One might ask why I would bother to write a review about a jacket that is no longer available. Well, a lot of what I learned wearing it applies to any jacket worn for outdoor purposes. I also started the review last year and just never finished it so it never got posted.
It has held up quite well to our many treks through the brambles and briers in the various forests Wilma and I hike through. It does not seem to snag on them and I have not had any burrs catch on it.
The tag says the shell is 100% Nylon with polyurethane coating, and that the liner, lining, and filling is 100% polyester.
It came with a snap in liner vest. I wore it with the vest a few times, and the vest does give it a lot more warmth, but I ended up hanging the vest up in the closet and not using it. I found that it was more comfortable to wear the vest with the vest not snapped in. The thing is while it does have insulated sleeves, the vest it came with does not have sleeves and if it is cold enough to need the vest, I need more sleeve insulation than the jacket has. So I have gravitated to wearing a hooded jacket or my fleece undershirt under the jacket, and just do not use the liner vest. I suppose if it was really cold I might add it along with the other stuff, but if it is that cold, I am going to stay inside where it is warm.
The hood it came with has some insulation, and can be rolled up in a velcroed pocket if not needed. It did not come with a draw string and that was a major issue. If I was walking into a wind, the hood was like a wind scoop and it just would not stay in place. It turned out there was a place where a draw string could be added, and my wife added one for me made out of a piece of paracord. It makes a huge difference.
The sleeves have elastic Velcro adjustable cuffs that work quite well at keeping wind from coming up the sleeves.
The waist does not have elastic and did not come with a drawstring. It was not a big deal the first season I wore it as my waist was big enough that the thing barely zipped closed. I have since lost considerable weight and the looseness around the waist became a problem. There is also a place around the waist where a drawstring could go and my wife added one there. However, it has not turned out to be as useful as the hood drawstring. The jacket is so much larger than I am now that my fanny pack with two water bottles fits under it and zips up around it easily. I am not sure what if anything could be done about it. It is just larger than I am now. It is somewhat of a problem in the wind as wind blows up the loose waist area. Not as much of an issue when I have my fanny pack on, as I wear it on the outside of the coat, which seals out the wind quite handily.
It has two outer zip up pockets. I mostly leave the zippers open (down). They are pretty good sized. The vest has a bunch of pockets as well, but since I don't use it they are not much good to me. There is also a small outside pocket on the left side, and one about the same spot on the inside. I don't use the inner pocket, and the only thing I have ever used the outer pocket for was a spare memory card for the camera.
The front zipper has a storm flap secured by Velcro, but the jacket itself is not all that wind proof. A stiff breeze will send air through the nylon fabric. A few times I have worn a nylon windbreaker over top of it to reduce wind infiltration. The front zipper actually has two zippers so it can be partially open at both the top and bottom. I just don't use that feature. Lately the plastic zipper has started having issues.
The nylon fabric is not water proof at all. It holds up OK to a light drizzle for a while, but a heavier rain soaks it pretty quickly. I have had the misfortune to catch some fairly heavy rain a few times in it and it soaked through in a few minutes the time I tried to make it back home in a driving rain. I should have just stopped and put my poncho on, but I was only a couple blocks from home. Good lesson in how fast one can get soaked. OTOH, in lighter rain and drizzle, it did not do too badly at keeping me warm and dry for an hour or more. I just put it in the dryer for a short time and it dries pretty quickly. Even damp it does not do a bad job of keeping me warm, but the one time it got water logged it was unpleasant for the short time it took me to get out of the rain.
One time I wore a poncho over it when it rained on us. The poncho worked pretty good, but the sleeves of the jacket got pretty wet because they were outside of the poncho.
It has one other problem related to my weight loss. The neck area is not adjustable, so it is now much larger than me, so I needed to find a way to get rid of the excess fabric there. Otherwise it is open to the wind and acts like a big wind scoop. I had some success last year using the drawstring on the hood to tighten up around the neck, but now I find that keeps my head at an odd angle and is not real comfy. I would have to see if I can do something to tighten it up around the neck area if I held on to it, but since it is going away, I won't need to do anything. I think the neck area could be sewed up and made smaller to tighten it up some. Maybe I could have sewn in some Velcro or something.
One thing that has occurred to me is that the color is not ideal for my use. The jacket is black and often during the winter it is quite dark while Wilma and I are walking in our neighborhood. It might make sense to have a color that shows up better in the dark as a safety measure. I kind of like the color, but it would be safer for me if the next one was a color that showed up better in the dark.
It is plenty big enough for me to add layers under it when it is colder out. I usually start by adding a fleece long sleeve undershirt under it and if it is even colder, I add a hooded jacket over the fleece undershirt. The layers work quite well at keeping me warm and give me something to take off if I end up not needing them and do not want to sweat while hiking.
All in all, it has worked out OK. It makes for a nice outer layer when it is colder, and an adequate jacket by itself when it is not so cold. The color, wind and water issues will need to be addressed when I get a new jacket.
A few observations.
Wind infiltration is a big deal. A jacket used in the winter needs to have some provision to seal out the wind at all the openings. A hood works good for keeping wind off the back of my neck. Not sure it needs to be an insulated hood, but some kind of hood. The hood needs some way to keep it in place, or it does not do much good. Elastic and/or other adjustments around the cuffs and waists helps greatly in keeping out the cold wind. The throat area also needs some kind of way to keep out the wind.
Layering is a big deal. A heavy coat just does not work for hiking. It is fine for sitting in the cold, or walking to and from the car, but just won't work if I am doing any exercise. I have to have some way to shed layers to let the heat out or I will sweat under the coat. A very bad thing.
Water and wind proofing would have been nice, but I have managed to live without it. Many wind and waterproof jackets don't breath and so I would sweat under them. Mostly I do not go out in heavy rains or winds so it is not much of an issue. The poncho can be layered on top of the jacket if it rains on me, and the windbreaker can be used if it is windy. I did not have the windbreaker with me the time it rained on us, so did not get a chance to see how well it might have worked at keeping my sleeves dryer where they poke out from under the poncho.
No comments:
Post a Comment