Individual Review Long-Term Review: Kulkea Thermal Trekker Heated Boot Bag

[Pat AKA mustski]

My heater died on one side. 2nd time in 2 years. emailed company. No response. Not acceptable customer service. This seems to be a reoccurring theme with Kulkea lately.
I will not buy another Kulkea product.

It took a few days for them to get back to me, but they were quite responsive once they started.

 

[BC.]

Hate to jump on the bandwagon….but my wife’s bag/switch unfortunately stopped working this weekend…....kind of surprised me/then I looked at this thread and saw others with similar issues.

Looks like I will have to contact them as well.

They did reply the next day…..but the bag is 3 years old, so does not fall into their 2 year warranty….So kinda bummed, but oh well…I’ll give my Thermal Trekker to my wife, and I’ll just go back to living like a peasant.

 

[Tricia]

My heater died on one side. 2nd time in 2 years. emailed company. No response. Not acceptable customer service. This seems to be a reoccurring theme with Kulkea lately.
I will not buy another Kulkea product.

I’m surprised. I’ve had two switches malfunction in 6 years. Both time I received replacement switch/thermal pads within days of reporting it.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

I’m surprised. I’ve had two switches malfunction in 6 years. Both time I received replacement switch/thermal pads within days of reporting it.

My second switch is failing and it’s just a little over a year. Since they replaced it once, I assumed my warranty has expired. Hmmm. Maybe I should ask Kulkea and see what they say.

 

[dovski]

It is funny, but I used to think that boot heaters and heated boot bags were superfluous luxuries, then I skied Big Sky in -25 and bought boot heaters immediately. At the end of last year I picked up two Thermal Trekkers on one of the make me buy sales (seriously Christy's was practically giving these away). Have to say now that I have started using a heated boot bag I do not think I can ever turn back, warm boots really do fit better and make for a better all up ski day. Luckily no switch issues yet, but good to know I can get this covered under warranty should it come up.

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

With all the switch problems, I’ve started leaving the switch set and plugging/unplugging in hopes to avoid another issue.

 

[Tricia]

With all the switch problems, I’ve started leaving the switch set and plugging/unplugging in hopes to avoid another issue.

Since they don't have different heat settings, that seems like a logical thing to do.

 

[KULKEA]

My heater died on one side. 2nd time in 2 years. emailed company. No response. Not acceptable customer service. This seems to be a reoccurring theme with Kulkea lately.
I will not buy another Kulkea product.

Hi @skifastflylow1 - we're sorry to hear you haven't got a response from our team. We'd love to get this issue fixed for you and make it up to you ASAP. Do you mind emailing me here? I will personally make sure this is resolved.

 

[skifastflylow1]

Hi @skifastflylow1 - we're sorry to hear you haven't got a response from our team. We'd love to get this issue fixed for you and make it up to you ASAP. Do you mind emailing me here? I will personally make sure this is resolved.

While I appreciate the response here on PugSki, I have since bought another heated gear bag (Rossignol branded) on Amazon. Too late-I tried to contact Kulkea before Christmas with no response for weeks. Still have not heard back other than on this forum. Moving on.

 

[Tricia]

While I appreciate the response here on PugSki, I have since bought another heated gear bag (Rossignol branded) on Amazon. Too late-I tried to contact Kulkea before Christmas with no response for weeks. Still have not heard back other than on this forum. Moving on.

Sorry about that, but as others have said, that is not the normal response from Kulkea.
Its possible that they were short staffed around the holidays.

One of our testers contacted Kulkea about something and was disappointed that they didn't get a response, later to find that the email response was sitting in her junk mail.

 

[ssh]

With all the switch problems, I’ve started leaving the switch set and plugging/unplugging in hopes to avoid another issue.

@KULKEA, any thoughts on these reliability issues? Have you been some to find any design changes to address them?

 

[BC.]

My initial bag issue is stated upthread…I’ll elaborate more now that more people are having same issues.

My wife’s bag was at the start of the 3rd year…(just out of warranty)…..she goes to adjust the switch for the first time (because the bag wasn’t heating up) and the switch cover falls apart…I said to her, I guess you shouldn’t have touched the switch…..funny, but not really.

No offense, but the bag was barely out of the 2 year warranty program….switch shouldn’t be falling apart upon “switching” heat settings/because it won’t heat up.

I’ll continue to use mine….sorry, but we should be able to get a few years out of them without issue/having to replace parts.

 

[Tricia]

@KULKEA, any thoughts on these reliability issues? Have you been some to find any design changes to address them?

After talking to Kulkea the past few days we found that the switch issue was an issue in earlier bags but does not seem to be a problem in the current bags, so it has been fixed.
That being said, I would hope that folks like @BC. will get the "fix" and be able to keep using the bag.

I'll reach out to them and have them pop in here again. My experience has been exceptional on their response and the only issues I've seen in their communication have been the occasional issue with their emails going into the customer's spam folder.
That's a tricky one.

 

[BC.]

After talking to Kulkea the past few days we found that the switch issue was an issue in earlier bags but does not seem to be a problem in the current bags, so it has been fixed.
That being said, I would hope that folks like @BC. will get the "fix" and be able to keep using the bag.

I'll reach out to them and have them pop in here again. My experience has been exceptional on their response and the only issues I've seen in their communication have been the occasional issue with their emails going into the customer's spam folder.
That's a tricky one.

Thanks…totally agree. I’m sure we’ll all figure it out. When working, the bag is a really nice product.

*For us parking lot booters…we love our warm boots…lol

 

[Phatboy64]

I had several punches in my Head Raptors and the heat never bothered them. Different plastics have different temps to make the punches but @KULKEA says the bags don't get hot enough to damage any of the current plastics.

I would be careful. As you said different plastics react differently. One of my concerns is the unevenness of the heat distribution. It gets much hotter on the bottom 1/4 of the bag which is where most punches are. 150 degrees could affect some punches over time. I would not leave my modified boots in the bag on high indoors for an extended time. Below is right off their web site

Note: For boots, gear or apparel that may be temperature sensitive, consult the item manufacturer before warming.

 

[KULKEA]

My second switch is failing and it’s just a little over a year. Since they replaced it once, I assumed my warranty has expired. Hmmm. Maybe I should ask Kulkea and see what they say.

There was an AC controller switch issue in a limited number of bags produced 4-5 years ago. Some of the switches in this batch may fail as a result. The issue was identified and resolved after that batch, and hasn't been present in bags manufactured since that time. If someone has a bag that fails for this issue beyond the 2 year warranty period we will still address it for you. The fix takes about 10 minutes to complete. Kulkea may be reached for warranty claims and this issue via our our Adventure Warranty program. FYI - We also recommend you register purchases under the Adventure Warranty program so we may help you as quickly as possible if you ever have an issue with a Kulkea product. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please know that we truly do our best when designing and manufacturing products and we very much care about our products. We're in this business because we're skiers ourselves and want to bring skiers the best products possible. https://www.kulkea.com/adventure-warranty/.

 

[KULKEA]

Thanks…totally agree. I’m sure we’ll all figure it out. When working, the bag is a really nice product.

*For us parking lot booters…we love our warm boots…lol

Hi Tricia. Thank you. You are correct. This was an AC controller switch issue in a limited number of bags manufactured 4-5 years ago. It hasn't been present in bags manufactured since that time. We have a simple fix (takes about 10 minutes). We provide this fix at no cost during the 2 year warranty period and beyond. Anyone with a warranty or AC controller switch issue should reach-out to us under the Adventure Warranty program at https://www.kulkea.com/adventure-warranty/. FYI - We recommend anyone who purchases a Kulkea product to register their purchase under the Adventure Warranty so we may respond to you as quickly as possible.

 

[KULKEA]

It is funny, but I used to think that boot heaters and heated boot bags were superfluous luxuries, then I skied Big Sky in -25 and bought boot heaters immediately. At the end of last year I picked up two Thermal Trekkers on one of the make me buy sales (seriously Christy's was practically giving these away). Have to say now that I have started using a heated boot bag I do not think I can ever turn back, warm boots really do fit better and make for a better all up ski day. Luckily no switch issues yet, but good to know I can get this covered under warranty should it come up.

Thank you! You shouldn't have a switch controller issue. The AC controller switch issue is limited to a batch manufactured years ago. Have a great season!

 

[KULKEA]

My initial bag issue is stated upthread…I’ll elaborate more now that more people are having same issues.

My wife’s bag was at the start of the 3rd year…(just out of warranty)…..she goes to adjust the switch for the first time (because the bag wasn’t heating up) and the switch cover falls apart…I said to her, I guess you shouldn’t have touched the switch…..funny, but not really.

No offense, but the bag was barely out of the 2 year warranty program….switch shouldn’t be falling apart upon “switching” heat settings/because it won’t heat up.

I’ll continue to use mine….sorry, but we should be able to get a few years out of them without issue/having to replace parts.

There was an AC controller switch issue in a limited number of bags produced 4-5 years ago. Some of the switches in this batch may fail as a result. The issue was identified and resolved after that batch, and hasn't been present in bags manufactured since that time. If someone has a bag that fails for this issue beyond the 2 year warranty period we will still address it for you. The fix takes about 10 minutes to complete. Kulkea may be reached for warranty claims and this issue via our our Adventure Warranty program. FYI - We also recommend you register purchases under the Adventure Warranty program so we may help you as quickly as possible if you ever have an issue with a Kulkea product. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please know that we truly do our best when designing and manufacturing products and we very much care about our products. We're in this business because we're skiers ourselves and want to bring skiers the best products possible. https://www.kulkea.com/adventure-warranty/.

 

[MikeW Philly]

First day using my heated boot bag. -2 F when I pulled up to boot up in parking lot. Man it‘s amazing how nice it was to slip on the boots and how warm my feet stayed for the first hour or so.

Really is a wonderful addition to the ski gear sets.