Barronett Blinds Ground Blinds and Chairs

What Barronett Blinds makes for hunters

On this site, Barronett Blinds covers two product types: ground blinds and chairs. The blinds are all hub-style pop-ups. A hub blind is a fabric shell on fiberglass poles joined at hubs; you push the hubs out and the walls snap into shape. The grid above splits into five groups:

• Five-sided hub blinds: more floor and headroom than a four-sided blind
• Tall archery blinds: high enough to draw a bow standing
• See-through blinds: walls of one-way fabric
• Compact blinds: smaller footprints, lighter to carry
• Blind chairs: a low turkey chair and an aluminum folding chair

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the groups and what separates them, not about how many are listed this week. Most specs in the grid come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks those. Weights in the grid come from the maker. Where a listing doesn't say, the grid shows a dash.

Lineup notes: Barronett ground blinds

Five-sided hub blinds

The Ox 5, Hi-Five, Pentagon Heavy-Duty, Spy 5 and Feather Five all have five sides. Barronett says the five-sided shape gives about 70% more floor space than a comparable four-sided hub blind, along with more height. More room to draw, more room for a second chair, more room for the pack.

What separates them is the fabric:

• Ox 5: the maker's OxHide fabric, two bonded layers, a brushed camo outside with a waterproof polymer coating, the maker says, and a light-blocking inside layer; silent slide windows across three sides
• Hi-Five: extra-tall walls the maker lists at 76 inches of headroom, 1-way Vista fabric for 360 degrees of view, and an OxHide roof
• Pentagon Heavy-Duty: its listing names 600-denier fabric and low-profile windows
• Spy 5: one-way View-Through fabric, two vertical corner doors that flip up a whole wall panel for loading gear
• Feather Five: listed as a lightweight four-person blind with silent windows and shoot-through mesh

Denier is the thickness of the fabric's threads. Higher numbers mean heavier cloth. The Ox 5's maker page also lists 10mm fiberglass poles and die-cast aluminum hubs. Here's the thing: the heavy fabric is the reason to buy these, and also the reason they weigh what they weigh. More on that below.

Tall blinds for standing shots

The Prowler 300 and Big Mike are listed at 80 inches tall. Barronett says the Prowler 300 was built with archers in mind: tall enough that most bowhunters can draw and shoot while standing. The maker lists a 90-inch hub-to-hub shooting width for it.

The Prowler 300's windows can be set vertically or horizontally, the maker says, for archery or firearm hunting. Behind the window covers sit replaceable Shoot-Through mesh panels made for broadheads. Big Mike's listing names low-profile windows and the same mesh.

Rule of thumb: a seated shot needs a window at the right height. A standing shot needs the whole blind to be tall enough for the top limb at full draw. Measure before you buy, not on opening morning.

See-through blinds

The Grandview, Insight and Insight 350 use what the maker calls View-Through fabric: a one-way fabric you see out of from inside while the outside looks solid. The Spy 5 and Hi-Five use one-way fabric too.

• Insight: View-Through fabric floor to ceiling on three walls, a rear peek window, water-resistant 150-denier fabric with a black interior coating, per the maker
• Insight 350: the larger version, 80 inches tall per the maker, three full View-Through walls for 270 degrees of view, a flip-up "Garage Door" wall panel, and HD 150-denier fabric with a PU coating that the maker says is waterproof
• Grandview: the biggest floor in the group, a no-trip Breakout Door for easy entry, and vertical window openings for archery shots

The Grandview's page says to bring your kids, your spouse and the dog. (Danny asked if the dog's spot could go to the cooler. It could. The dog would complain less.)

Several of these include detachable blaze orange safety panels for gun season and sewn-on brush holders for adding natural cover, per the maker.

Compact blinds

The Radar, Road Runner and Ace 250 are the smaller end of the grid. Their listings put them in the mid-60-inch height range. The Radar and Road Runner listings name zipperless windows and shoot-through mesh; the Ace 250 names panoramic shooting windows. The Road Runner's listing gives the smallest footprint of the three.

These are blinds you carry in on your back, set up for a morning and carry out. A shorter blind means you'll shoot sitting. That's fine for most deer and every turkey I've ever heard about.

The ground blind page compares Barronett ground blinds with other brands by the same specs, and the best ground blind list shows how picks across brands were made.

Lineup notes: blind chairs

Ground Gobbler chairs

The Ground Gobbler is a low-profile turkey chair, listed with a 300-pound capacity. One listing pairs it with a shooting stick. A turkey chair sits you low, close to the ground, so you can lean on a tree or sit in a short blind. Stand up out of one slowly. Your knees will thank you, and so will mine.

Aluminum XL Blind Chair

The Aluminum XL is the folding chair. Barronett lists a 4-pound aluminum frame, a 400-pound capacity, an 18-inch seat height, a padded 600-denier seat and backrest, a large side pocket and a carry strap.

The seat height matters more than the padding. An 18-inch seat puts your eyes where a hub blind's windows expect them, the maker says. The hunting blind chair page covers chair height across brands.

How to choose within the Barronett lineup

Count the people, then add room

Listings give a person count, from two-person blinds to four-person ones. Read that as the number of people who fit sitting still. Add a chair, a pack and a bow, and a four-person blind turns into a comfortable two- or three-person blind. The Insight 350's own page says it comfortably fits up to three hunters.

Height decides sitting or standing

Center heights in the grid run from the mid-60s in inches for the compact blinds to 80 inches and up for the tall ones. If you shoot a bow and want to stand, start with the tall group. If you shoot sitting or hunt turkeys, the compact group works.

Solid walls or see-through

Solid walls with windows keep the inside dark. The Ox 5's page says its inner fabric layer blocks light for concealment. See-through walls show you everything around the blind without opening a window. Barronett's see-through models still have shooting windows, because you don't shoot through the fabric.

Windows and mesh

Look for silent windows if you'll adjust them with game close. Barronett lists sliders, toggles and zipperless windows on different models. Shoot-through mesh is for fixed broadheads, per the maker's FAQ, and not for firearms: muzzle flash can melt it. With a gun, open the window first.

Weight you'll carry

Maker weights in the grid run from a light archery blind in the teens of pounds to the heavier five-sided models in the 30s. If you walk a long way in, that number matters more than any other on the page. If you drive to the field edge, buy the room.

Doors and loading

Getting in matters when you carry a chair, a bow and a pack in the dark. The maker lists a few door ideas across the lineup: two vertical corner doors on the Spy 5 and the Insight models that let a whole wall panel flip up for loading gear, the Insight 350's "Garage Door" panel, and the Grandview's no-trip Breakout Door. If anyone in your camp has a bad knee, and mine does, read the door line before the camo line.

Then the camo pattern

The listings name several patterns: Bloodtrail Backwoods and Bloodtrail Woodland, a family of Crater patterns (Thrive, Harvest, Cold), Backwoods Camo, and Fence-Line on the Insight 350. Pick the one that looks like where the blind will sit in November, not in the catalog. Brush holders on several models let you add the real thing on top.

Setup and care, per the maker

Every Barronett blind comes with a carry bag, ground stakes and tie-down ropes, the maker says. Simpler models use wire-form stakes; the higher-end ones use all-terrain stakes. Heavy-duty tie-down kits are sold as an upgrade.

Stake every corner and tie every rope, every time. Six feet of fabric wall catches wind like a barn door.

The FAQ adds three care notes:

• Don't leave it up when you're not using it; sun, wind, storms and snow damage it
• Silicone spray from the hardware store can improve water repellency and help seal seams
• Unattended damage isn't covered by the warranty

The FAQ also says the bag is oversized so the blind goes back in. Every hub blind I've folded fought me at the last twist. Practice in the yard first.

Orange rules differ by state. Pennsylvania, for one, requires 100 square inches of fluorescent orange within 15 feet of a qualifying blind during firearms deer, elk and bear seasons, per its code. The detachable orange panels on several Barronett models are there for rules like that. Check your state's rules.

Barronett Blinds facts

Here's what I could verify from the maker's own pages:

• Parent company: Ardisam, Inc., which creates and sells Barronett Blinds, per the warranty page
• Warranty: a standard 1-year limited warranty against defects in materials or workmanship, per the FAQ, registered and handled through Ardisam
• Serial numbers: the last digits show the year the blind was made, per the FAQ

The maker's site doesn't give a founding year or a factory location, so I left them out.

Stake it, tie it, take it down after the hunt. Then write in the logbook where you put the stakes.