UKC

hi all

im interested in buying a primaloft insulated jacket for passive activities and was wondering if anyone can advise me on what best type of fit it should be?

should these used only over a base layer so a comfy fit is needed or can they used to over a fleece to use an outer layer in which case id need one size up

for me, it seems a Medium insulated jacket can go over a Berghaus fleece its not very tight fit but is a close fit and a Large is much the same with a bit more room inside, id only ever wear a t-shirt, then a fleece/jumper then the jacket

the jackets i have seen are ones like the Montane Prism, Rab Generator Alpine etc

i have a down jacket for the extreme cold and a Montane Direct Ascent eVent for waterproof but want something less bulky i can wear on the commute or out shopping etc.

just a bit confused about the sizing, any help much appreciated!

In reply to DayWalker123:

It's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question tbh!

In reply to JayPee630:

I'd agree - some primaloft jackets are cut to wear over a thin layer or two, others are cut as a belay jacket to go over masses of kit. Decide what you want it for, choose a model designed more for that use, and find the size that fits......

In reply to DayWalker123:

Fit it over a fleece at a minimum - 95% of the time (unless you're into high intensity sports). If it's actually cold outside then chances are when you go inside, get in a tent etc and you take the jacket off you won't want to be wearing just a very thin layer. I pretty much live in a fleece for the majority of the year, so unless you run realllly hot size up a bit.

You can always just have the jacket slightly loose if you do want to wear just a base layer, but you can't make more room in a jacket too small.

In reply to DayWalker123:

Sorry, time for a slightly longer, more helpful reply now! I have a fairly close fitting one (my normal size, OK over a thin baselayer, and at a push a thin fleece too) that gets used for around town, and as a summer layer to stick on over thin layers whilst sitting drinking a coffee at the summit. It occasionally gets worn as a mid layer under a waterproof if the weather turns bad. So very much an alternative to a thick fleece - with the advantage it's more windproof.

I've also got one a size up (according to the label, although despite being the same brand and jacket, it's from a different year and I'd say it's 2 sizes up) that'll go on over everything (in my case, at the very least base layer, thickish fleece, paramo smock, and often more) as a belay jacket. It's too big to wear casually around town, but great to throw on out on the hill in bad weather.

So it really does depend what you intend to use it for - I can't imagine one jacket covering both these uses well.

In reply to DayWalker123:

I wear my old Rab Photon hoody for everything. Often, in cool-cold weather I'll take it in place of a shell jacket as it's pretty much waterproof and holds it's loft when wet. As this I bought it slightly larger than needed (a bit too big TBH).

For winter belaying I have a really battered Rab belay jacket that I bought second hand and I don't care about damaging with spiky stuff.