UKC

Does anyone have any experience with the current Karrimor sub zero down jacket? Currently £60 which seems a damn good deal. Anything else come close at that price point? Weird that it never gets included in comparisons and very few reviews. Any users out there care to give a balanced opinion? Ideally if you have had other down jackets to compare it to.

Cheers!
R

In reply to RichW:

I have the sub zero gilet version and it is ok, for the £18 I paid for it, but it does tend to loose a few feathers, it is quite short on the back and the zip snags.

If you go into sportspursuit today will get a Mountain Hardware jacket for similar price.

Thanks for the reply. Been keeping an eye on sportspursuit. They seem to only have the lighter Mountain Equipment down jackets near that price. I fancy something big and warm. Already got synthetic stuff for active use, this would be for tent evenings to replace my current bulky fleeces. Anyone else using karrimor? They seem to have sold a lot but nobody mentions them!

In reply to RichW:

Karrimor are owned by the b****rd Mike Ashley and his Sports Direct empire. Wild horses wouldn't convince me to part with any cash in one of his stores or on a brand he owns.

In reply to galpinos: If I could have 'Liked' this post more than once I would have !!

In reply to RichW:

To be honest i would still say spend the extra cash and get a jacket that will last and has a downproof fabric.

There will be loads of sales on the near future you can search for a bargain.

In reply to RichW:

Have you looked in Decathlon?

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/forclaz-700-mens-down-jacket-blue-id_8317725.htm...

In reply to The New NickB:

I was about to suggest Decathlon, too. Some of my friends have this model:
https://www.decathlon.sg/hiking-camping/6061/doudoune-xxarm-bio-900-noir.ht...

and they're all happy with it. The price was ~ 100 EUR. It seems to be unavailable/sold out across Europe right now, but maybe it's worth asking?

Out of curiosity - what's the story with Sports Direct? They have some stores here in Slovenia and some of the stuff they sell actually looks pretty nice.

In reply to RichW:

I would also consider where the down has come from. Some companies have put a fair bit of effort into ethical down (see the Mountain Equipment Down Codex for example), I imagine the cheap options haven't got the same standards......

In reply to RichW:

I'm not sure which model my karrimor down jacket is, but the price is about right.. it's no warmer than my karrimor soft shell, which I find a little odd!?! It has been shedding feathers since the day I got it though, so that could explain it.

In reply to galpinos:

What he said. And, the quality will be well below that of ME, Rab etc. Alpkit sometimes have sales, pleased with mine.

In reply to Removed UserZebdi:

Sports Direct sell a lot of the usual mass market, big brand kit such as football kits, Nike and adidas trainers etc, but alongside lots and lots of badly designed, cheaply made gear from one of the many brands owned by the group. Karrimor is a famous name in British mountaineering, all about good design and quality kit. Mike Ashley bought the company and is selling shit trading on a famous old name.

In reply to RichW:

Most Karrimor stuff is pretty poor quality (but not that bad when you consider the price) but the Elite range which I believe this jacket is part of is actually pretty good.
Ive had a few bits from the range and have been very impressed. Not tried the down jacket though.

Cheers for the links and suggestions everyone. Does anyone actually own the sub-zero jacket? There's only one review I can find on youtube, seems pretty good, and the new one has higher 800+ fill power:

youtube.com/watch?v=TL_u8JL66aY&

In reply to RichW:

Looking at that review, no. That isn't the same as mine. Mine is part of the elite range though and is allegedly 700+ fill.

In reply to andy.smythe:



I bought a few of the elite jackets, as they seemed very good value for money. The materials seem good quality (apart from the down jacket not retaining its feathers), but they are all let down on the design front in one way or another.

In reply to The New NickB:

To be fair the Karrimor brad had nose dived long before sports direct.

In reply to GrahamD:


I'm not sure that is entirely true, I've got some pre Ashley, but Chinese Karrimor stuff that isn't as good as the Accrington made kit, but it's light years ahead of the current stuff.

In reply to The New NickB:

Some of the current stuff is actually okay. Certainly getting better in some areas. The Primaloft One-filled Avalanche jacket I got for 40quid is a fine piece of kit. Some of their Event jackets are seemingly alright too.
Perhaps given the amount of stuff they do it was inevitable a handful of bits might be decent.

In reply to nathan79:

to be fair to Karrimor I think the stuff isn't that bad. It reflects what you pay for it. I had loads of Karrimor stuff when I first started out and it wasn't brilliant but most of it cost under 20 quid. I still wear Karrimor walking trainers, certainly wouldn't take them up Everest but fine for the approach to Stanage or walking the dog around the field.

In reply to andy.smythe:

It's not bad for the money, as it's always on sale. If they tried to sell it at RRP, that would be a joke! My event jacket is good in some respects. Ie never let water in and is breathable. But the cut is awful and the pockets are pretty much unuseably small, or strangely shaped. It also has protector mesh pads, one of which has come unstuck after about 6 months of very light use.