Thanks for the feedback guys. I wasnt for a moment suggesting that I would buy a jacket based only on stats and internet research without trying it on... totally agree about the importance of that. However with the really vast number of jackets to choose from i feel that you can make a pretty decent shortlist before hunting down stores that stock the stuff. I mean some of arcteryx and haglofs and peak performance, etc, isnt just available at the corner shop.
I hear what your saying Pete, and i agree to some extent, but a store isnt going to let me go out for a run in a few jackets to see which one breathes better, so I need to know the MVTR, its a pretty useful indicator. It costs absolutely nothing to put these specs on the website, so why not do it? Especially the eVent and Gore-tex websites!
Also, while there might not be much difference between 30 and 35 denier fabric, Active Shell (according to Haglofs website) is 30D (confirm anyone?) while some of the eVent fabrics are apparently as low as 15D, which is a difference I do want to know about.
In any case, I got a response from Rab as follows regarding their eVent jackets:
Just wondering if it is just me or is anyone else frustrated by lack of real comparable data available regarding hard shell fabrics from the different manufacturers?
Specifically, since Im in the market for a new hard shell, Im trying to gather information on the various Gore-tex and eVent fabics that are used in Rab, ME and other jackets.
BUT its incredibily frustraing! Things like HH, denier, RET, MVTR and gm/m2 are what Im after for ANY fabic that a jacket is made of, but I find useless things like "midweight eVent 3 layer fabic" on some of these websites. This is just useless to me. Even eVent's own website tells us nothing useful I find??
Is this just me? Do I not know where to look? or am I asking too much to be given details I need for comparision?
So for example, if I would like above mentioned stats for Rab Momentum and ME Firefox to compare... where do I get this info if the jacket manufactureres and fabric manufacturers websites don't supply it?
Argh. Guys. please someone shed me some light here?
Ive been looking for a synthetic insulated jacket for some time, i always like the idea of down but for wet UK conditions and greater versatility i opted for synthetic. This jacket will mainly be for all sorts of British winter nastyness, as well as hopefully up to some colder Scandanavian exploits The jackets on my short list are:
Arcteryx Fission SV
Mountain Equipment Citadel
PHD Kappa
Rab Photon Belay
Any other suggestions????
I would really welcome some comments/advice from anyone who has any first hand knowledge of these products to help make a decision!
Also I am a little confused regarding the insulation specification on some of these jackets. The insulations types i guess are Primaloft One and Sport, Coreloft and ThermaTek.
For example ME Citadel quotes the total weight of PL1 as 200g+170g, whereas others seem to quote the quality of PL... 200g/2m, 133g/2m, 100g/2m which seems to refer to the thickness of the insulation, not how much of it there is? So Im unsure how i can really compare?
ThermaTek seems to have some big fans but there is very little info on it. Does anyone have a link to more info, or any first hand experience of it?
Otherwise PL1 seems like the most populare favourite for warmth.
Any advice is welcomed, price is not really a factor, i just want the best jacket, and I dont want to make the wrong choice!
Well Im new on here, and I have come for some advice. Ive spent weeks pondering over all of the option available for my next jacket, and decided to go for a synthetic jacket over down for UK wet conditions. But thats as far as Ive got and I could do with some help. I have a shortlist, that comprises of
Arcteryx Fission SV
Mountain Equipment Citadel
PHD Kappa
Rab Photon Belay
Any advice and first hand experience you guys have with these would really help me.
But I would like to ask a question regarding insulation too...
I notice most of the insulated jackets come with primaloft one or primaloft sport, or some other custom version of this, such as coreloft, thermatek, etc. Primaloft One seems to be the widely accepted best, although ThermaTek has some big fans but there isnt much info on it that I can find.
But mostly I am confused as to how the quantities and qualities of these are given to us. I hear alot of people wanting the 200g primaloft one insulation, and this seems like probably the best from what Ive read, but what does the 200g refer to? Is is the total mass of primaloft one in body/arms of the jacket, or is is referring to the thickness of primaloft one that may vary, ie. 200 grams per square meter. There do seem to be different thicknesses of primaloft one, 200g/m2, 133g/m2, 100g/m2, which means the total amount of insulation in the jacket, deoends on how many 2m the jacket is made up of.
My example of this is that the ME Citadel quotes the total amount of primaloft (200g+170g), whereas the PHD Kappa quotes the quality of Primaloft one (133g/2m and 100g/2m). So I dont know how to tell which has more primaloft. Or which is warmer. This is where your experience comes in guys!
Anyone have answers for the questions? Also anyone have any links to more detailed info about ThermaTek??
Elliot Johnson
