jonny80s

I was looking forward to using these. They have a lot of very good features. One problem though; I found the toe strap to be useless. I wear a pair of 9.5 Salomon Malamutes. Width wise the Malamutes fit snugly into the binding (size large), however, the toe strap would not hold my toe down no matter how tight I tightened the straps.... before putting my foot in (no ratchet, both sides have compression levers). I'm not sure why they used angled plastic straps. Straight ones would work perfectly and would be even better with a ratchet on one side.

Another issue is the highback lever. It's aluminum, the flexible clip that it locks into is soft plastic. I'm not sure if these were already returned once, but after mounting these to my board and having made a few forward lean adjustments the clip was beginning to wearing down. Not good, I hadn't even used them. Hard plastics or metal would be best for the clip.

If someone were to do a little modification to a gettagrip capstrap I'm sure these would be much more functional. For $300 I don't want to have to do a modification.

If these issues get fixed, I'ld definitely try these again. I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'll stick my flow nxt-fse's.

I used this on a camping trip to the Adirondacks. Very comfortable. Coupling straps and snaps built in, so it's not necessary to buy a coupling device (coupling straps are top and bottom, a third in the middle would be great for the night/morning, rigorous tent activities. Holds air well. Contrary to another review it's very easy to roll this up and fit it into it's original bag. I rolled one of these up with Therm-a-rest's down coupler attached and had plenty of room left to put something else in the container. I'm not sure if the XL is worth $210, but I don't regret the purchase. It's huge. Two of these take up a lot of space. Insulation from the ground is an extra bonus, especially if you're using a bag that has top insulation only. Car camping approved.

I thought Salomon shoes were good. No, they suck compared to these. These are; lighter, better cushioned, skin and toe friendly, rock grabbing and better looking.
I've been using these to trail running, street running and hiking. I wear boots for longer, heavier hiking for the support and durability, but for everything else.... I go in these.
I want to wear these everywhere for everything, but they are smelly because of all the sweat I produce while wearing them. Which means..... I have to buy another pair.

5'7", 185lbs the large is a great fit. I don't like my shirts super tight, but at my size it's a great loose, form fit. Just what I was looking for. It's first trial was a relaxing Sunday afternoon @ 60F with 5 mile hike and then 3.5 mile trail run. Perfect for it. I'm sure I'll find more uses for it.

I don't think I would go with anything less than their 200 weight.

My Icebreaker collection continues to grow.

Haven't felt like this about a pair of running shoes since my first pair of Huaraches circa 1992. I believe these are better and I hope they last longer. Not sure I would want to take these on a serious mountain trail, they are real thin around the toes. Road running and cross country running seem to be a perfect fit. These breathe awesomely, on take off I had the sensation of little fans blowing on my feet with every stride. I think the boys and girls of Salomon broke into my place while I was sleeping and took my measurements the night I ordered these, perfect fit. I generally wear a 9.5 or 10 depending upon the brand, 10s were right on. Great traction better than the XA PRO 3D ULTRA and they don't feel flat like the ULTRAs.

I will be picking up the Gortex version of these for cold/wet weather running.

Overall it's a great jacket. Does what it is intended to do and is lighter than TNF's Free Thinker. When comparing the two Free Thinker has better seals on the zippers, but those zippers are harder to zip. The zippers for the pit zips have a very small gap between the two zippers, I doubt very much snow will ever get through but it is there. I like the offset zipper.

The cut is roomy enough for a few layers: 320 weight Ice Breaker wool base and Montbell Ex Light 900 fill down insulating layer, for those really cold days on the mountain (medium and I'm 5'7" 185, not skinny, but not fat... husky athletic type, 42-43" chest). There's probably room for another layer, but it would start to get restrictive.

The Sidewinder is lighter and easier to pack. It doesn't have as many pockets, but to be honest the Free Thinker has too many pockets.

The hood is great; fits around my noggin or around my noggin with a POC Receptor+ wonderfully.

Is it worth $600? That's debatable, but I don't regret the purchase. $400 seems a bit more reasonable considering what you're getting, a waterproof shell.

My head measurement is about 22.5", the medium fits perfectly, no strange pressure points on my head (I'm certainly not a Swede, however, I may seem a little alienish to some) . The sizes can very from line to line. In the other models the larges had a better fit; receptor bug, frontal, skull light.

Could have saved myself $40 if I had ordered it from BC, but I wanted to try it on @ a local shop and then figured.... eh, why not support the local economy from time to time.

Had it 1 day. The jacket, in a medium, fit great for my stalky 5'7" 185 lbs build. Looked great too. Wanted it for skiing/snowboarding/winter hiking. I generally use three layers; merino wool base, down/soft shell/wool mid layer (depending on temp) and this jacket. This jacket had a great cut for that as well as not too much bulk without the insulation layers. I never tried it with any of my packs, but I think it would have fared well. Lots of pockets, maybe too many. Plenty of venting. Great hood for use with or without a helmet. Not so great zipper flap for protecting your face. In the next year I think you'll see all of these technical jackets going with an offset front zipper.

Now for the problem. Maybe I was unlucky. The first time I wore it (snowboarding) three holes were made in the back panel. I remember going down on my back once. How tough is Gore-Tex Pro???

Had to return it, would like to have kept it.

The pants would be alright if they didn't have a$$ pockets. One of them was half ripped off after 4 days of riding (yes, I'm a beginner, but I wasn't on my a$$ that much) . Having paid $333 for these I would expect not to have a wet a$$.

All the other features were great, just poor pocket design for their intended use..... promptly returned.

I'm new to snowboarding and they are the only set of bindings I've used.

There are many different adjustments to dial in the fit. Easy to mount and hold your foot to the board well.

I have these mounted to a Head I. CT KERS board and use Salomon Malumute Boots. Everything seems to work well together.

Please take this with a grain of salt because I've only been snowboarding a handful of times. What I can tell you is that none of the equipment has caused any problems.

I wanted to use these for fall and spring climbing in the whites, but....

I wear Raichle/Mammut Mt. Trail XT GTX hiking boots size 10. The large set of Microspikes slip around the boot and the medium set are too small (either the heel or front foot spikes are not where they are supposed to be).

The medium will probably work, I will just have to adjust them depending on whether I'm headed up hill or down.

Depending on your foot/boot size these may not be the best choice.

Because they're better. These are alright too. I don't believe the guy that said he wore them for a week and didn't have any odor issues, maybe I have bad smelling sweat. Then again it could have been the curry chicken I had the night before. LOL.

I'll probably get a few more.

Plastic readily absorbs odors. Don't eat Indian food in it, it will never come out (I did). When you're done with it make sure to store this at night with your food up in the tree. If they made this same bowl in stainless or titanium they would have a winner on their hands.

Very absorbent, dries quickly. What more could you want? I used it to stop the "sleep stopping squeaking and squawking" my air core pad would make with every slight movement (rubbing on tent floor). Double duty.... great product. Don't kid yourself, get the big one.

Nice pack for 1 day adventures.

I'm 5'7" and 180 lbs, fits well. Small emergency kit fits into the top mesh pocket (Adventure Medical 1.0 version), Canon SX200IS fits in the hip pockets. I use the shoulder strap mesh pocket for easy access to my GPS, Garmin 60CSX. 2 liter camelback fits nicely. I'm not a big fan of the compressions straps, but they work well enough. no gear loops for mounting poles when they're not being used... anyone with a decent imagination can work around this.

Overall I would recommend this to others. Went hiking with my little sister and she's considering getting one herself.

I'm a size 10 which happens to be between sizes. I went with the large to cover my Mammut Mt. Trail XT GTX boots. They proved to be extremely annoying, on inclines of packed snow and ice they would slip around the toe requiring me to adjust them every couple of minutes. I'm almost positive this is a sizing issue and will give a set of mediums a try come fall. I'll keep the larges for my bigger/insulated winter boots (didn't have a chance to try them out). They did their job well on ice patches and packed snow on an early spring trip up to the Kinsman Peaks. Good design and manufacturing, definitely worth the $60.

I was worried about the fit of these due to my stalky 5'7"/175-180lb frame, but the medium's fit was perfect (usually I wear a 32/33-30 sized pant). I went out with these after a storm and water beeded on the material rather than getting absorbed. They were comfortable the entire 11 mile/6hr walk in the woods with moderate elevation gains. They moved well with me, no resistance/snags/hangups to my movement. I'm taking them as my only pant on a 3day trip in the WMNF (Little Haystack, Liberty, Flume, Owl's Head, Garfield, and Lafayette) this coming weekend. I'll update when I return.