jar3000693

He shouldn't have ever ordered the Medium. Patagonia has typically used a "boxy" torso cut for their jackets. At 5'8 - of course its going to be long on him, "halfway down his thigh" and at 145 lbs, of course its going to be baggy on him! However if you are 5'11 - 6'1 the length will be perfect, and a weight range of 165 to 180 lbs will be ideal.

Throwing 5 stars up to offset his 2 stars that shouldn't have made it on here. Of course he's allowed to review.... but don't let him mislead you!

At 7 pounds this is a pretty heavy tent to take with you to the rain. Where this tent thrives is in the snow. Extremely durable. Have had it continually stand up to brutal winds and tons of snow . Still one of the best options out there. Sleeps three Head to Toe to Head pretty comfortably with enough room for minimal gear at one end or all of it if you really need to.

This thing is an oven. MSR's graphs that are provided on their box are certainly accurate as well. At 7500 feet this thing had no problem with melting snow and probably enjoyed the chance to show off. People like to worry about stoves that run off of isobutane/propane because performance decreases with the amount of fuel you use. In the case of the Reactor, it only requires 1.8psi in the can to be burning at full bore. Most cans are filled to 6psi. Jet Boil in comparison requires 3psi. Therefore this product takes an even farther leap in design than Jet Boil in terms of performance/function.

This stove works off of radiant heat and not convective so more of the energy goes to heating the water and less is diffused into the air by convection. It works in really high winds even. No need to use a screen to trap in heat...

This thing rocks.

One trick I want to share with people is that another way to get more out of your canisters is to make a neoprene 'sock' to envelope the bottom and sides of the cannister. After using the fuel and during use, put a hand warmer under the can and then slip on the sock. This helps at altitude and in colder temps.

Only two complaints. This is a combination setup where this stove and the pot are made for eachother. You cannot use another pot with this stove. Secondly, one thing that the Jet Boil has on the Reactor is the locking mechanism to keep the pot attached to the stove. From what I hear, this was intentionally left out by MSR for matters of safety.

The Atlas snowshoes are simply the best. They are QUIET vs the MSRs which are LOUD. The heel lever makes going uphill just like climbing a set of stairs and really saves your calf muscles. You can walk backwards in these too because of the way the binding is set. Where you see the SLS in grey on the left and right of the binding - this acts as a spring so that the back of the snowshoe pops back up. Its a big deal. Crampons on the bottom work really well for snow and glacier travel. If you ever run across ice however... have you ice axe at the ready and don't loose your balance. They wont purchase as well standard crampons, but its not likely that most people will ever encounter that situation.

I also heard that the British SAS use these.

They are agile, light, and durable. Looking forward to many more years with these. Going on two years of heavy use.

Seriously one of my favorite jackets that I own. Being a gear junkie and all that I'm really picky about everything that I buy. I lost an arcteryx gamma sv without hood and bought this to replace it (same power shield material). I would say I like it a lot more! articulated elbows are fantastic and there's a ton of stretch everywhere. zip it all the way up and it seals in the warmth with the hood up or down. Comes right up to my nose with the hood on or seats perfectly around my neck with the hood down. Also the two hand pockets have a mesh liner so that you can open it up to breathe even more than it already does! They are huge inside and its really effective. Well thought! Well designed!! Hope it lasts forever!

I'm a headlamp geek and when I saw this headlamp I thought I'd give it a try. Functionally, this product does a great job and has a wide beam pattern with decent range. In applications where range is not so important but close visibility is, this does great. Snap on the Lantern and you get light dispersed throughout your tent at night, or campsite. It works surprisingly well.

Inaccurate waterproof rating. I talked to a MH rep and only the Dry Q Elite has the 40k mm WP rating.

Read the reviews on the EV2 cause they will all apply to this tent as well.

Only difference would be the size and weight, of course. I have used this tent on several snow camping trips in dec jan and feb, along with high altitude at 10,000+ a few times. Every time it has done a great job with minimal condensation. If there is condensation it is in the form of frost and is easy to brush off of everything in the morning. The zipper on the floor at the head of the tent makes it really easy to get snow for melting and and get the frost out in the morning. Just throw everything to one side and brush all the frost to a pile and out it goes.