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Product Design Influences.

KDC is a small company in the mountains of western Montana producing uncompromising products since 1992. Based on decades of back-country recreation, including hunting, fishing, backpacking, wilderness canoeing, climbing and mountaineering/telemark skiing, I have developed keen appreciation for the requirements of our customer base. Exposure to ultra light, ultra compact and multi purpose equipment from the foremost back-country equipment designers over my life has greatly influenced my own designs. Unfortunately, I learned years ago that the gear that addressed my demands, was usually not the gear offered to me at the local boxmart, sporting goods dealer or in the bass-belas catalog. Pursuit of world class back-country gear has directed me to, and exposed me to the products offered by leading retailers like REI, EMS and MEC.

Customer and Industry Peer input

My yearly exhibitor pilgrimages to SCI, WSF, MDF, RMEF, DSC and other shows gives me direct exposure to my industry peers and their products. Equally important is the face-to-face contact with my customers. Your feedback is priceless. Product improvements and expansion is a direct reflection of your input. I truly enjoy taking the time and listening to my customers, on the phone or at a show.

Trinity of Design Goals.

KDC products are designed under the constraints of the follow three fundamental goals.

  1. Ultra light weight (Near-Zero-Gravity)

    All our products shatter preconceived notions of acceptable weight. Instead of small incremental improvements on weight reduction over our competitors, our bipods, tripods and accessories typically are 4 times or more lighter than our competitor's. Our product lineup is typically so much lighter than our competitor's, that the terms "ultralight" and "lightweight" just don't do them justice. Hence, we have have coined the term "Near-Zero-Gravity" or N0G, simply because our products are closer to zero gravity in weight (weightlessness) than they are to the weight of our competitor's .

  2. Compactness

    Pack space is a very valuable commodity. Imagine, being forced into a bigger pack instead of a more comfortable fanny pack just because you need it to pack a bulky tripod for the purpose of supporting your binoculars or compact spotter. Mountain hunters where hunting trips are measured in elevation gain/loss in addition to miles/kilometers pay extra attention to the compactness of each piece of gear.

    KDC bipods and tripods utilize the finest Easton 7075-E9 tent pole technology. This pole technology has been the choice of the backpacking tent manufactures for decades and has withstood the most extreme mountain environments worldwide. The ability to fold down for compactness is a key feature. As an example, our V2-27 SnipePod when folded up is around 6 inches long. Easy to store, and we provide several storage options.

    Design constraints #1 and #2 work hand-in-hand. Compactness with unacceptable weight is a looser. Low weight with high bulk is a looser. KDC products with there extreme low weight and compact equals a winner.

  3. Functionality

    Functionality performance is the bottom line. Constraints #1 and #2 are only means to get a particular piece of gear along for the journey. KDC products provide world class functionality. Example, the panning ability of all our V2 SnipePods is second to none, and second place is a distant one at that. Customers marvel at how quickly the setup time, and target acquisition is with the V2 SnipePods.

    Our optic accessories also are easy to use and highly functional

Direct to customer-manufacturer marketing.

KDC only manufactures the highest quality gear. We design our products with world-class Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software. We then take these designs through world-class Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software. Finally we produce our products on world-class multi-axis CNC milling, turning and laser manufacturing equipment.

Simply put, this stuff don't come cheap. Using a traditional manufacture/distributor/dealer marketing flow would drive the prices to uncomfortable levels. Further complicating the issue is the "out-of-the-box" thinking put into our products, which require a knowledgeable sales touch. Something that box-marts and bass-belas typically don't invest in.

To address this, KDC utilizes a "direct-to-customer" model. No middlemen, no big markups, no gimmicks. Shop on our website, meet us at a show, or give us a call. It is just you and us.