Rab Drillium arrived today.
Impressed with the hood, a high collar with a roll-away which folds neatly into the high collar, so when unrolled produces quite shield to face-on rain as what gets in the sides will tend to drain over the collar and out the front and not much rain will get inside the collar.
Pockets could borrow some ideas from Paramo Torres, I mean ones which pull-up to open so you can make a lower-down smaller opening to maximise hand-warming, the Rab solution seems to be seeking to retain contents of pockets.
It does roll into an internal stuff pocket, but not elegantly so.
Damn noisy, like all event, but not as stiff as Montane eVent I'd say.
A medium sized fitted me - Rab seem to take it onto themselves to change the cut to fit the role, I got a Rab Quantum Windtop in medium, typed you use over baselayer for lightweight windproof, and its tight and short sleeves, but the Rab Drillium has sleeves much longer and room underneath for meaty fleece if I wanted to.
So that now completes my upper-body damp-weather solution:
- Param Velez for cold
- Montane Prism for cool, with Rab Drillium packed for waterproof
- Rab Drillium for warm
- Outdoor Designs Topptur Light for cycling-specific hood which turns with my head to convert the above hiking-specific into a cycling solution.
My lower-body solution isn't yet solved. Have Paramo Cascada for cold+wet, but too-warm problem to solve.
Paramo is absolutely brilliant in current wet/cold weather, and actually is quite cost-effective, you're talking around £80-£100 each for trousers/jacket each with insulation and total waterproofing. For all other solutions you lose some insulation or waterproofing and often pay same/more. Paramo's list-price is high, and shame some flexibility of colour and some patience to wait on specific sizing is required. I think the idea of a warm jacket/trouser with long vents is a good idea, better idea than separating waterproofing from insulation as the vents on the Velez/Cascada really do get cold air to skin when you want it.
