump to see if any one has any experience with ICE FORCE stuff.

---

Ice Force suit.

I wore this suit this past weekend on LOTW. Sunday was flat out cold, Monday was windy with blowing snow in the morning, Tuesday was strong winds again. We also took snowmobilies from Wheelers Point up to Oak Island as our destination.
I wore a base layer of Columbia sweat pants under the Ice Force bibs, T-shirt, with Cabelas base layer long sleeve and finally the IDO sweatshirt, with Ice Force Jacket over the top. I was very comfortable on all 3 days of this trip. Never cold, never felt the wind blow thru the system. I felt the bibs were comfortable to fish in both kneeling and standing up and the jacket allowed a lot of flexibility going through the motions of ice fishing. The jacket does have draw ties on the bottom which will help cinch up the jacket closer to the bibs. Padded knees were comfortable on kneeling on the ice as well. During the snowmobile ride the suit also perfomed great, feels very light while wearing but doesn’t lack in any performance in the cold. It took a bit of adjusting on the shoulder straps and break in out of the package, but after a 3 day trip to LOTW I think this suit held up great.

Quote:

---

Can’t speak for any of the other suit but I have had the Grey ice armor suit and it has been everything I wanted and more, very durable and warm. IMO you can’t go wrong with that suit. I just wear a nice small life jacket under the suit rather than buying the more expensive suit. But it is your money.

---

Yep. Sat outside in 1 degree air temp (add windchill) for a couple hours this morning in my Ice Armor Extreme (gray) suit. I was comfortable and dry all morning despite the temps and slush.

I have had the grey Ice Armor, Striker Lite, and Sno Suit. I sold the grey Ice Armor suit and still have the other two. I like to be ultra mobile and very rarely use a shack.

The Sno Suit is flat out overkill in temps 20+. It’s built like a tank and heavy. The gusseting around the crotch and shoulders works great. You would have to be in some really cold temps to get cold in this suit. I have had it three years and have probably 100 days on the ice with it. It still looks new besides the fish slime on it.

The Striker Lite suit is lighter weight and still pretty warm. I would say I stay warm to about 10 degrees in it. I wear it primarily during early and late ice because it floats.

The grey Ice Armor suit was about as warm as the Striker Lite suit. The material was not very durable. The crotch ripped the second time I wore it and I got a tear on the knee pad from kneeling down.

Thanks for the review, Calvin. When you say a little break in was needed, was it stiff?

How about the Strikemaster hardwater ware bibs? Anyone have or had them? On sale at GM but poor description, doesn’t say anything about the insulation.

Another vote for Striker!!