Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Gear Questions, Information, Reviews and Competitions => Topic started by: twentyclicks on October 11, 2012
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I was hiding from the rain this morning round in Jackson Sports, ended up spending ages chatting and trying things out. Happy as a pig in muck as they say ;D
Of main interest to all, before you bore of the rest of this... they have 2 boxes by the door of Lowe polartec Powerstretch tops down to £40 (£45?). Anyway, one box womens, one mens. Various sizes red, black, green. Half zip. Mens has a small chest pocket, womens a small sleeve pocket. They say heavyweight on them but must be thickness as they are really light. Anyone I know with a powerstretch loves it. I had one on about 15mins chatting to the guy - comfy, toasty, breathable. Very tempted, although I have just bought a hoody micro-fleece the other week.
Other things that caught my eye were the Montane Minimus jacket, although the OMM race smock is very nice on too and cut more athletic already...the Medium in it is a good fit, but I'd need a small in the Montane for such an active top just going over light layers. The OMM Kamleika waterproof trousers are also the most amazing waterproof trousers I've tried on. Neat fit, stretch is great and feel so soft on bare skin... if they are half-way durable, then totally worth the £95 eek!
Marmot Atom summer down sleeping bag very nice. Very light but seems tough, and excellent non-catching zip arrangement. The Marmot Plasma blew me away with the loft of it's 900 down, and the £360 price :'(
The hybrid powerstretch tops with the primaloft front seems more and more like a good idea for winter or alpine where you have a pack but it's always cold enough to have some insulation on you. We also talked about the upgrades throughout the Petzl headtorch range and the revamped DMM ice-ax range...a long needed update but well considered and they look great. Finally, there were the great alpine packs... OMM Villain, Crux, and Lowe Alpine Attack which I took notes from to upgrade my MYOG special, but in the end I came away with a little something for next year's MMM (and it didn't cost me a penny with my winnings) 8)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8076682437_54ece51140.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/twentyclicks/8076682437/)
DSC_0184.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/twentyclicks/8076682437/)
Of course, now my eye has been caught with what may fill it ::)
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WOW have you taken a job at jacksons? ;)
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LOL - I know, sounds like they're paying me. I just had a good old time rooting around and thought I'd share my findings/wishlist !
It's one of those shops where you have to hoke about to see things... nice when you've the shop to yourself and can work away in the man-creche of dreams with the rain battering down outside. All I was missing was a hot chocolate and a bacon sandwich to complete my happiness ;D
I should do a Lenny-style video review of the pack as it's really nicely done. Got some work to do and a blog post to finish first though!
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I have to say they're a pretty decent bunch in Jacksons. The morning of the MMM I decided to get a pair of Innov8 Mudclaws from their stall at the race, they were reduced from £90 to £70 or thereabouts.
I didn't have cash on me and the stall had no chip and pin facility. I was about to put them back and the guy on the Jackson's stall said it was grand for me to leave a phone number and square him up later. Then bagged and handed me the Mudclaws.
I was quite struck by the decency of this. He didn't know me from Adam and there were no guarantees I'd actually pay him later. Fair play to them.
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and did you? LOL :D
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Yeah... Of course: although it did cross my mind to "forget" ::) .... I just couldn't take advantage of such decent people. I may be growing a Soul in my old age :)