Hi All
I'm planning a 4 day hike through the Lake Disrict (really excited about it!!)
I've been caught out with the wrong gear before and as I'm sure some of you know, there is nothing worse than being cold and soaked through to the bone with miles left to hike. It quite literally ruined my trip.
So this time I am planning to get the gear right! I've got a nice Mountain Equipment Morpheus Jacket, which is excellent but pricey!
Here is my concern, for water proof trousers I have Mountain Warehouse own brand. They cost me £30 (reduced from £50) they have Mountain Warehouse's own Gore tex equivalent which they call Iso Dry. They look pretty decent and passed a quick test in my power shower but I would really like some advice from people what have experienced Mountain Warehouse equipment.
It's cheap, very cheap but does that mean it sucks?
I don't mind spending £150+ but I guess I would rather not if my current trousers will do the business.
Here are the trousers:
http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/mens/clothing/waterproof-trousers/downpour-mens-waterproof-overtrousers-p1816.aspx
Any advice is much appreciated!
Many thanks
Olly
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| Edited: 16/05/11 21:17 |
I can't comment on these specific OTs, but most Mountain Warehouse gear I've seen has been very poor. I've been in the firm's shop in Keswick a few times looking for gear for my son and have generally ended up going elsewhere. It struck me that most of the stuff on "special offer" there might just be worth the sale price, but certainly wasn't good value at the supposed rrp. You wouldn't have to pay £150 for decent overtrousers -- Berghaus do some in their own brand fabric which are £50 or so I think, and there will be other reasonable budget options as well.
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thanks for your reply, I did notice the MW gear is always on offer...
I just want something that is water proof, I'm not too fussed about it being ultra light weight etc
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TBH Olly, I think there is much more value in a decent jacket than throwing money at leggings - the only way I'd be spending anything like £150 on waterproof trews would be for full on winter gear, which is a different ball game (for instance Aspira Salopettes) My current summer ones cost (I think) £15 a few years ago, but I hardly ever wear waterproof trews in summer. Try Blacks or Millets - even TK Maxx
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 Its outdoor style clothing rather outdoors in the sense people here would understand.
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My personal opinion is that you are better spending the money on a decent pair of trousers, say stretch soft shell, by a decent manufacturer like Rab or Montaine and a cheap pair of overtrousers for when the weather is very bad. If your have a good pair of trousers designed for mountain conditions that are windproof, quick drying with a decent DWR treatment they will cover for circa 80% of the time.
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Thats what I have do!
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 My kids (10 & 13yrs) have Mountain Warehouse overtrousers (the lightweight ones).
I bought them on the basis that the kids would probably grow out of them before they had used them much. After 3-4 days tramping in pouring rain in NZ, the trousers were trashed, and certainly not waterproof anymore. I'm OK about that, it's what I expected and I couldn't justify paying big £'s for the limited amount of use I expected to make of the trousers.
As an adult you may want to strike a different balance in your gear buying decisions. How often do you expect to need waterproof legwear ?? Maybe wear the MW ones out and then invest in something better ??
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The trousers you've got will probably do, although you could see what TKMaxx have. Your jacket is more important, but wet legs are no fun, even if your top half is dry. Ashley has a good idea - good mountain trousers with (not very good) waterproofs should hopefully see you through. Of course as soon as the Mountain Warehouse ones do fall apart, buy something better, and certainly nothing from MW. I can remember when they were in Covent Garden and you could pick up the occassional bargain. Now they are tat merchants, and pretty much nothing (apart from kids stuff, since mine are going to trash them anyway) is worth buying.
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Cheers everyone, I think based on all this advice I will stick with the MW trousers for this particular hike and see how they perform. I will certainly let you all know!!
I went for a walk in the trousers today and found them to be quite heavy and restrictive.
Thanks for the TKMaxx recommendation Mike, that's a good idea. It annoys me how MW house claim their gear is excellent etc, although for the price maybe it is?
I'm sure I will get some Rab or ME trousers eventually, they're just quite pricey. But then I guess to a certain extent, you get what you pay for.
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| Edited: 19/05/11 00:41 |
Olly you can get some makes of Stretch Soft Shell trousers at prices less than those charged by say the better known brands like Rab or ME. For example both Regatta and Dare2b do "budget" versions that will set you back less than £50 if you purchase from somewhere like GoOutdoors. Craghoppers also do a stretch version of the Kiwi trousers that are reasonable value at a RRP of £47. I have sometimes seen these at a discount price in my local TKMaxx.
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The Debenhams branch in Carlisle were doing the stretch Kiwi trousers for £20, and I think I've seen them in TKM for the same. Very good value at that price, and not bad even at rrp.
Olly -- I don't think any of the Mountain Warehouse stuff I've seen has been excellent value. Some of it might have been reasonable value, but I wouldn't even be too sure about that.
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I think the general lesson of Mountain Warehouse is 'cheap is not cheap, and expensive is not expensive'. Its stuff made to a price (the sale price), and great quality is not really part of the business model.
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I'd agree with the previous posters about price and value. As a student I got tired of kit that didn't quite work, so decided to bite the bullet and get a reasonably expensive jacket, so having read reviews, and seeing gore-tex in action I bought a paramo jacket. When that worked I bought the paramo trousers soon after. They were pretty expensive for a student in 1992 at about £100, but I still use (and abuse) them - the most recent being last weekend, so they've done pretty well. In general I tend to not wear overtrousers in summer, preferring windproofs or other quick-drying trousers - it was just that I was standing about in the rain with little activity for those two days, as I was helping at my son's cub camp.
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I went into my local branch of Mountain Warehouse in Taunton and looked at a jacket supposedly REDUCED from £99.99 to £39.99.I thought that's a bargain but in these tough times how can any retailer afford to make such reductions.I then shopped around and looked at Berghaus and Craghoppers jackets priced at £100 together with many much cheaper brands and came to the conclusion that the one at Mountain Warehouse didn't have taped seams and was probably worth about £25
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| Edited: 15/06/11 21:12 |
and came to the conclusion that the one at Mountain Warehouse didn't have taped seams and was probably worth about £25 
See Bedouin's comment above... Although only with a loose definition of "style". Possibly with too many zips and spurious "features".
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 Some of their gear is functional enough but the cut and style of everything is pretty dank. I'd guess the overtroos will do their job adequately for a while. You've paid for them, wear them. I wouldn't buy new until/unless they stop doing their job but once at that point I'd go for a reliable brand.
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