UKC

Check out this bad boy for £20 http://shop.uniqlo.com/uk/goods/074167

In reply to iksander: This seems to happen all the time now - something funky looking appears in the outdoor market and a year or two later there are highstreet lookalikes. My wife was mentioning how now loads of shops have 'down' jackets that look like the Patagonia ones with narrow channels that first appeared maybe five years back. There was a lot of dicussion last winter that the uniqlo ones were virtually as good, so maybe this is as well? Not as shaped as the Variant though.

In reply to TobyA: I think you're right, the Uniqlo stuff is a knock-off - the Marmot one is better, but 4-5 x better? That said, the new Marmot Alpinist Hybrid jacket looks absolutely spot on with the addition of a hood but £170 for a fleece hoody is nuts!

In reply to TobyA:

I happened to be in a BOSS shop the other day, they now do a narrow channel down jacket, basically a knock off of the Patagonia design, but twice the price.

In reply to iksander:

It is a lot indeed. I'm still a bit in two minds as to whether the synth insulation as a mid layer fully works as I found with the Variant when I was pushing hard I'd get a sweat build up under the insulation section. http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=4447 I saw that TNF's new super expensive mid layer sort of takes that on, saying it offers the warmth of synth puffy but with the breathability of fleece.

In reply to TobyA:


That thought passed through my head looking around TK Maxx the other day; loads of narrow channel down jackets...

In reply to TobyA: Got the Uniqlo jacket today - it's wicked! The fit is perfect for me, and the stretch fabric has a "hardface" type finish. The insulation panel at the front is very thin - maybe 30gm - almost like a double layer of pertex type stuff sandwiching a wisp of insulation. I think it could be a classic