wallhanger
Active Member
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- 848
I had posted a while back asking if anyone knew anything about this jacket. Well, I received it for Christmas from my wife, so here's my review.
As far as I can tell, this http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=12&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1
might be the closest thing to the perfect jacket I've found for the large majority of the conditions I typically encounter while I'm hunting. I usually wake up to temps in the 20s, and it often warms into the 50s and 60s during the day.
The design is more technical than most hunting jackets- with core zips for ventilation, a fairly active cut, only three pockets, two on sides, one on chest with zippered openings, and velcro wrist closures. It has a hood with a visor and pull chord cinches on either cheek, as well as in the back to keep it out of the way when you don't need it. I know some prefer a midweight jacket to be hoodless, but this one cinches up nicely around your face and neck and is very effective in keeping the wind out. The lining is a polyester grid fleece for lightweight warmth and maximum moisture transfer.
The shell is the softest, quietest fleece I've ever personally owned, and it has an extremely low nap. It also comes in outfitter camo, which is my personal favorite for the west as an added bonus. Beneath the shell, it has Windshear lining, which I've found to be very effective, and it's the first truly silent jacket I've found with any kind of wind or waterproof laminate. Next is what I think sets this jacket apart.
Below the Windshear lining is a thin, 40-gram layer of Thinsulate Supreme insulation. To me, this is the key. So many fleece jackets have the windproof layer inside all of the loft of the fleece, which seems to cut down on the effectiveness of the fleece's insulating properties. The whole idea is to create a microclimate around your body, and keep the wind from pulling the heat away from you. When the warmth of the fleece is outside of the windshear, I seem to loose a lot of the heat the fleece was creating. In the Silent Stalk jacket, the windshear blocks the wind before it gets to the warm air created by the Thinsulate, so the warm air stays next to your body.
The jacket wears pretty light- I won't say super light, but I believe that it creates two layers by itself, which in my opinion is a fair trade off, since I won't need to carry an extra insulating layer in most situations. I've been very comfortable from the 30s up to the high 50s in this jacket, which in most cases is what I encounter in the mountains in the fall. Long post short, I think I've finally got a jacket I'll wear nearly all the time while I'm hunting, and my pack won't be stuffed full of so many extra layers.
Couple of things that would be even better:
The sleeve lining could stand to be smoother to get on and off over an additional layer if it's very cold.
The zipper took a bit of working in. It stuck a little at first, but has come to work just fine.
I know Hardcore will have some comments on some of the features and the design that he finds less than perfect, but overall, I think this jacket is a very solid choice for my style of hunting.
thanks,
WH
As far as I can tell, this http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=12&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1
might be the closest thing to the perfect jacket I've found for the large majority of the conditions I typically encounter while I'm hunting. I usually wake up to temps in the 20s, and it often warms into the 50s and 60s during the day.
The design is more technical than most hunting jackets- with core zips for ventilation, a fairly active cut, only three pockets, two on sides, one on chest with zippered openings, and velcro wrist closures. It has a hood with a visor and pull chord cinches on either cheek, as well as in the back to keep it out of the way when you don't need it. I know some prefer a midweight jacket to be hoodless, but this one cinches up nicely around your face and neck and is very effective in keeping the wind out. The lining is a polyester grid fleece for lightweight warmth and maximum moisture transfer.
The shell is the softest, quietest fleece I've ever personally owned, and it has an extremely low nap. It also comes in outfitter camo, which is my personal favorite for the west as an added bonus. Beneath the shell, it has Windshear lining, which I've found to be very effective, and it's the first truly silent jacket I've found with any kind of wind or waterproof laminate. Next is what I think sets this jacket apart.
Below the Windshear lining is a thin, 40-gram layer of Thinsulate Supreme insulation. To me, this is the key. So many fleece jackets have the windproof layer inside all of the loft of the fleece, which seems to cut down on the effectiveness of the fleece's insulating properties. The whole idea is to create a microclimate around your body, and keep the wind from pulling the heat away from you. When the warmth of the fleece is outside of the windshear, I seem to loose a lot of the heat the fleece was creating. In the Silent Stalk jacket, the windshear blocks the wind before it gets to the warm air created by the Thinsulate, so the warm air stays next to your body.
The jacket wears pretty light- I won't say super light, but I believe that it creates two layers by itself, which in my opinion is a fair trade off, since I won't need to carry an extra insulating layer in most situations. I've been very comfortable from the 30s up to the high 50s in this jacket, which in most cases is what I encounter in the mountains in the fall. Long post short, I think I've finally got a jacket I'll wear nearly all the time while I'm hunting, and my pack won't be stuffed full of so many extra layers.
Couple of things that would be even better:
The sleeve lining could stand to be smoother to get on and off over an additional layer if it's very cold.
The zipper took a bit of working in. It stuck a little at first, but has come to work just fine.
I know Hardcore will have some comments on some of the features and the design that he finds less than perfect, but overall, I think this jacket is a very solid choice for my style of hunting.
thanks,
WH
