The good: it's a very, very warm jacket. It seems to keep you at a very comfortable temperature in a wide variety of conditions. It's also very windproof but feels quite breathable. The outside isn't a horrible shiny nylon eyesore either, it's tastefully matte-ish finished.
The OK: the fit is pretty good. This jacket is one of the few 'outdoor' jackets that doesn't have a ridiculous sleeve length, they've got it about right. The hem IS slightly scooped at the back and goes two or three inches lower than the front. You can see this in the picture above. The length is a decent waist length in M for someone about 6ft. It doesn't cover any of your legs, but you should be using them anyway!
The handwarmer pockets extend about half way up your chest, and all of this area is double thickness jacket, i.e. in front of and behind the pockets. Which means that you keep your hands very warm but it bulges out at the belly a lot. DON'T wear this jacket if you've got a pot belly!
The bad: The collar isn't a stand-up collar, it gets pushed down by your neck too easily. It should've been lined on the outside by the fabric in the windflap, for example. The pits are 'athletic', by which I mean they're a bit too tight. It's a bit of a faff to get on/off because of this but feels comfortable once it's on, then it's not particularly noticeable.
In summary, it's an excellent thermal jacket that's highly windproof and comfortable. My only major gripe is the collar being only the same material as the body so it just gets compacted when moving your head around, leaving you with a cold neck. I'd take some extra weight for a warm neck any day.
Just one thing - there is no such thing as a right sleeve length!
We've all just got different body shapes for all sorts of reasons. Being a stick insect I happen to find 99% of outdoors jackets to have sleeves which are too short for me, sometimes horribly so. So I'm pretty sure I'd find the sleeve length on this one pretty 'ridiculous'. Same goes for the fit around the shoulders of course.
I guess all I'm saying is that being judgmental about fit isn't so helpful in a review. Better to try and indicate what sort of body shape it will fit best instead - fit should of course be a (the probably) primary factor in choosing what to buy.
While I am deeply glad for the few jackets I've found which do fit me properly, it'd be pretty absurd for me to reccomend that everyone buy them
I got the Chulu vest last week for wearing to work.
Its not as lightweight or warm as my Rab Generator vest but its definitely better for work and every day use as its got 3 external and 1 internal zipped pockets and the fabric feels more durable.
I got new on ebay for 35quid so that made the deal sweet and if it gets wrwecked or knicked its not a total loss.
I could see it being used on the mountains in place of a fleece vest.
I'm still bitter about the North Face Apex Bionic jacket I got with sleeves about 4 inches too long. It's just hopeless. Martin would love it.
What I was trying to say was the majority of people who would be interested in this jacket are likely to find it well fitting. Average height or slightly taller, slim build, narrow to normal shoulders, normal arms Also I think that unless you have very narrow shoulders it will be slightly awkward to put on. If I was an odd shaped person I would have said, but I'm about 6ft and a bit skinny, so I chose not to.
Finally, I think the sleeve length on the vest is excessive.
I'd be surprised if anything TNF did fitted me. They're normally hugely out but I really am right on the extreme end of the population (~37" chest and inside leg.).
I do certainly think that TNF/Bergahus get derided for being 'boxy' they're actually sometimes just being relatistic as to what will fit most people well Perhaps I was just feeling protective of the long armed brands I live off!
(although it actually tends to be the more extreme examples of them.).
