ME Vega vs Rab Neutrino Endurance?

i need to choose between these two jackets!!

Same target specs I think and nothing really substantive between them on a technical basis, so fit is the dominant criteria. General 'feel' too perhaps.

You're the only person who can decide about that sort of thing

well i live in the US so i can't really try them on, maybe the Rab one

I've been happy with my Neutrino endurance if that is any help.

Steve D

Actually I seem to remember the fits being plausibly similar too.

The biggest difference is probably that RAB have (fairly extensive) American distribution while I don't think ME have.

The hooded zero jackets confuses me very slightly because the differences vs the vega are so small, and the more water/windproof outer fabric seems a handy thing to have. Maybe the weight difference is larger in practice.

Is there any good reason for the fascination with UK down jackets? There's plenty of brands who are much easier to get over there than here (Montbell for one) and no obvious quality differences either way. Its really very much easier making sensible decisions if you can see what you're getting. Especially cf fit which does matter here.

@Martin Carpenter well i have done tons of research and these brands seem to make great down products and i couldnt find a down jacket from American companies that was incredibly light, durable and proven like these....the gurus on backcountry.com (american company) really loved the Rab stuff and since they dont sell Mountain Equipment I sent them a link to the Vega and he said how similar it was to the Neutrino of Rab, I went through Mountain Hardwear, Marmot, Arc'teryx and Patagonia and I didn't find anything that wow-ed me like the others did, Feathered Friends interested me but those are also not available for me, I liked the Hooded Helios from them If you want to add that, I mean I found a good Patagonia one but the guy said they could rip easier than the Rab Neutrino Endurance and ME Vega, he said the Rab Infinity was similar to the Patagonia one saying while both light weight you have to be very careful with them and while the two i mentioned are a little lighter, the extra durability is worth the pounds

They do both make very competent down products. Nothing stunning compared to real specalists mind.

(They both were that at one stage but have now massively diversified and basically produce very wide ranges of nice things.).

Anyway, trying to choose between two broadly identical products one of which is easily available in the USA and one which isn't really doesn't seem very hard to me

well i mean i can order the ME Vega online from Mountaingear.com which is American but I believe I saw the Rab Neutrino in an actual store nearby me