April 19, 2006

The jacket

Eric pointed out to me a while ago that it's easy to spot me in a crowd because I always have on the same black jacket. Spring or summer, winter or fall I have been wearing the exact same jacket for all kinds of weather. I bought the jacket from Costco at an economic price of $40, and I have never looked back.

Actually I have. I have been searching for the ultimate jacket, one that fulfills all of my needs (wants). I'm a believer in layering and last fall, I purchased the ultimate inner vest. It is nearly 100% windproof and that's all it does, protects from wind. It's a little warm, made of fleece and a little spandex in the back for comfort.

As for the jacket, the following is needed:
-breathable
-water resistant
-hood that can fold into the collar
-stowable (jacket can compact into a stuffsack, possibly a pocket)
-lightweight
-performance fit
-tear-proof (ie, when i run through the bushes, i don't get caught on a branch, or worse, rip it)

These are my requirement and I've yet to find a jacket that does all these things. The closest I've come now is a North Face jacket, called the Amp Hybrid Jacket. It retails for $120. It has everything above except for the stowability.

Patience, young padawan.

2 comments:

Q said...

mec to the rescue! if I confess... and I will... I do really, really like my composite jacket. Windproof, water-repellent. fleece, snug-fit. pockets. scuff-proof. (not tested in the thornbushes) packable into the side-pouch of my daypack. oh, but no hood.

what if you put in a suggestion to the mec peeps? they'll work out a design, no?

ebrian said...

The North Face jacket turned out to be falsely advertised. It doesn't have a hood. Furthermore, I looked around in the MEC area near work, where all the other camp/outdoor stores were, and none of them had it anyway. I wound up at MEC and bought the Breezetrail Runner jacket, a jacket that fulfills basically none of the requirements except for breathability.