BrooksRanger

I bought this jacket for extreme conditions in high latitudes and/or altitudes of arctic and sub-arctic Alaska. I didn't have it during the worst of the season, so haven't had the opportunity to give it my ultimate test. There are some readily evident pluses and minuses for this jacket. The baffled construction is excellent, draft tube is very effective, pockets are placed well, and range of arm motion while wearing the jacket is great. Very little mass and packs down very well. Pitfalls include a poorly designed, over-sized hood that can't be synched tight without pulling over the eyes. This alone made me seriously consider shipping this thing back, but I got it during a pretty sweet sale, and think I have devised a way to deal with it. Also, the collar is not separate from the hood so it doesn't close any tighter than the hood resulting in a draft down the collar if you can't figure out a way to get the hood tight. The main zipper on mine is not as smooth to zip as I would like, but it is tolerable and I can't assume this is more than a flaw with this particular zipper rather than all the zippers on all the Greenland jackets. And as I anticipated, the lightweight nylon of the shell does not appear durable at all, but does offer promise to avoid trapping moisture (waterproof and breathable are an impossible combination in extreme cold) and weighs nothing, which were two features I was more interested in. I've worn a thin, oversized, nylon wind shell over it in situations where protection from abrasion or high winds was needed, which has seemed to provide adequate reinforcement so far; that is another layer I always carry anyway.