The best ski jackets?

Spyder are pretty overpriced IMO with most people buying because it is 'Spyder' rather than a good jacket. Unfortunately not much of the above fit in to the OPs price bracket especially not Spyder/Norrona/Peak Performance/Kjus/Phenix (not widely available in the UK anyway) and probably not Karbon-chances of you picking up a Karbon jacket here are pretty slim.

I have an Eider(sisal) jacket (plenty insulation), a Spyder jacket (a little insulation and a North Face shell.. my favourite of these is probably the Eider jacket but in anything other than seriously bloody cold it is too warm. Ellis Brigham have a range of Eider and have this one reduced from 300 to 200 right now which is a bargain IMO.

You can get a few different North Face jackets in the price range but IME they are not as good quality as the higher priced North Face jackets and tend to trade off the name a little.

I recently bought a jacket from Fat Face and love it. Only thin buts its great a nice green colour too. Was £190 reduced to £130!

swskier wrote:I recently bought a jacket from Fat Face and love it. Only thin buts its great a nice green colour too. Was £190 reduced to £130!

My latest jacket is a Helly H brought for eighty pounds, don't pay a fortune look for a bargan in may. :wink:

My first jacket was Helly Hansen, and it was excellent, I just dont like the colour or style anymore, its about 5 years old.
I have owned had a Cross jacket which was also very good, and now use North Face, Dare2be, and Bailo. The D2B jacket was a steal and is a short cut outer shell, so its great in the warmer weather, as is the North Face one. I tend to find I prefer thinner outer layer (waterproof) jackets and to layer up underneath.

I noticed a lot of people this season seem to be thinking this way too, and a lot of skiers were wearing less insulated jackets, and there were far more climbing style jackets on show, such as Arc'Teryx and Haglofs - very nice gear indeed if you can afford it!

Lots of Kjus, Killy and Eider on show in Serre Che as well, which are also pricey but appear very nicely styled and well made.

I'll vouch for Killy too now TonyH has mentioned it. Again-seriously warm, warm to the point I gave mine to my dad :lol:

Tony_H wrote: Arc'Teryx and Haglofs - very nice gear indeed if you can afford it!

I wouldn't buy Arc'Teryx , the customer service is a lot better than the quality.

ise wrote:

Tony_H wrote: Arc'Teryx and Haglofs - very nice gear indeed if you can afford it!

I wouldn't buy Arc'Teryx , the customer service is a lot better than the quality.

Whats so bad about their quality? I only ask as I have been contemplating buying one for a year or so now, but cant justify the spend. They are highly priced, bearing in mind many of them are just outer layers. I would have thought for the money they were well made and good quality, but you suggest otherwise.

I note you wear Haglofs - would you recommend their stuff?

Tony_H wrote:

ise wrote:

Tony_H wrote: Arc'Teryx and Haglofs - very nice gear indeed if you can afford it!

I wouldn't buy Arc'Teryx , the customer service is a lot better than the quality.

Whats so bad about their quality?

they get a lot of returns, I know people who've returned the jackets several times only to have the replacement fail again.

Tony_H wrote:I note you wear Haglofs - would you recommend their stuff?

Yes, it's robust, it's a common as muck here though along with Mammut. Haglofs is a winner if weight is a factor, they've some of the lightest stuff around at a reasonable price point.