westwinds cairngorm jacket, mini review

[baggins]

Just got my new westwinds cairngorm jacket today (as well as my roselli axe). First impressions are really good.
These jackets are made to order so i had never seen one or tried one on so it was a bit of a gamble. Out of the bag and you can see that the quality is supurb, everything seems to be well finished. The Ventile is really soft to the touch and very light. The jacket is single skin ventile with a mesh lining in the body and full nylon lining in the sleaves (with additional internal cuffs). There are four pockets on the outside of the jacket with waterproof zips and a small internal pocket.
There is a very good fiting hood that folds neatly into the collar, not wired but it is adjustable. (not that i normally use hoods), and does seem to be comfortable.
I am 5'10 and, what you would call a regular build (whatever that is). I opted for a medium and there seems to be plenty of space for clothes underneath without being loose and floppy. The hem comes down to just below my waist with a slight extension around the tail and that has a draw cord too.
I do like the fact that the main zip curves to one side around the chin and that zip is also waterproof.
Ofcourse, you will all have to thank me for a long, hot, dry summer now as it won't rain now until october so i can't try it out in the rain. Ah well!
Hope this helps anybody who has been looking at them.
all the best
Baggins :umbrella:

 

[mark a.]

Enjoy your jacket! Let us know how you get on with it once you've had it a while (and after it's rained of course!). As you say it seems a bit of a gamble to buy a jacket you've never tried on with new (or rather old) technology, so it will be great to get a view of house it really works.

 

[Toots]

Thanks for the mini review Baggins. I am very tempted to order a wind shirt but am concerned about it not fitting me when it arrives. Always scary ordering things unseen (or tried). Did Westwinds not ask for a few measurements when you ordered it?

 

[jdlenton]

thanks for the review I've been contemplating a westwinds for a while now i just need to get some cash together let us know how you get on when you get it wet.

James

 

[Simon R]

I have one of these jackets and I love it! It's been mostly used for hill walking in Scotland and has performed very well in all sorts of weather.

Very good in showers, sleet, hail, snow and wind only gets out of it's depth in continuous heavy rain. I normally wear a Howies wool t-shirt underneath and add a thin fleece pullover when it gets too cold. I always carry a lightweight waterproof with me when hillwalking to throw on if it rains too much.

I removed the elasticated internal wrist cuffs to get better ventilation, couldn't see the need for them as the velco cuffs work well. The only annoying thing about the jacket is when it's not zipped all the way up the coller can slap you in the face in high winds. This is because of the way the zip is angled to one side at the top, very comfortable on the chin, no zip rash! but means the coller is bigger on one side. I keep thinking about adding a press stud to it.

A very good jacket, my expensive gore-tex doesn't get used very often now.

 

[Rod]

Cheers for this - I have one on my forthcoming shopping list

 

[addyb]

This is probably a redudant question, but how does the water repellency of a treated gabardine smock compare to Ventile and it's swelling properties? I'm asking because I recently retired my double layer Ventile anorak, everytime I'd put it on I'd find a new hole. It's old and served me very well over the past while. Anyway, as a college student, there's no way I'll be able to afford a new Ventile jacket for at least a few years, I'm starting to look at other options. The closest thing I could find is this, my local surplus store sells them.

Any takers?

Cheers,

Adam

 

[bushtuckerman]

hmm. i'm in a similar situation and have been thinking about a treated cotton/polycotton smock for a while. i like the look of it, and it's certainly more affordable! you've probably seen it, but isn't there a swedish military one? similar price, but just cotton no poly. one or the other would prove useful i reckon, even if it's not the main waterproof, it looks robust and good for kicking about in the woods, and maybe even just to protect a pertex shell around the fire (for which cotton would be better obviously). who cares how waterproof it is if you've got wool underneath? should be fine!

i looked at the cairngorm for a while, and only decided against it because i changed my mind and wanted a smock. looks good.

ian

 

[addyb]

That's what I can't figure out. What's the point of a smock if it does nothing to keep you from being rained on? I mean, I can totally dig Ventile because it's cotton, but it keeps you dry for a good couple of hours in anything the weather throws at you. But a regular cotton smock that isn't water repellent, won't it just soak up water and make you miserable? Those are basically the reasons why I'm still not sure if I want to buy that gabardine smock in my previous post.

Adam

 

[bushtuckerman]

i'd say go for it Adam. find out what it does first hand. it's cheap and it'll have its uses even if it's not that waterproof, but it shouldn't be abysmal since it's treated(?) if the army use it then surely it's reliable to an extent...did i actually say that?

...ah here we go: http://www.addlestonearmysurplus.co.uk/prod02.asp?ProductID=SSS892
that's the swedish smock was referring to. well it's a snow smock and i guess cotton is going to be most reliable in the colder months when it's mostly windy anyway. personally i plan to get one for general playing in the woods!

 

[Nemisis]

I've had one of those snow smocks about 5/6 years now. in snow or light showers its fine as a windproof excellent. I treated it with nikwax cotton proof in the washing machine and its waterproofness hardly improved much at all. There was slight stiffening when wet like ventile but that was just the material soaking up the rain. What I want to do sometime in the future is apply the cottonproof directly with a spray rather than in the washer see if that improves things.
Dave.

 

[bushtuckerman]

hmm...ok so rain one, smock nil. :s

 

[addyb]

Point taken. I will definately not be buying a smock. I think I'll probably go and bother some of the old climber type guys I know and try to convince them to dig though their back closets for any old Ventile anoraks they have. I did it once, I'm sure I can do it again.

 

[leon-1]

Nice review baggins, I have a fair amount of kit from west-winds and love it to bits so you should get good service from it. When you've had a fair amount of time to evaluate it I would like to hear more.


addyb, if ventile is a little too expensive look out for Fjallraven jackets in G1000 material, these jackets can be waxed, breath well and can be as good as a ventile in many ways. I have a couple jackets in this material and they are very good, as stated above I have a number of ventile products including a double layer jacket and a single layer smock so can give a reasonable comparison.

 

[Toots]

Have just been to see the nice people at Westwinds (Snugpak) as they are based about five miles from my house. They don't actually have a shop there but were more than happy for me to call in the office and try on a few jackets for size before ordering one. I opted for a windtop, size medium in green (of course!). At 6'1" and 12 stone (honest) was glad I did, as I would proobably have ordered a large otherwise. Found them to be very helpful indeed and looking forward to going back in a few weeks to collect the finished item.

 

[baggins]

So much for my weather forecasting :umbrella:
Been wearing the cairngorm all week, walking the hounds etc. It has really stood up well to the rather heavy showers we've been having (not a damp spot anywhere).
It's alot more comfortable than my north face mountain jacket.
Anybody who's thinking of getting one; go for it! I've had loads of different jackets over the years, goretex, sympatex, triplepoint etc. All for mountaineering and, this is just as good good as any of those (considering that most of the other ones cost way over £200!).

 

[addyb]

I hope this isn't too off topic, but does anyone know what sort of smock the man named Lars was wearing in Ray Mear's Bushcraft episode on Sweden? It's the one where they're camping on the shores of a lake and Lars brings a fish and asks Ray to "Show me how to cook it the indian way," to which he replies "That has got to be the cheekiest way of getting me to cook your dinner for you!"

Thanks,

Adam