UKC

Jöttnar has released its 2018/19 winter range which sees an additional 11 new products join the collection.

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In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

If anyone fancies a good laugh, look up the RRP for the Jottnar Ragnarok.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Good grief! It better be warm then........

And what's a "colourway?".  Marketingspeak for "colour"?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant: Check it in Euros - will I get a new jacket or a small car?

 

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I don't see the problem. PHD jackets cost as much and even more (Baffin Ventile jacket at a cool £1252 anyone?). The quality of Jottnar stuff seems just as good.

In reply to asteclaru:

Have you ever done any extreme cold trips? I mean, I don't have a problem if people want to spend money on £5000 Yeezys or £18,000 Glenfiddich, but I think most people would put a £1200 jacket in the same category of unnecessarily expensive. 

 

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Blimey. I'd want free entry to Valhalla as well for £845. Alternatively, I'd go for a Crux Plasma at about 1/2 the price (and skip the hall of the gods)

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

What does extreme cold have to do with anything?

The Baffin Ventile is rated for -30 and costs £1252. The Omega, also from PHD, is rated for -55  and is 'only' £817. I'm also entirely sure that you can get jackets just as warm for less money.

The point I'm trying to make is that both Jottnar and PHD are niche brands selling premium products. If people didn't buy their stuff, they would be out of business. 

I have no need for a big down jacket, but if I did and the best option costed £800, I would probably pay it. After all, my Alpha SV was £500 and it's not even that warm  

In reply to asteclaru:

I've just received the Odin shell jacket and Vanir LT trousers to review for UKC over the next month or so (sort of depends on how good a winter season we have, particularly south of the border).

The Odin is eye-wateringly expensive - it's hard to avoid really, there are jackets available for less than half its RRP that people I trust trust, so it's not for everyone. But I did just look on the Snow and Rock website as they seem to sell plenty of top end stuff, and there are three shell jackets that are more than the Odin, a Haglöfs one that is 150 quid more! :-0 But the Arcteryx Alpha SV costs more, as does the top end one from Mammut. Then there are TNF and Mountain Equipment shells that are only 50 quid less than the Odin.

So clearly Jöttnar are going for the top end of the market, but their prices whilst high, aren't higher (and in some case are actually lower) than competing products. I guess like lots of high end sports gear, it is a huge amount of money for some people, and not that much for others.

In reply to asteclaru:

I don't have a problem with brands charging massive prices, each to their own, but the reason I'm asking about cold trips is that to buy a £1200 jacket (which doesn't include all the other gear you would need for that trip) to my mind means either you wrongly think you need to spend this amount of money to get a good cold weather jacket, or you have money to burn. 

In reply to TobyA:

 > So clearly Jöttnar are going for the top end of the market, but their prices whilst high, aren't higher (and in some case are actually lower) than competing products. I guess like lots of high end sports gear, it is a huge amount of money for some people, and not that much for others.

My point exactly

In reply to asteclaru:

It's not really comparable. PHD gear is hand made in the UK, to order. Jottnar gear is generally great, I own a couple of items, but it's made in China along with everything else.

In reply to TobyA:

Ill keep any eye out for this. I would be especially interested in if the new fabric bobbles (like cotton) I have and older model that I loved at first but the longer time goes on I become less and less impressed with. I would also be interested how they are in heavy rain as a pose to snow I feel mine wet out to quickly.

 

thanks Matt  

In reply to planetmarshall:

I will disagree again.

I only have one PHD product, the Zeta belay jacket, but I had to send it back at first because some of the build quality was simply not up to scratch and definitely not what I expected from a £350 jacket. They did put it right in the end, but I don't think that should have been the case in the first place.

'Hand made in the UK' doesn't mean much if the 'made in China along with everything else' stuff is as good, if not better.

In reply to asteclaru:

Quality notwithstanding, it means is that the price of PHD gear reflects the higher cost of manufacturing in the UK. Similarly, the Arcteryx Alpha SV jacket is manufactured in Vancouver and is priced accordingly.

 

In reply to planetmarshall:

Absolutely, but if the quality does not reflect the price and the 'handmade in the UK' claim, they might as well just move their production to China and start charging less.

I don't care where something is built if the quality reflects the price. I won't be paying more just so I can claim that my stuff is 'handmade in the UK'

By the way, I just want to make it clear that I do not own a single Jottnar product, so if I come across as defending them, it's purely coincidental. I did buy one of their salopettes a while ago, which I ended up returning as they didn't fit me. The quality was excellent though, which is why I think they can charge the prices they charge

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Can I ask a stupid question, viz isn't a waterproof/breathable down jacket going to suffer the same problems as a the same type shell (i.e. that it can get overloaded and condensation form on the inside?). And if that happens isn't it going to soak the down, or would the condensation only form on the inner side of the down baffle to the body (and not inside the down baffle, if you know what I mean).

Isn't the reality that a truly waterproof/breathable down jacket is a answer in search of a question? If you're going to be somewhere where its so wet as to need a waterproof jacket then you're better off which synthetic insulation?

 

In reply to Southvillain:

Spot on!

In reply to Southvillain:

It would depend on the intended use (I've never skied - do you sweat a lot?)

I'm going to once again go back to my PHD Zeta example : with 200 g/sqm of Primaloft Gold and a waterproof outer, you'd be baking hiking uphill in it, but as a belay jacket is absolutely brilliant cause you can just leave it laying around in the snow when you're climbing and it will still be dry the next time you put it on.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

It says "ski descents" in the Ragnarok description, price explained.