UKC

Basically, think I am going to get the Mountain Equipment Astron Jacket and can't decide on a hood or not.

Will mainly be using it for cycling I think, but also for dry cold days....(leading to the other thread).

There's (around) £20 difference between the one with a hood and the one without.

Plus if I get it without, I can layer it (?) and just wear a hat.

Any advice against this?

In reply to elephant0907: if it's mainly for cycling, no hood is less faff. Butt if it stows away ok, nice to have a hood when you get off..hmmm tricky.
Just make sure it doesn't just hang behind & fill up with water

In reply to thin bob:

Yeah. I can't decide. But then I've got the "if it does rain" situation when I'm not cycling...

Would it be ok for layering under hardshell?? Or does that just not work?

In reply to elephant0907:

always get the hood.
its your head for gods sake, be as nice to it as possible.

only argument against hoods i know is when they are bullshit fashion hoods that dont really do anything. in which case a waste of fabric.

In reply to elephant0907: yeah, should work fine! It's just like another hat. It's strange for cycling, because some days you can wear the hood under the helmet , you can see ok & no wind, other times, you get a right breeze (not always a bad thing!)..but gotta be careful you can still make lifesavers. Will the astronomical fit over a bike helmet?
Personally,....i can't make up my mind ;-( I really like my mammut hoody as a shell, but a hoodless salmon & hat as a general jacket. It has a light hood & probably would want a proper hood for full-on winter walking & climbing

In reply to elephant0907: Hood

In reply to elephant0907:

Hood.

If no hood, you end up wearing some sort of hooded shell on top. Tn which case, that is a shell and softshell...in which case your softshell ain't really working as a shell...

In reply to elephant0907: I have an astron and it is my most used and prized posession! Definately with a hood! But cotswold is selling the G2 jacket for £80 at the moment...

In reply to elephant0907:

Hmmmm think I'm gonna go for the hood

Had a look at the G2 as well but want ti try it on and get it before the weekend hopefully.

Plus I get 20% discount at Cotswolds anyway so the price isn't too bad.

And also I meant the Astral btw, just the womens' version of the Astron I think.

Next decision is the colour, I'm thinking blue

In reply to elephant0907:

I have no idea how Astron would cope with rain but If you already have a rainproof layer with a good hood go for the unhooded Astron jacket.

If I would have just one jacket, I would go with the hooded one.

I have been using hooded goretex hard shell and an unhooded softshell for commuting for years.

I think a proper fitting hood with a hard peak and volume control is much better than wearing a seperate hat/s when it is downpouring on a long winter commute.

A hood is also enough to keep your face and neck warm in cold weather, so you do not need to cary another hat.

A hard shell with a good fitting hood is great for commuting in heavy rain but does not breath enough for hard cycling. Still I could not live without a hardshell as I cycle in all weather and a soft shell is simply not rainproof enough.

I also would not mind trying a Buffolo too. Some people swear by it.

In reply to mumtaz.ay:

Hmmm, I have a hardshell already, but unless it's really bad conditions, would prob be using each one seperately.


This is my issue :/ basically, I don't go far on my bike at all, 10/15 mins max. Am just sick of cycling in a hoody (cos it's too cold) or my hardshell (cos it doesn't really seem worth it).

I think I'm going to get the hooded one....but could quite possibly have changed my mind by the morning

In reply to elephant0907: If it hasn't got a hood it can't really be a softSHELL, it just becomes a windproof mid-layer.

You need to decide whether you are going to use it as a true softSHELL or whether you really just want a versatile mid layer that you are still going to combine on occasions with a traditional hard shell.

In reply to Mark Stevenson: Well said Mark!! How are you?

In reply to Mark Stevenson:

True

Went for the hood. And they only had it in black but

Early christmas present...to myself, along with lots of other gear :/

In reply to Mark Stevenson:

But if its mainly for cycling, that maybe exactly what you want. I agree that for mountains a softshell should have a hood. But for biking its the one place where I don't actually like hoods.

In reply to TobyA: I bike a lot, and I love having a hood on my Ready Mix jacket. Goes over my lid, keeps my head warm and dry and I can still see where I'm going. When not in use I roll it up to the collar - very minor faff for a lot of extra protection IMO

In reply to elephant0907:

Yeah, update on this. Just found a piece of velcro on te collar and realised it's actually for rolling up the hood. I am officially a retard...

And I've used it twice (once it pretty heavy rain/sleet) and love it

In reply to elephant0907:

I have an ME astron jacket (bought to replace my gamma mx hoody) and can confirm it is the pooch's nackers.

I use it daily at the moment for my 3 mile cycle commute and don't notice the hood but the chin is quite high which gives great protection from cold wind on the bike.

I am a fan of powershield jackets generally by the way.

With both this and the mx hoody (can't complain about either - both great bits of kit, bought the ME astron as it's half the price of the gamma mx hoody!) the over-sized hood is also brilliant for multipitch trad routes in spring/summer/autumn seasons as it fits over my helmet and has prevented many a chilly belay.

Cheers