I used this jacket heavily for a couple months guide trainings, avalanche courses, ski guiding and ice climbing. I would expect to get several years of regular wear out of this jacket. Lots of reasonable color choices help this feature. You can definitely wear this one to the bar without looking all euro/rando-racer. A nice relaxed fit, long enough to not ride up, no constriction of movement, but still svelte enough to fit under a hard shell for those days when “water-resistant” fabric and down isn’t going to cut it. At around 5’8” and 130lbs the Rab medium fits absolutely perfectly. I’m perpetually between a Small and Medium, with smalls being tight across the shoulder and short in the arm, and mediums having way too much extra fabric in the torso. I think this is one place where the middle path wasn’t followed, a few extra features at a minimal weight cost would add a lot of livability to an everyday work jacket.Īnd the versatility and durability of this piece speak to its place as an “everyday” piece. I feel this lack of features is conducive to a stripped-down, no-nonsense insulating jacket, but the Microlight isn’t one: 16 oz for a medium (my measurement). There are three zippered pockets hand-warmers and left chest, but no drop-ins on the interior. The cuffs are very basic elastic, which neither seal out weather nor fit under gauntlet-style gloves very well. The hood also has a very basic adjustment system, including a hook-and-loop tab that works rather poorly. The hood isn’t quite big enough to fit over a ski helmet, although a modern climbing helmet will be mostly covered. This coat does have some downsides (get it, down sides), mostly in design features. There’s a great deal of utility in the extra couple of ounces this jacket weighs over the “light and fast and fragile” pieces, and I think that makes this perhaps a better value over the long run. While I wouldn’t do a whole Steck-Salathe in this coat, I think a couple pitches of icy chimneys like on Birdbrain Boulevard wouldn’t faze it. Stuff it into your pack near sharp stuff, and you don’t have an explosion of ethically-sourced down to deal with. The same thicker, 30-denier Pertex shell fabric means that you can don’t need to be particularly careful with this puffy, a great feature for the professional user. No membrane means it isn’t “waterproof”, but a relatively thick and chemically treated water-resistant shell mitigates this. It features 750 fill power (out of 900 or so), Nik-wax water-resistant treated down. Rab’s Microlight Alpine jacket is squarely in the middle of the vast pantheon of premium down coats currently available. For this review, I tested both Rab’s Microlight Alpine Jacket, as well as Rab’s Neutrino Pro Jacket. Luckily, materials have changed in the last few years, and such sacrifices aren’t as necessary. The synthetic revolution was happening, and sacrificing a little weight and a little warmth for “warm when wet” seemed like a no brainer. Any sort of precipitation rendered it a clumpy, soggy mess worse than nothing. I got my first down jacket in 1994, and as an east coast ice climber immediately dismissed it as useless. JanuJBackpacking and Hiking, Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, ProView Gear Reviews, Rab Outdoor Prolink Pro
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |