The high loft fleece is great but the un-atomical cut to the shoulders leaves the sleeves riding up severely. You'd have to add about 3 inches the the sleeve length, but that'd be silly and doesn't address the shortcomings of the cut. I don't know how Marmot and Patagonia used to do it with their Angel Wing and Y-joint shoulder cuts , but they're not doing it much anymore. Not on this jacket. The powerstretch panels are useless, as on all fleece jackets. This fleece has plenty of stretch on it's own, and the ps panels just serve to create chilly spots on the jacket. I wish every manufacturer would stop using ps panels to fool people, trying to replace a properly designed jacket!

If anyone here owns/ed a Patagonia Pile jacket from back in the 80's, you'd know what design perfect is . I can't seem to find anything close, but I'll always be looking for it:)

I bought 3 of these a few years ago due to frequent power outages in our area. They are terrific, and do last a very long time. I have yet to wear out a set of batteries on any one lamp. I often use them now around the house at night instead of a flashlight.

For maximum life, you don't need to run it on high, you can run it near high, and save a lot of juice that way, but still get a ton of light. On lower settings, it will run seemingly forever.

My only suggestion for an improvement would be make the LED's less visible, make the lens material more opaque. As they are now... you get lighter and darker spots from the individual LED's. Not a huge issue..but room for improvements.

Regardless, I'd buy more if I ever needed them, and recommend them to anyone.

I liked everything about this jacket, great fit, super warm. After just a couple of weeks of use though, seams started failing in multiple places. That sucked..... it was a great jacket, but they need to improve on the manufacturing big time!

The Rubicon's construction is very good. The Thermogreen insulation does not insulated as well as other brands(Primaloft,Polarguard) per weight.

The deal breaker is the tight shoulder fit, and I have a average build. It is inexcusable for a Patagonia brand jacket . When I reach low or forward I feel the shoulders bind from the tight fit. I expect this from a cheap jacket, never Patagonia.

The Schoeller Dynamic fabric is the star of this jacket, the design is not. The sleeves and body ride up excessively when you raise or reach your arms. This is what I'd expect out of cheap jacket, not a high end one. It's all in the design and cut of the shoulders, and the Switchback is just poor. Why does Cloudveil not use the articulation and cut of the Rayzar or Serendipity is curious to me because they know how to do it correctly. The best fabric in the world does not make up for poor implementation of it .

I speak from much experience with their goods, and I like Cloudveil goods very much, as I own the Serendipity, Koven, Prospector and Enclosure hooded jackets, all of which are well articulated. This one though, is not up to the standards set by Cloudveil themselves.

Yes, Dynamic fabric is every bit as good as advertised and then some , but I can't consider this one until they redesign it to the level is ought to be at.

-cheers

These are versatile cool and cold weather pants. I wear them over shorts, in anything from 50 to 10 degrees this winter. The factory DWR is very effective. The fit is loose without being baggy. The only minor flaw with these is the draw cord toggle, the spring in it is essentially useless. All four pairs I have seen had the same weak toggle. Marmot will happily send you new, effective ones though. Overall, a great pant!