UKC

REVIEW: Montane Endurance Pro Jacket

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 UKC/UKH Gear 06 Jan 2017
Montane Endurance Pro montage, 4 kbFor their a new range of waterproof products Montane have teamed up with Gore-Tex for the first time. Kevin Woods gives the top-of-the-range Endurance Pro Jacket a run for its money in the snow, wind and downpours of a Scottish early winter. 

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 gethin_allen 06 Jan 2017
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Will this be the first of many to abandon E-vent material? I've always found Goretex to be more robust.
 JayPee630 06 Jan 2017
In reply to gethin_allen:
Yeah iirc some other manufacturers have moved away from eVent as well (didn't Lowe Alpine try it for a bit?). Be interesting to know if it's a purely performance decision or if there's more commercial things at play too.
Post edited at 10:47
 DaveHK 06 Jan 2017
In reply to gethin_allen:

> Will this be the first of many to abandon E-vent material? I've always found Goretex to be more robust.

I found eVent to be pretty much useless.
 GarethSL 06 Jan 2017
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

"12 -13 stitch count per inch on all seams versus a typical industry average of 8, creating a tight, clean and strong seam."

To be honest 18-20 would be far more impressive (i.e. Westcomb, Arc'teryx or vintage Marmot standard, the jargon of which Montane are clearly attempting to duplicate), the 3mm seam allowance is also not that great.

I still don't comprehend why almost all gear manufacturers don't boost their SPI significantly. It's not as though thread is expensive and it gives garments a far better aesthetic and quality feel. Not to mention they would be outright better made. Arguments from manufactures about it not being viable or valid are easily muted when some of their competition is already doing it. Same arguments go for decent articulated patterning and range of sizes.

Good review, was really interested by Montanes new Gore-Tex line.
In reply to DaveHK:

Why don't you like eVent?

Stuart
 DaveHK 06 Jan 2017
In reply to Stuart the postie:

I had a jacket that started to leak after about 6 months. Apparently you need to wash and reproof it much more often than with goretex.
In reply to DaveHK:

Think this is my third season wearing my Rab Viper eVent jacket, have washed it twice (I think). The last time it was washed it, I applied a spray on Nikwax instead of wash in. It keeps me as dry as any other jacket I have owned, be it Gore Tex or H2NO on the hill! The only real difference I've noticed with eVent is the taped seams seam to unstick quicker (happened on Latok Alpine too).

I accept that if you're out in the rain long enough, you'll probably get wet.

Regards

Stuart
 supersteve 06 Jan 2017
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I always find it a shame when retailers take new and innovative products that warrant their relative price tag, then instantly discount them, devaluing the product overnight.
1
 neuromancer 06 Jan 2017
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:
That 'action back system' sounds an awful lot like a straight rip off of Berghaus's Xpanse Back.

A bit like their fireball verso was a straight rip off of the vapourlight hypertherm.

I wonder what would happen if berghaus actually bothered employing lawyers for once. The money that could have come from patenting hydrophobic down when they brought it out like a year before anyone else would be biblical.
Post edited at 23:51
 Dr.S at work 07 Jan 2017
In reply to neuromancer:

> That 'action back system' sounds an awful lot like a straight rip off of Berghaus's Xpanse Back.

quite a different cut - I think the Berghaus system is much more complex I think. pretty hard to claim that the idea of gussets and pleats is all that radical.
 TobyA 07 Jan 2017
In reply to Stuart the postie:

Its good to hear some pro- eVent views. The eVent jacket I have worked fine for years when occasionally used I think without ever being washed, but this spring when just out for a family walk where the weather turned unpleasant it leaked quite noticeably through main panels - not something I remember happening with any waterproof before. I've since washed and reproofed it and it seems to be happy again. But all the same at least here on UKC there seem to be lots more people disappointment with eVent than with GTX.

I'm sure we won't ever hear publicly but it would be interesting to know why Montane swapped. All manufacturers are always unsurprisingly convinced that the materials they use are the best until suddenly they're not but I'm sure the truth is more complex. Gore Tex obviously market much harder than eVent ever has done so that must have a positive knock on to all the users of GTX even if you don't think the material is any better or worse than neoShell, eVent or some of the other membranes that have been knocking around for years but just not flogged as hard as WL Gore does.
 BnB 07 Jan 2017
In reply to TobyA:

> I've since washed and reproofed it and it seems to be happy again.

But that doesn't alter the fact that the membrane has catastrophically leaked, does it? Not that you're claiming otherwise, of course.
 TobyA 07 Jan 2017
In reply to BnB:

No, and that was why it was so noticeable. It's a lightweight jacket http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=2285 so it has been carried many places in packs but worn only when needed, but as best I can remember the time before I had worn it in the rain it had been absolutely fine, then the next time it leaked really quite obviously.

I know exactly what you mean by catastrophic, although that makes walking with the kids on a cliff top path a few miles from the cafes and ice cream shops of Robin Hood's Bay sound rather dramatic! Nevertheless it was taken and worn the year before that when we climbed the South Pillar of Stetind, and I clearly remember the conversation the day before as we packed, where we decided to both take full waterproofs but leave behind the bothy bag. If it had rained then and we had somehow become cragfast or similar, it could be quite a catastrophic way to find out your waterproof isn't!

BTW BnB, are you aiming to be up north all winter? Or might you be around for a rematch of doing a route in the Lakes at some point (if it ever actually gets cold and snows again down here)?
 BnB 07 Jan 2017
In reply to TobyA:

A week planned in mid-Feb in the Torridon area and another trip probably early April to the Ben but otherwise waiting for the Lakes/N Wales to come into condition. Certainly up for a day out should conditions allow.

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