Considering a Quikfish 4? Here's how it went for me

[KrabbyPatties]

I purchased an Eskimo Quikfish 4 a year ago, and while it works OK, I think overall it was a mistake. I often see posts asking "what portable should I buy", but I never see anything about the Quikfish 4, which I would guess is pretty different from the smaller hubs. I purchased this shelter thinking that a friend and I would take his son and my son fishing in it. So, here is my experience, pro and con:

Pro:

For a shelter that can accommodate 4 people, it was inexpensive.

It's pretty roomy.

I like the windows and window placement.

Con:

I'm tall enough for this shelter, but if I were any shorter, I'd hate setting it up and the backpack straps on the bag would be unappealing.

It's easy to set up by myself if it's calm, but it's even more of a nightmare than a normal hub in the wind.

If it's breezy, the sides collapse and require the anchor cords.

Unlike a smaller hub, this one is kind of tough to move without completely tearing down (you can go short distances...), which is a bit of a pain. If I just take my son, this shelter is just too large for him to be of much help.

It's too big to set up for drying in most basements and might be too high for some garages.

After use, you might have to bag it up with snow and slush on it, or you just leave it unbagged and strewn about.

Because it's larger, I worry constantly about breaking the longer poles.

With the size, you typically have to use the anchor screws, which is slow.

Tough to heat.

The ceiling only snaps in properly in one direction and it's easy to accidentally rotate it 90 degrees and have to redo it.

The backpack straps on the bag tore off twice (had to send it back twice) because the stitching couldn't handle the weight of the shelter.

I'm sure there are other things worth noting, and I'll post them if I remember, but the bottom line to me is that while I have no experience with the smaller hubs, this one is just unwieldy because of it's size. If it's not windy and you have a competent helper, it'll work for you, but if it's breezy or you fish with your kid, you'll be glad that you got it set up once--and you really won't want to move around.

[nate larson]

I had some similar concerns about my quickfish 3 at first but now I love it! It takes a while to get the hang of setting it up in the wind but once you do I think it is very easy. Just make sure you anchor all four corners before you pop out the sides. It also helps to put an additional anchor out from the upwind side so you are ready to tie that hub to keep it from popping out. A big sunflower would probably work best for heating it. No need to dry it between every use. I just dry mine thoroughly at the end of the season. You might have to set it up in the back yard or something but that's not really that big of a deal. I agree that the bag sucks. I actually threw mine away and just use a strap instead. I say don't give up on it quite yet...

[chris63]

Practice,Practice,Practice is how you get to setting up the Qwikfish hall of fame!c63

[cichlid_baby]

Hey Krabby... I agree with everything you said about the Eskimo Quickfish 4... those are all real concerns for anyone looking at a larger pop up.. and I know Eskimo has not made any changes to address any of these issues since it's release last couple of seasons particular to the Quickfish 4 model.

In my opinion.. you would have been more happier with the Clam 6x8 or the Cabelas branded 6x8 Ice Team models.. They seem to have taken some of the earlier concerns about quality and durability of their pop ups and updated this years models to what appears to be a much better fabric with a very durable interior layer that does not exhibit the flaking issue of previously used materials. It also appears that the poles have been beefed up slightly to a heavier gauge. The house and pole system is very taught so for most occasions there isn't a need to even rope anchor the side panels at all except perhaps the wind leading side.

Eskimo pop ups in my opinion fall short in these regards and are slow to update or address these real usage concerns. I don't care what or how the hub performs in the showroom where the temp is a balmy 73 degrees with the only wind coming from the ventilation system.. but instead am more concerned with how it will perform in real world fishing conditions where extreme temps and wind conditions can make or break your fishing trip if your house is not up to handling it. Zippers that only work when warmed up inside a heated garage does me no good out on the frozen lake. Tent fabric that contracts and shrinks so much from the cold temps that it renders the hub panels cockeyed and lopsided and unable to lay flat on the ground until I have the house manually stretched out and then fully heated to relax the material enough so that it may be shaped and poles be straightened before staking.

Form follows function...

I am so much more happier with the performance of the Clam produced hub houses this year that I have gotten rid of all my Eskimo hubs due to their lack of real world performance pertaining to the some of the exact concerns that you mentioned about your Quickfish 4.... impractical..

[KrabbyPatties]

Thanks. Yeah, I suspect that smaller hubs aren't so bad--it's just the Quikfish 4 that I'm referring to here. I bought it for 2 reasons--first, I planned to have 3-4 people in it at times. Also, I was driving a small car at the time and could not consider a flip.

I picked up a Clam 2 man flip now and I really like it so far. I'm considering what to do with the Quikfish 4, but I'm thinking about keeping it for those few times when I fish with more than one other person.