Simply the best designed Snow Parka yet!

By johngilmou2176550 Ranked #1491 - Men's Ski Jackets April 21, 2008

This Arc'teryx Stinger is Pro shell. Its longer length makes it their best jacket for snowboarding- just barely long enough. It has a storm skirt though it lacks an adjustable elastic waist draw cord.. which it could use. It has two nice pulls at the bottom that can be pulled while wearing gloves despite being tiny. The hood has two pulls on the back that are ideal for situating the hood on your face so the opening is exactly where your goggles are. In this manner you can minimize the hood opening to exactly fit your goggles and put the brim right over your goggles to prevent a pile of powder accumulating on your goggles blocking airflow and fogging. The arc of the hood brim is perfect for this- and though it would not be nearly splash proof, it is snow proof- and fits to the face better than the marmot hood. Besides it is lighter and stowable- so it would not fill with powder or rain like on non stowable hoods.

Now- that high collar- think Dracula when unzipped. I know you might think you'll look like a freak wearing it. I thought so when I first put it on. I am sure that is why not many shops seem to carry this jacket for fear of it not selling fashion wise. BUT Once you use it in deep powder and in gusty wind swirling conditions you will never feel as comfortable without it.

I went to wearing a $750 Marmot Alpinist Phenomenon EL (light up with electroluminescent panels) jacket after wearing this Arc'teryx Stinger jacket and felt absolutely less protected from the snow. My neck got cold and stiff while wearing the Marmot that never happened with the Stinger jacket. I purposely let my hair grow out long (nearly Fabio length) for the winter so my neck doesn't get stiff (I have some crazy thick hair so it works better than a neck gaiter) and I can comfortably say I could keep my hair short year round and avoid the stiff neck with the powder collar on this Stinger Jacket. I have a 16.5 inch neck. The stinger collar fits to my face perfectly and never feels tight on the neck. The hood also has two collar high pulls to tighten the hole- easily done with gloves on.

The Stinger hood is simply more adjustable and better fitting- even without a helmet. The Stinger jacket initially looks like a bulky boxy cut but after you wear it- somehow it loses its boxy look it has when you first try it on as the fabric starts to drape differently over time- in the end fitting even better.

The Stinger Velcro sleeve straps are perfectly designed. They fit easily under insulated glove gauntlets- and are easy to undo with gloves on.

So what are the flaws? The hood is not splash proof but hey it’s not so much an all weather jacket as it is a Snow Jacket - and for snow the hood is the best I have used. There is no elastic storm skirt waist cinch- but again this is a snow jacket- but it would be a little warmer if it has some way to tighten the waist to cut down on convective heat loss- as it is I find myself using the bottom elastics to stop convective heat loss and being very careful not to make my inner layer too fitted (as then you would have a gap between your mid layer and outer layer which would pump out heat as you move).

The Recco transceiver reflectors.. well nice if you got buried or lost within a Recco equipped resort if you can get a rescue team with shovels to you within 5 minutes (unlikely) don't rely on the Reccos. Reccos could be good if you got stuck in a tree well. Still I suppose not a flaw if you realize this is not a true safety feature but merely a backup- or last resort.

The pit zips on the Stinger are hard to operate- the zipper is smaller gauge and so the zipper does not have adequate stiffness to make them easy to operate. They can get stuck half way and are harder to close all the way. The trade off would have been an heavier zipper which you would have felt as you moved.. so I suppose this trade off is ok- but opening and closing your pit zips after every run like you might do in the North East would get annoying after a while. I found I left them partly open on warmer days all the time and unzipped completely 1/2 way down while waiting for others.

The material choice and weight is perfect. Would not change a thing. It is so light you might even be tempted to make this your year round ONLY jacket - packing this as a lightweight rain parka (as it is only 20 ounces!) also the Stinger would dry faster than the Sidewinder- its roomy cut would make it less steamy if worn in humid conditions as a rain slicker.

The Stinger pocket has no window- which as I have a sensor season pass holder I prefer since no one will see the pass or credit cards and try to steal it over lunch. The pocket is also easy to open. Realistically I would have preferred if it was a forearm pocket as these near shoulder height pockets always snag on packs when taking packs on and off.

The interior chest pocket on the Stinger is small you can just fit your 4 fingers up to your palm in it. Not big enough for a handgun or even a large folding pocket knife. Just big enough for a phone- but not an iPod Nano 2nd gen + phone without them overlapping. But the small pockets force you to think small and keeps the overall loaded weight down.

Definitely no Arc'teryx jacket is suitable for ski patrol or avalanche patrol with such limiting pockets.

The exterior chest pocket on the other side is again the same size. A bit small.. At least one of these pockets should be larger. For reference you can't fit an airline ticket in any of them- perhaps a passport in the lower ones. And if you want to carry a wallet it had better be the size of a business card holder.

The side pockets are high- presumable so the pack waist belt would not interfere. Though I don't see this as a climbing jacket. The pockets are unlined making this less of a civilian walk around town jacket, you'll want your gloves. But again this saves weight and keeps the jacket to 1.25 lbs or 578 grams. A worthwhile trade off.

There is no cable management .. which is a pain with the high collar as headphone and mic cables can get intertangled blocking the zipper from going up. I suppose so many people are going to other wireless formats so it is not as big of an issue but some might have an issue fitting a wired remote to the jacket.

What I really would have liked is the shoulder pocket to move to the forearm and a plastic window so I could see what was playing when selecting music.. not an issue for those who use playlists or the ipod shuffle which can be either clipped to the high collar or even stowed within the collar and zipped!

I did find using a longer cable with the ear muffs and the iPod Nano hardwired a PITA to use as I had to remove the Nano to pick albums and adjust volume- and the zippers are just a bit to stiff to do this all the time. Also the chest pockets are vertical so if you forget to zip up, you might lose the contents of those pockets easily. A diagonal pocket would have been more functional though less stylish- and perhaps less functional with a pack. I would have liked some way to route the cables- if anyone has a solution let me know!

All in all this is still the best snow jacket ever. With the added plus of being able to fit this folded and at its light weight into your carryon luggage.

I liked this jacket so much I am contemplating buying an extra in case they should ever change or abandon this wonderful design. My highest praise- I wish I had the guts to make the choices and sacrifices they made while designing this jacket- they showed remarkable restraint and near perfect judgment IMHO as a former outer wear designer. A perfect application of the lightweight and durable Goretex Pro shell material.

If there were 6 stars this jacket would get them from me- the single most enjoyable piece of outwear designed in 10 years. Even if the high collar unzipped makes you look a bit like Dracula- (actually looks kinda cool- girls like the look) buy it, you will be so happy with this purchase. If you would like to comment send a note to johngilmour@rocketmail.com.

View Details: Arc'teryx Stinger Jacket - Men's

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