Down vs Primaloft

[Baggsy]

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MEC should be rename UHEC..Urban Hipster Equipment Co-op... Their stuff isn't really even cheap anymore..

True, apparently it was so overpriced this year, that they sent me a cheque.

They also seem to get rid of the stuff that I find useful. I've still got the polypro shorts, silk long johns & long sleeved shirts for under the motorcycle leathers, silk glove liners. I imagine they'll be getting rid of the long sleeved merino wool shirts soon as I use them a lot on the bike in the colder weather. I think the problem with polypro is that it is hard to make it look fancy and expensive. I'm not exactly sure why silk is disappearing so fast.

Is fleece any good? I've never tried it for skiing, only camping.

I couldn't see using three layers of down for skiing, I have a single jacket that I use for the car ride home.
I'd feel like I was in a soup after one run in that jacket.

 

[daught]

Dunno I find them pretty good. Their prices are within a few bucks of REI. Their products are not cheap but they are well made. I used their basic waterproof pants to slide down on my *** from camp Muir to the base. I expected them to shred in pieces. To my surprise they still look brand new. Price wise, I saw some rossignol and salomon down sweaters going for $200+. I walked out laughing when the sales guy told me they are premium 80%down 20% feathers. MEC uses 550 or 800. They have lifetime warranty. The staff is awesome, compared to the ****** bags at Europe Bound across the street. They actually lent me, for free, without deposit their display big agnes sleeping pad when the one I ordered ditn't arrive on time. Their stuff has true athletic fit.

 

[invictus43]

Dunno I find them pretty good. Their prices are within a few bucks of REI. Their products are not cheap but they are well made. I used their basic waterproof pants to slide down on my *** from camp Muir to the base. I expected them to shred in pieces. To my surprise they still look brand new. Price wise, I saw some rossignol and salomon down sweaters going for $200+. I walked out laughing when the sales guy told me they are premium 80%down 20% feathers. MEC uses 550 or 800. They have lifetime warranty. The staff is awesome, compared to the ****** bags at Europe Bound across the street. They actually lent me, for free, without deposit their display big agnes sleeping pad when the one I ordered ditn't arrive on time. Their stuff has true athletic fit.

Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on them. They're still one of the cheaper places around. I just find their selection to be getting limited for hard-core stuff. Just as an example, I was at a ski store and they had nice Gore-Tex Spyder gloves for $85..long gauntlet, leather palm. $85. I went to MEC and they had inferior gloves, short gauntlet, for $114. I would expect them to have something fairly comparable for at least the same price.

I think the Helly Hansen Warm and Dry lines are the best around now for what it's worth. As my stuff dies I'm going to probably get more of their stuff.

 

[invictus43]

Is fleece any good? I've never tried it for skiing, only camping.

I couldn't see using three layers of down for skiing, I have a single jacket that I use for the car ride home.
I'd feel like I was in a soup after one run in that jacket.

Fleece is good for me. Like I say, I can have a heavy sweat issue when skiing hard and fleece still insulates when wet. And it dries quickly when needed. Really, for -5C to -10C, one base layer, one 200wt fleece and a shell is all I need. And I wear just the shell on the way home and I'm usually dry in 30mins. If it's below -15C it starts to get tricky because of the lifts. The summit lift at Whiteface is about 15 mins..same with some of the stuff out west..the summit lifts are sometimes slow..and they're the coldest..so I have to use the vents more when going down and actually zip them up for the lift. Only on the coldest days will I resort to an actual ski jacket.

 

[daught]

I finally caught a nice cold day to test out this stuff. At Tremblant it was bellow -20 at the base and -26 at the peak. With windchill and all that it was COLD.
I ended up returning the EB stuff and got myself the MEC uplink and MEC Light Degree Hoodie. The down hoodie is ten times better than EB. It's overstuffed a bit to prevent cold spots, it has nice long sleeves and the hood keeps a lot more warmth in. The uplink is another wonderful piece of equipment. Incredibly warm for it's weight and windproof. A bit short if I use it with street pants but, it's okay with my higher waist outdoor stuff. On that -26 day I wore my MEC T3 baselayer, the uplink, the down hoodie and the RAB jacket on top. I was nice and warm but it wasn't bulky at all which was my primary reason for ditching fleece. I only felt a bit sweaty after mogul runs, but it cleared very quickly. The down hoodie didn't show signs of being soaked with sweat at all.

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