help.i am on the verge of buying a new waterproof jacket and looking for some advice. have decided to go with event fabric rather than pro shell and have narrowed my search down to four .its just a case of which one. 2 being montane superfly xt (£159) or halo stretch (£149) 2 being rab latok (£179) or super dru (£135) all have had great reviews and am finding it hard to pick which one.your help would be most appreciated.
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 What are you looking for features wise? The Halo is a lightweight jacket and the Superfly XT is a lot tougher.. maybe the very nice, normal Superfly would be a good compromise?
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 I have the SuperFlyXT and a Quickfire (Halo without the stretch).
The Quickfire is in my pack for about 8 months of the year - it's a feature free (but excellent) scrunchable waterproof.
The SuperFlyXT is in a different league (far more than the £10 price difference) tough, reinforced, 4 cavernous pockets, great head protection...sort of jacket that you'd like to be wearing if something went wrong.
To make the set I also use Montane's Terra XT trousers - pretty light but reinforced and warm too.
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  A warm welcome to the forum there for you too Mike!
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Hi Mike, you seem to have narrowed it down to 4 jackets so you need to go and try them all on.Try them on with your rucsac that way you can see how the pockets etc would work for you.And you get a better feel for the jacket.Like Chris i have the Quickfire and i have to say ive not used it much since i got it in August but its spot on for me.
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 Wot John Sez: go and try them on, as that way you'll know how the particular cut relates to your particular body. You won't get that out of reviews, or if someone else happens to like it. I'd say that's actually rather more important than the fabric, so try on feature-equivalents in Goretex etc. while you're at it. Given the choice of somthing that's better on paper but doesn't fit well, and something that fits perfectly but is missing something I'd prefer (like a specific fabric), I'll take the one that fits. No shops handy? Wait until your next outdoor trip somewhere with lots of gear shops... You'll be wearing it for years, unless you need it next week, might as well get it right! Pete.
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Thanks for the reply folks.My other concern is wear around shoulders and hips with the new jacket.Also does anyone know which is the better brand Montane or Rab? Someone said rab is a tighter fit which I prefer.Need to try them on as you say.
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I've got a Rab Drillium (small) which fits me ok, but slightly restrictive across the chest. Replaced with a Montane Superfly in Medium which is much better (small did not fit!!) and I went for the reinforced option- extra tugh on the shoulders and other key areas, and no extra cost.
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 The Montane Venture is a cracking jacket, tougher than the superfly and much cheaper too. No bells and whistles though, in fact pretty minimalist, which I like.
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I have a Quickfire; it is a great lightweight summer jacket, but I wouldn't recommend it if it was going to be your only, year-round jacket. The Superfly or either of the RABs are tougher, longer and better featured. The Latok is a bit short - ideal for using with a harness, but a bit skimpy if not. The Superfly has a storm flap over the main zip - the Super dru has a 'water-resistant' zip. The fit is quite different - if you have long arms and body and aren't too cuddly the Super Dru will probably fit you better than the Superfly. Try them on, with a pack, and reach up as though you were reaching for a hold. How much arm is exposed? Does the jacket ride up out of the waistband of your pack? Can you open the zips with gloves? Do up the hood? These are things you can only find out by trying the things on.
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 Mike,
welcome indeed!
If you want eVent, minimal but effective design, close fit, good quality & suitable for year round use...
consider the Crux Flak Jacket.
Sorry if that confuses the issue...
John
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 Or the Crux Flak Smock. What? They don't make it any more? Shame. 
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| Edited: 09/01/09 20:54 |
What I am looking for is a year round jacket with as little weight as possible, but it also needs to be tough enough to wear a rucksack with.Don't really do much walking between November and March but do a lot of walking the rest of the year with fairly heavy rucksack.
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 Rab Latok (not the alpine version) I've had mine for about a year now and it's excellent. It's been out in all that Irish mountain weather can throw at it without fail. I also brought it snowboarding and it worked perfectly.
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http://www.climbers-shop.com/detail.aspx?id=246336&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=PriceComp&utm_term=Froogle&utm_content=None&utm_campaign=PriceComp1 even cheaper here...
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