Montane Quickfire Tested
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Price:
£175.00
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Weight: 320 grammes
(medium)
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Features:
Lightweight waterproof jacket made from 85g/m2 eVent fabric,
integral. adjustable, roll-away hood with wired peak,
two-way baffled main zip with double storm flap and hook and
loop closure, lined chin guard, single-handed adjustable
draw-cord hem, printed reflective flashes, hook and loop
adjustable cuffs, Part-Vent erm, part venting pockets with
water-resistant zip openings.
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What's It For?
The good old Super-Fly used to be considered 'light' but as other
companies jumped on the lightweight bandwagon, it started to look
slightly portly - the revised 2007 version is just over 450 grammes.
Enter the Quickfire, Montane's 320-gramme solution for those looking
for a lighter jacket still using eVent's very breathable fabric.
It's aimed at lightweight, fast-movers rather than those toting
big, heavy packs around and the combination of excellent
breathability and light weight means it should be good on the back or
in your pack.
The Techy Bits
Montane started with a Super-Fly then set about lightening it.
That means a lighter grade of eVent fabric with a rip-stop
construction for tear resistance and careful detailing to reduce both
weight and bulk.
The jacket loses the Super-Fly's chest pocket and while it still
has two hand-warmer type pockets, they're asymmetric - the one on the
left as you wear the jacket, is large enough to take an OS map, while
the other is smaller to save fabric and weight.
The main zip uses a double storm flap rather than a
water-resistant zip to improve packability and everything else has
been kept as simple as possible, with, for example, the hood using a
hook and loop volume adjuster to cut weight and bulk.
Even the reflective bits are prints rather than sewn-on fabric,
again to save weight and bulk.
How It Performs
We're big fans of waterproofs that you can stash and forget
without a significant weight penalty and the Quickfire does that very
well. To be fair, with sub-200 gramme tops starting to appear on the
market, it's not the lightest or smallest packing jacket out there,
but it's still extremely reasonable and the lightest eVent outdoor
shell we're aware of - close rival Rab's Drillium weighs slightly
more at 350 grammes.
The pay-off is the excellent performance of the eVent fabric. It's
still significantly better than other conventional waterproof
breathable fabrics we've used, meaning you stay comfortable for
longer and dry out faster when you do get damp. It's also, at a
pinch. just about breathable enough to perform as well as many
windproof fabrics making it more versatile.
Just so it's clear, eVent isn't magic, you can still overwhelm it
when working hard, but it's better than anything else we've used so
far.
The rest of the jacket will feel instantly familiar to anyone
who's used a Super-Fly. It's the same neat cut, has easy to use
adjustable cuffs which allow you to roll the sleeve up for forearm
venting, the same simple but reasonably effective hood with wired
peak, single handed adjusters for hem and hood and so on.
The main differences are the lighter fabric - stay away from heavy
packs or abrasive pack straps to avoid bobbling from abrasion damage
- and the different pocket lay-out, the rest is well proven and
capable.
The pocket design is a piece of dark cunning, with an asymmetric
cut making one pocket large enough for a map, while the other is left
smaller to save weight and the pockets are high enough to avoid
fouling waist belts and harnesses.
There are lighter waterproof jackets out there that pack
smaller than the Quickfire, but none of them breathe as well as eVent
and few of them are as thoroughly thought through. Using the
Super-Fly as a starting point means that most of the features are
well proven and the basics all work well.
It's an ideal alternative to the Super-Fly if you're focussed on
saving some weight - around 130 grammes against the 2007 model
Super-Fly - and, in particular, if you won't be carrying a big pack,
but still want eVent performance and decent weather protection.
Overall it's a great compromise between weight and bulk and
performance.
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Very breathable, not insanely minimalist, proven design
from Super-Fly
There are lighter waterproofs out there if saving weight is
your main priority.
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Performance
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Value
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Know more or want to?
If you'd like to add your own experiences of this
product check out our user review system and post your opinions to
the world. If you have questions you can mail
us direct, ask
Richard Gear or try a posting to our
gear
forum.
Sam Challis
