# REO or PRO?



## rivervibe (Apr 24, 2007)

Ceiba. Go with Ceiba. They have immaculate gear and will treat you right.
http://ceibaadventures.com/


----------



## yak1 (Jan 28, 2006)

Moenkopi (? sp?) They've done us right a few times. I've had mixed luck with Pro and REO it kind of seems that these companies come in and out of favor depending on how long it's been since they last replaced their equipment. Good Luck and have fun.


----------



## salsasean (Apr 20, 2005)

We used REO for a winter trip 3 years ago and nothing but good things to say. Also used them 18 years ago and it was not as good(gear was in rough shape)


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


----------



## buckmanriver (Apr 2, 2008)

*Pro has an*

Pro has an electric water filter that comes with the rental. That puts them over the top for me. 

Having pumped 16 gallons of water per day. I like that electric model.


----------



## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

Cant go wrong with PRO. They have been in the game a long time and have it dialed. They keep their gear up to date pretty well and definitely have the little add ons that make it sweet. I did a Moenkopi trip that was pretty well done, save the way to many yard o beefs in the lunch boxes (our fault maybe) and that we almost lost a boat on night one when the bowline (tied on by the rigging crew) came untied from the boat and we saw it out in the eddy. Something the boatman could have, maybe should have checked but didn't. REO gear seemed pretty dated the last few trips I have seen running their stuff, though that may have changed in the last couple years. I'd go with PRO or Moenkopi if I was going to do a painless type trip.


----------



## climbdenali (Apr 2, 2006)

zbaird said:


> Something the boatman could have, maybe should have checked but didn't.


Make that, Definitely should have. Can't blame anybody buy yourself if your boat isn't tied up. And in a place where it can REALLY matter, tie it up twice.

+1 for Moenkopi


----------



## superpuma (Oct 24, 2003)

*Ceiba*

+1 or +2 for Ceiba! We have done 2 trips with them. Food is the best, gear is very up to date.


----------



## Quiggle (Nov 18, 2012)

Pros gear is awesome, food is awesome, id just recommend requesting not to have Beth as your check in. Ive never felt so disrespected by river folk as I did her. Her dynamics made our rigging day and night miserable for the group.


----------



## David Spiegel (Sep 26, 2007)

Go Moenkopi. Hands down. Brady and his team are awesome. My friends and I have used Moenkopi several times and have a few different stories where they've gone well beyond even normal expectations of good service. 

The best example is when Brady went out of his way to save our last trip from disaster after we had already put on the river. We'd rented two full rigs and brought two of our own. When a poorly constructed personal frame on a personal boat cracked/bent on day one, we sat-phoned Moenkopi. Brady drove back to the put-in from Flagstaff and got his next group to row a new frame downstream to our camp.


----------



## Paul7 (Aug 14, 2012)

David Spiegel said:


> Go Moenkopi. Hands down. Brady and his team are awesome. My friends and I have used Moenkopi several times and have a few different stories where they've gone well beyond even normal expectations of good service.
> 
> The best example is when Brady went out of his way to save our last trip from disaster after we had already put on the river. We'd rented two full rigs and brought two of our own. When a poorly constructed personal frame on a personal boat cracked/bent on day one, we sat-phoned Moenkopi. Brady drove back to the put-in from Flagstaff and got his next group to row a new frame downstream to our camp.


Badass customer service! Hope he was tipped for that! 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Mountain Buzz mobile app


----------



## runnerdoc (May 19, 2012)

Just got off the river and used REO for boats, food, groover and shuttle; Only comparison was a trip few years ago with complete package from PRO.
REO folks were great to deal with, flexible, did some unplanned trailer repair for us, their box a day meal planning worked well for us except their was too much of it. You can always find stuff to quibble with but boats were solid, rigging turned out to be imperfect so you need to be responsible for your own boat, straps were really worn but everything worked and did what it was supposed to...
PRO rents SOTARS which I would have preferred over the NRS boats you get elsewhere but that's more perception than based on anything factual. AT the time the PRO equipment we got was in a bit better shape than what we got with REO but not to any meaningful degree.

Without the benefit of a comprehensive head to head comparison I suspect all the established companies will do what you need them to do; you can find good stories about all, as well as a few complaints; might depend on whether you care which brand of raft you get and the approach to meal planning and organization


----------



## amv48 (Mar 27, 2011)

Do yourself a favor and go with moenkopi or ceiba. I have worked with both. As you can read from the previous posts on this thread, customer service is second to none.


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


----------



## mkashzg (Aug 9, 2006)

You can't go wrong with the whole shbang at Ceiba!


----------



## FlyingDutchman (Mar 25, 2014)

+1 for moenkopi


----------



## GC Guide (Apr 10, 2009)

REO has been updating their gear. I would recommend Ceiba, Moenkopi or REO.


----------



## J (Nov 6, 2003)

+1 for Moenkopi.

Maybe just a legend, but I heard Brady hiked down a kitchen box to a group that lost their's in a flip.

I can't really compare to the other companies cause I've only been down once, but Mo did us right.


----------



## fiya79 (Feb 9, 2010)

Anecdotal evidence:

I was very unhappy with REO in 2013. They royally screwed our foodpack. Everyone lost 5-10 lbs. Starved for 16 days. lunch = 2 pieces of bread 1 slice of cold cuts and 1/2 slice of cheese. Share 1 can of pringles for 2 days between 16 people. Decent lettuce, ample onions sometimes a cookie. Lemonade mix every third day. 
Rubber and frames were good. Oars were highly varied, broke a spare in just a wave train splashes. Straps were garbage and broke consistently. Satellite phone was inoperable and we had a severe medical emergency. During our orientation the staffer could not get a signal but gave it to us anyhow. "I'm sure it will work". 
After a freak accident we needed a helicopter rescue. Major internal bleeding, vitals going to hell and the clock ticking. It was difficult to look into a teen girl's eyes and explain that her dad needed a helicopter within a few hours or he would die, but we needed to find a working phone first. LUCKILY a commercial motor rig loaned us a phone and saved a life. 

They tried to talk us into using our private vehicle and trailer as part of the shuttle so they didn't have to add private gear to their trailer. We paid plenty of money for the shuttle. No, you can't put another thousand miles on my truck and trailer to save 20 minutes of load time. Kitchen was decent. Filter was pump style and passable. Groover system was adequate.

Watching them load and unload gear at their HQ it was clear they just didn't care about their stuff. No attempt at inspections or cleaning or QA. Rack it up and turn it over for another trip.

They were decent over the phone. I like the office staff actually. Field crew was not impressive. Stood around and 'advised'. I think we paid something like $12,000 for everything, terrible value. 
They talked us into 1 unnecessary raft rental and insisted on adding several empty coolers to the rental- which we didn't use at all. overall they padded the bill by about $1500 on unnecessary gear and I have no idea where the food money went.

Do I sound bitter? I am. As TL and QB it caused me a ton of unnecessary stress. Having to constantly ration food to hungry people and decide if the trip would reimburse people for lost gear when rental straps broke sucked. Having a life swing on proper gear maintenance put it over the top for me. 


And in the end they totally blew us off. "your food pack was normal" "the phone is no big deal. We won't charge you for repairs" "are you sure you know how to use straps?"

so yeah, go with anyone else.


----------



## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

Pro did us right. Great gear.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Mountain Buzz mobile app


----------



## miahski2 (Apr 29, 2007)

I would go through Moenkopi. Brady and his crew are awesome!!!!!


----------



## RichardJames (Feb 16, 2015)

Im sure that everyone has good and bad experiences with anything in this life. Some people have good and bad stories about every gear outfitter for the grand. I for one CAN NOT recommend Moenkopi. I read all the stories about how brady saved their trip. I think that it is amazing when someone would go way out of their way to save someones "once in a lifetime" trip down the grand canyon. However, we had the opposite experience with Brady and Moenkopi. No specifics but mostly related to rented outfitter gear failure. Just glad we didn't have to rely on the sat phone working in an emergency situation cause it seemed like everything else failed. Group member on our trip had used Ceiba for a previous trip and loved everything that came from Ceiba so that has to be a decent recommendation. 

I hope whoever you decide on it works out great for you. As long as you have enough food and a working water filter and duct tape, you should be able to get your boats down that amazing stretch of water and thoroughly enjoy every minute of it.


----------



## Sleepless (Sep 8, 2011)

stony2275 said:


> Folks,
> 
> I'm planning a canyon trip for spring. I have used REO for raft rentals and food, shuttle etc. - both a good experiences back in the late 90's.
> 
> ...


Anyone but Moenkopi. Ceiba was top notch. 

My two cents.


----------



## Sembob (Feb 27, 2014)

I have only used REO but thought they were excellent. As stated above some imperfect rigging but they give you so many extras that it is easy to get it all to work. I would pay up front for an extra groover can. And bring a an extra wing or easy up or two depending on group size. The NRS wing they supply is not enough if you need it. I love that they use NRS boats. Those seam to be one of the boats of choice for such a trip and definitely stand up to the abuse of the constant rigging and rubbing. I'm surprised anyone uses Sotars for such a trip. Seems like a gamble. I love Sotar but not for a rental. 
I think the people at REO are top notch and most helpful. The food is good. Some meals are a little too involved for my style but it is your menu. Gear is great. Partner stuff. Lots of cast iron. Well stocked com box and spice kit , etc. 

I am not bashing Sotar. I would love to own one. I don't want to take my gear on such an abusive trip unless I was going very small group. That is my $.02. 


Jim


----------



## wariverdog (Sep 2, 2014)

Cieba is great. Used them twice. Food and gear very solid. The even provided low sugar and organic options at our request.


----------



## climbdenali (Apr 2, 2006)

Sleepless said:


> Anyone but Moenkopi. Ceiba was top notch.
> 
> My two cents.


Sleepless,
Just out of curiosity, was your experience the same trip as RichardJames' trip?


----------



## UTMIKE (Nov 25, 2013)

Moenkopi! Brady is awesome and will go the extra mile! He put together an amazing set up for our trip in 2 weeks notice


----------

