 Looks interesting. The fit appears more fitted than other Paramo stuff. Jon - are those pit zips as such or do they stop at the top of the arm. Do you know when these going to be available?
|
 |
 I have reservations as to how effectivley waterproof the Fuera jacket and hoodie combo would be. During prolonged rainfall, not excessively heavy, i know my Fuera windprood smock leaks. I have by the way treated the jacket to a Nikwax wash and reproofing cycle.
|
|
 The windproof element alone will not provide true waterproofing, just some level of water resistance. It all depends whether the fleece underneath fulfils the function of the Nikwax analogy pump liner, as in Paramo's waterproof jackets, to provide the full level of weather protection. It works fine with their previous split/combine pairing of the Taiga fleece and Fuera windproof, but the Taiga is bulky and heavy as fleeces go. I don't know whether the fabric for this new one is substantially different or not.
|
|
 Worn together they should be effectively waterproof or either garment can be used on its own. Paramo estimates that it should handle temperatures from 20 above to 20 below freezing point. A chap is a passenger in a helcopter, flying in NW USA. Fog closes in, the instruments die... the pilot very cautiously drops down until he can see a building, and he calls out to someone at it: "where are we?". "You are in a helicopter!" Pilot thanks the chap at the window, taps some co-ordinates into his instruments straight to the airport, no problems. "How did you manage that?" asks the incredulous passenger. "Well, it was an answer that was technically correct but no help whatsoever so I figured it must me Microsoft's tech support building, and I know where that is relative to the airport so the rest was easy!" And in a similar vein, we learn this stuff has a 40 degree usage range... having used Tracksters XC skiing in dead-still at -20 I can quite legitimately say Tracksters are usable down to -20... but I certainly wouldn't suggest it as a general rule! Similarly, while I can imagine uses for Paramo jackets at -20 I can imagine alot of other uses where they'd be wholly inadequate. And I'm quite sure I could sit around in lots of my kit at +20... as long as I wasn't doing much more than that. There are times when I can picture horrible violence being committed to marketing people, and me not actually minding much... Pete.
|
|
|
|
|
 Pete, wow  I take it in other words, until its really tested and a review written who knows?
|
|
Simon, there's nothing especially new in terms of materials and capabilities in the new combo, so we already know pretty much what it does. And if someone decides they're going to Siberia with daily ambients of -20 where a fair bit of time will be spent standing around they're not going to be very well served by reading that this is useful down to -20 and so they won't need much else. They'd freeze, even while the cross country skier at the same temperature was quite happy. And similarly, if someone is going to a wet place where they expect +20 ambients every day and want a waterproof for something involving a bit of work then chances are they'll cook fairly unpleasantly, even while their friend looking at urban monuments out of the sun was quite happy. Of course, the outer on its own will do much higher temperatures... but then it won't be waterproof any more, so what if you needed a waterproof? We already know what it does, so we already know that this marketing claim, while technically true in some sense, is basically tosh in the general and useful sense for someone looking for gear. Pete.
|
|
 they will be available for fondling in the london shop earlyish april.
|
|
 Parky,Did you visit the shop today? were there any interesting special edition items?
|
|
nah! i was thinking of an excuse to go there tomorrow so i phoned. i had a nice long chat with matt (i think?). he's only seen the prototype version and is as intrigued as the rest of us what the final version is like. there seems to be a lot of interest. saved myself some money by not going...or shall i?
|
|
If you do go let us know what you see as it's a lot of hassle getting in from Bournemouth.
|
|
 Disappointing that there's been nowt on their site about this... Or if there is, it's well hidden!
|
|
stuff always seems to hit their site after it has come out.
|
|
That'll be it then! Makes no sense whatsoever, but that's Paramo for you.
|
|
