Review: Agalite Wind Warrior jacket

It's been a cold winter and I've covered my very cool Baubax jacket which has pretty much been my go-to for all my outdoors activity this winter, but it's feature rich design actually limits it in some instances; its a bit big and bulky, and has too much going on. Sometimes, quite often in fact, I want something simple and flare-free. I was blessed with a care package from my lads at Breach, Bang & Clear in the form of this spiffy jacket from Agalite, emblazoned with the BB&C logo. It arrived over -my- summer, so I didn't get much use from it for a few months.

Once everything stopped burning all the time here, and the cold and wet set in, I found myself pulling this jacket out every now and then, and then it came to be my go-to travel-jacket, living in my SUV for any time I was out and about and the weather took a turn. Which it does all the time in Melbourne, comically.

This is the Agilite Wind Warrior fleece jacket which was "designed to keep Israeli Military Operators warm during static operations". That should tell you a few things about it for a start.

It is built from 3 thermal layers including a wind-blocking internal membrane that keeps out cold winds. Fleece inside and out it's soft and snug with that instant warm feeling you get with a high density fleece. However its that inner windproof layer that really makes the jacket what it is. I've never had  a soft-shell jacket that cuts the wind like this. It's much more like a hard-shell. In fact, I actually had problems with overheating and sweating on my back and arms, in milder weather. That's probably my biggest fault with it.

It doesn't breathe. I've put it back on later to find it still wet on the inside, which might be a problem for proper sub-freezing cold-weather users.

A chest pocket on the left breast is quite spacious, certainly big enough for a phone, documents and the like. The choice of fabric change for this panel was a little strange, I guess it makes it lighter, but I don't see the need for it. The zipper is nice, and fits into the folds, out of the way until needed. The right sleeve has a bicep pocket, and whilst I rarely use these, I found it well placed, and unobtrusive.

The sleeves themselves were well fitted, and a good length, something I often have troubles with my extra-long arms, with elasticised cuffs to seal out the wind. I found I couldn't push the sleeves up very much, due to the tailoring but given its designed purpose, this isn't too much of a big deal.
Both biceps also feature broad square loop-fields, allowing considerable amounts of patch-goodness to be attached, I really appreciate a bit of real-estate here, for bigger morale patches, or combinations. The loop-fields are also really well colour matched, so they fade into the rest of the jacket nicely when unadorned, both in tone and also in tailoring.

The main zipper comes up nicely, even when the jacket is fully closed, another aspect where the tailoring has been really well thought out. You get a good close seal, without it being restrictive or obtrusive into the throat.
This also covers the waistline, which is another aspect that I often get caught out with, but the shock-corded waistline keeps draughts out and my kidneys snug. The jacket lacks fancy features like a hood, internal pockets, or a variety of other extra features sometimes seen. However, it has properly lined pockets which I'm only too happy to be allowed to make full use of on cold mornings.
It's also light, and packs down really well, which is a bonus for when it warms up and you shed it. The jacket has lived in the back seat of my SUV for months now, served as both blanket and pillow on a number of occasions, as well as keeping me from shivering on a number of occasions. If you're looking for a light, well put together and simple wind-killing jacket, you could do a lot worse than this offering from Agalite. Go scorpion or go home.

Review: Baubax jacket

Its just about spring-time here in Melbourne, which means a lot of rain, and cold mornings for me. I hate the cold, and hate being rained on. I am a big fan of soft-shell waterproof jackets and having lots of pockets, but sometimes you want something more than just rugged and dependable, when it comes to snivel-gear. You want something nice.

I saw the Baubax jackets on Kickstarter and their portal site (and was directed to them by umpteen people) and really liked what I saw. They offered four designs, (Dress Blazer, Sweatshirt, Windbreaker and Bomber) in a range of colours, and materials, which all featured a mass of features. Billing them as the "Worlds Best Travel Jacket". I jumped on the bandwagon and eventually, after much delay, they arrived.



I ordered the heaviest and feature-packed option, the Bomber.

A travel-friendly Bomber Jacket with stylish flare, this street-smart piece features pockets for all your smart devices, a built-in neck pillow, an eye mask, and a detachable hood. But that's just a handful of features.

The jacket is made from a machine washable 100% polyester soft shell, with cotton and fleece linings, and weighs in at 1.2kg (2lbs 10oz) making it quite a hefty piece, but that weight gives warmth and security.

It is also PACKED with features:


GLOVES: Built-in half-gloves that easily slide in and out of the sleeves, to keep you warm and cozy when you're on the go. Made from cotton, they will soak up water if you wear them in the cold and wet, but they cut the wind in dry conditions and are really great on those cold morning train-station waits.

EARPHONE HOLDERS: Built-in Earphone holders always keep your earphones untangled and ready for instant use. I havent really used this much, but the loops make really good deep-cover securing locations.

BLANKET POCKET: All BauBax jackets come with a pocket to carry the optional extra proprietary 60"x40" BauBax Blanket that'll keep you warm and cozy when you're traveling. If you don't get the blankie, another woobie or even a dry-cloth would fit in there nicely.

KOOZIE DRINK POCKET: No more fumbling with your drink and your laptop on a plane table tray. With an insulated neoprene drink docket, keep your hot drinks warm, cold drinks cool and your hands free for work. I have only occasionally actually kept a drink in there, but the padded and press-stud fastening pocket is good for loose valuables you want to keep protected.

iPAD POCKET:A 10" pocket to carry an iPad or any full size tablet to free up space in your carry-on or purse and for more convenient plane boarding. This is excellent, and I have stowed my iPad in there a number of times. It just "fades away" into the side pocket, seamlessly and is right there when needed. Be sure to do the little zipper up though, lest you drop expensive delicate technology.

TELESCOPING PEN: This was a cute addition. Clipped to the main zipper is a 1" pen that extends to 4", the bottom of the telescoping pen has a soft tip Stylus to ensure you always have a Stylus handy. It's totally not integral to the jacket, but a very nice feature nevertheless.

SMARTPHONE POCKET: Easily accessible water-resistant smartphone pocket that offers a seamless connection to your earphones., built into the upper outside of the chest on the left, it was a great place to secure my phone when out on the mountain recently.

SUNGLASS POCKET: Easily accessible sunglass holder in a pocket in the upper right side of the inside of the jacket to keep your optics safe and handy. Built-in Microfiber cloth included for cleaning sunglass lenses was also a really nice touch.

PASSPORT POCKET: Passport size inside chest pocket designed for quick access to boarding pass and ID while traveling. Keep your secure documents secure, and handy at the same go. Obviously they're not as safe when the jacket is open, but a damn side safer than if they were in the back-pocket of your flying jodhpurs.

HAND WARMING POCKETS: Multi layered hand warming pockets for extra warmth. I can not stress enough how good it is to have properly lined pockets. built of the same material as the rest of the jacket, both the inside and outside of the pockets are equally warm. No more still-freezing from the inside with these pockets, even with the jacket open.

DETACHABLE HOOD: BauBax Bomber and Blazer come with a detachable hood. The hood features a double press-stud gorget for really bad weather, and zippers onto the body of the jacket, behind a quilted collar that matches the waist and cuffs.

EYE VISOR:  Inside that hood is a fleece eve-visor, which forms your very own shade-cloth and eye-patches when you need a daytime nap, or just don't want tot make eye-contact whilst browsing for saucy delights on your phone in your lap. I found however, that the visor flopped down over my eyes when I was walking around with the hood up. A button-eyehole would have been a good feature to include on this.

NECK PILLOW: This was super sweet. A semi-built-in, inflatable neck pillow that easily hides inside the hood of the jacket, by means of a buttoned down compartment, but was also easy enough to hang behind the shoulders from the hanging loop. Its innovative valve technology allows for a 2 second, one breath inflation. Simple and easy one press deflation, as well as a very comfortable design rounds it out. Also not integral to the jacket, it was a brilliant addition, especially for those of us who often find ourselves sleeping in odd places, at odd times and can't just rack-out.

this was a really good jacket, and I'm glad I had it this winter, and spring, although we had to wait a long time for them, and the sizing of the ladies sizes (I got one for Omega as well) was a bit limited.  That said, the jacket held up well in all kinds of inclement weather, including snow and sleet. The cotton cuffs soak up water, and wold be better is treated to be waterproof, but otherwise, its a great jacket.

Review: Mystery Ranch - Removable Stick-it

I got in touch with my mate Tay Choon Mong at Hornest Singapore, my favourite stockist of the hardy and heavy-duty Mystery Ranch packs and products, after I saw that they had some accessories I had been hanging out for come in. You may recall I have one of the rare Mystery ranch "Asia Pacific only" 1 Day Assault Pack bags, which is a cross between the more mature 3 Day Assault Pack and the more recently released ASAP Pack.

I also have one of the Cinch straps, for comfortable wear and quick release of a pack whilst wearing a loaded plate carrier.

Great kit. The particular accessory that had come to my attention was the Removable Stick-It flap, seen here in Coyote, mounted to my black 1DAP. The Stick-It is a detachable beaver-tail that mounts to the bottom of a compatible pack to offer external storage when you've either gotten too much stuff, or just something too big for your pack to carry.

Built with 500D Cordura for long-haul durability, which I've come to expect from pack-makers, and fitted with mil-spec 1" webbing straps, Mystery Ranch have gone all out on the both the construction and the hardware. The buckles have a clip-in end, for fixing to MOLLE loops or other webbing on your pack, as well as a spring loaded friction lock for the working end of the buckle.

This kind of attention to detail as well as using better-than-standard fittings is something I love about Mystery Ranch. You pay for it, but it's worth it. The Stick-It attaches to its host pack with four press-stud closing loops of webbing, which feed back into the accessory by extra loops of MOLLE style webbing sewn into the Stick-It's interior. Those press-stud loops allow you to attach it to the bottom of any pack with MOLLE on its base.

I've put it on my Platatac Light Field Pack in place of its "Office" Admin Pack, or in fact as well as it. It also fits the Propper UC Pack, and the old standby the classic Platatac Bullock Echo, though the Echo already has a beaver-tail attachment built in.

The Stick-It has a couple of other interesting features. It is constructed to have expanding baffles in its Center line, in case of very bulky loads, with plastic inserts to stiffen the sides and carry the weight more evenly. You can really fit quite a lot into this, and is is the smaller of the two sizes offered. It also had a set of drainage grommets in its base, for those times you've taken a dip or been caught in a monsoon.

Another very forward thinking feature is the sheer length of the webbing for the attachment straps. This both lets you place the buckles anywhere from right at the back of the pack, to all the way at the front for quick release options of your over-load without shucking the pack propper. They also come with hook-and-loop keeper loops, to bundle the excess webbing up tight and out of the way for snag free utility.

The small Stick-It is perfect for stowing bulky times, like an Ops-Core bump helmet, a bundled jacket like the  Platatac Harry 1.2 Softshell or the like. It can easily cope with even larger items, as long as you're comfortable with the, sitting out over the top of its top lip. The construction is hefty, and I suspect the weakest point would be the clip on the buckle. I've never had any trouble carrying my every-day items, let me know if any of you try lugging a ammo-can with yours.

The Stick-It isn't usually available as a stand alone item, but can be found in the Mystery Ranch Gunfighter pack, or through Hornest.

Review: Propper - Packable Full Zip Windshirt

Just in time for the Antarctic Vortex, first published in BreachBangClear: 

[EDIT] Now on the front page of Propper's website as "in the news"!
 
In my recent bundle from Propper, there was a lightweight shirt that caught my eye, and I've had some time to give it a good trial and can report back on it. Winter has rolled around here in Melbourne, and we get a fair share of wet and windy days. It rarely drops below freezing, due to the local geography, but we do get some cold weather from the Southern Ocean which can roll in unpredictably. Melbourne has a reputation for having Four Seasons in One Day, Crowded House even wrote a song about it. I hate umbrellas. Really, with a passion. Being as tall as I am, I'm forever being jabbed in the eye by them when the scurrying masses are running for shelter. 

So when I'm not restraining myself from throat-punching the perpetrators, I prefer to feel superior by wearing and carrying wet-weather gear for the occasional flurry.

Propper have catered to this nicely with their Packable Windshirt, which offers offers lightweight wind protection whenever you need it. This lightweight garment has to look of a jacket, but feels like a light shirt, due in no small part to the silky 100% polyester it is constructed from. With a Durable Water Repellant (DWR) surface finish, partially due to a surface coating, and partially due to the material and weave of e surface layer, I found that light to medium sprinkles were shrugged right off. Better yet, that weave stopped medium to strong gusts of wind dead. I was pretty impressed with that, given how lightweight it was.

Usually with this kind of wind stopping you either end up with a plastic-bag feel, or a Siege of Stalingrad feeling heavy coat. Amazingly, this had neither, I was hen suspicious that it would be a steam-trap, but somehow they've found that magic balance of permeability and breathability. This is helped along with the honeycomb-mesh pattern inner liner. This liner runs throughout the windshirt, and adds no appreciable bulk. 

Twin hand pockets with reverse sewn zippers grace the sides, with rubber-covers toggles and are silent operating, and a single pectoral pocket big enough for a phone, note book or in a pinch a STANAG magazine, but the heavier the load, the more it sags. A pretty spacious hood is stored in the neck seam, and is elasticised in a couple of spots to ensure a snug fit. I mostly kept the hood stored, and found that bulk added a nice snug seal around my neck, trapping heat in and keeping dribbles out. 

The sleeves have elasticised cuffs, to shut out the elements, which aren't my preference, but certainly work well enough. With arms as long as mine, I found that the Medium wasn't quite long enough, although the body-fit was good, so it meant that to feel comfortable I had to push the sleeves up. That or have half my wrists dangling free, and the shoulders dragging. For longer wearers, opt for a bigger fit.
The main front zipper is likewise a reverse zipper design, with the same rubber toggled zipper-pull, and has a overlap panel running its length to eliminate any wind chill through that seam. That's something that makes a lot of difference to me, and is also carries over into the design of the bottom seam of the windshirt, which is generously long, especially useful for us long-bodied types, and much like a cyclists shirt, ensures good coverage when you're crouched over. No more chilled kidneys! The main zipper is also double-headed, so you can upon the windshirt from top or bottom, meaning you can access belt-worn gear without exposing your chest to the elements, or from the top down.

One nice feature is that the windshirt comes up with its own storage pouch, accessible via a quite unobtrusive zippered pocket in the small of the back on the outside, you could also use this as an extra storage compartment for paperwork or what have you, as lon as you don't mind it being out of line of sight. The whole windshirt folds in on itself easily enough into that pocket, although I think I would have preferred it to have done so from the inside out, rather than outside in. Once packed up, it is a fairly small, and springy bundle, which I've used as an impromptu pillow and gear-rest and the whole thing fits into a cargo pocket easily enough, or jammed into the bottom of a pack. 

The cut and look of the windshirt is pretty neutral, no loop fields on shoulders or chest, no pen holders, or any external features other than the single pectoral pocket and two hand pockets, is is a pretty innocuous looking garment, perfect for being they grey-man in the crowd, albeit in black, coyote or olive. 

https://www.propper.com/mens/outerwear/proppertm-packable-full-zip-windshirt.html

Review: SORD hoodie

A friend of mine asked if I had checked out SORD Australia, which since its inception in 2004, has made tactical kit with a slogan of "Innovation, not imitation". Initially, my friend had asked me about my opinions of their packs, but what caught my eye were some of the other items in their catalog.

I contacted them and got in touch with their sales manager, who was kind enough to send a couple of items my way to look over. This is the first of those pieces. This is the self-depreciatingly named "Hoodie" by SORD Australia.

Constructed from a lightweight softface material as an alternative to the rest of their line of classic hardface constructed jackets and apparel.

The material itself has a really interesting texture, being four-way stretch, and has a padded feel, not unlike the feel of a 3mm wetsuit. The surface repels water spray and light rain, being a softface, and was pretty resistant to the day to day grime I find myself being smeared in (Thanks Triceratops Girl and Tactical Baby).

The first thing I noticed other than the material, was the simple cut of the garment. This is a no nonsense, no frills, no raised-eyebrows top. The lines were smooth and simple. It had no loop-fields for patches, a single simple logo and unobtrusive and silent zipper pulls.

The hood was a pretty good fit, a touch shallower than that of my Platatac Hary 1.2 Softshell jacket but was still a good fit, even with all this hair. Two paracord drawstrings with simple cord-locks gave the hood some adjustability, and a short zipper also added some comfort room when donning or doffing the jacket.

The kangaroo pocket on the chest sits up nice and high , to stay out of the way of any bending and off the bounce when you are moving about and has another of the cord-fed zippers, for silent operation. The pouch itself was made of the same overall material as the rest of the jacket, and blended right in visually when not in use. It was -just- big enough to stuff in my iPad Air fully, in a pinch, but did cradle it quite nicely. It would be perfect for documents, a map, snacks or other needfuls that you wanted high and tight on your person.


Two hand warming pockets at the front are a welcome addition, seams blending in with the lines of the jacket and fading away when not needed.Having these are a great feature, especially as I am the kind of person who thinks having warm hands makes me an effective survivor.... The wrist cuffs gave me options to cinch in the sleeves to keep the weather out, or let me have some more breathing room. I found I needed this, not because I was cold, quite the opposite, this is a warm jacket. Given that December in Melbourne varies between 15C and 40C, I liked having something light I could throw on, stay dry in our showers but not bake too much in.
Here's were it gets interesting. at each flank a zipper runs up about half way. This not only improves your donning/doffing of the jacket, but also adds the additional feature of giving you clear access to not only items on your belt, on either side, but items worn under the jacket.

Getting access to your kit, especially when you are buttoned down to stay out of the weather, out of the cold, or just away from prying eyes is a real boon.



With the flick of a wrist, or a hooked finger, the zipper slips up, revealing your side, and access to all your belt-borne goodies.


I found that the sides being open also assisted me with my heat management, all the while allowing me access, or the security of secreting, my Hazard4 EDC harness with all my goodies, till I needed them.

The real benefit from these side zips however would definitely be access to items on your belt. Be that a holster, sheathe or pouches, these are perfectly placed to access all manner of goodies.



The cut of the hoodie also seemed to cope very nicely with my selection of items. A Platatac FUP pouch and the on-loan Boker-American Kami Colubris Mid-Tech simply vanished in the folds below my arms.

I thought my Hazard4 Loader RG harness holster, filled with my EDC gear would be too much bulk for the SORD hoodie to manage, but not only does it zip up and over the whole lot without a struggle, a quick pull and flip gives me access to all my kit, be it keys, lights or wallet.

I was really pleased with this garment, not only with its technical performance, but the thought that went into making a simple, effective and inconspicuous piece of midwear. Now if only it wasn't so hot, I'd get to wear it more. I'll put it away for a few months and get back to it.

I look forwards to showing you all other items from SORD too.

Review: Platatac - Harry 1.2 Softshell Jacket

Winter rolled around with alarming speed this year, I felt and I am remarkably displeased with this situation. Winters in Melbourne are typically blustery, damp and cool. It rarely drops below freezing, but we do have some frosty mornings and bitter nights for sure. The time came around when just layering jumpers simply didn't cut it, to either shrug off the rain or cut the wind. I've enjoyed wearing my Microfleece Half-Zip coupled with either my kendo club vest, or any one of my salvaged jumpers but the combined wind and wet have left me unhappy. So, when the opportunity arose to upgrade my winter-time wear, I jumped at it. What I'm sporting here is the Platatac Harry 1.2 Jacket, my new best friend in winter. This is the XXL in BRO Olive, which blends nicely with my other things, and avoids "Melbourne Black" an aesthetic choice.

What can I tell you about this jacket...? Firstly that it is solid. Not heavy, because it's not all that weighty. Not stiff or bulky, because it's neither of those. It is solid. The fabric has a really "present" feel, unlike the feathery polarfleece jumper feel that I am used to.

The outer material is densely woven and has a leather-like heft. I was immediately impressed by this. My usual winter-time option is my Matrix-style floor length leather coat, so I appreciate the solid feel without the weight of all that leather.Secondly, I can tell you this about the construction: It's rugged, and tough. I don't tend to be gentle with my clothes, they get tossed, dragged, stuffed and trodden on. Tactical Baby and Triceratops Girl are always hanging off me, climbing over me and generally using me as a staging / feeding platform. Water resistance I've tested, having trudged around in the rains a few times, and been very happy with how dry I've stayed. The best part has been the wind-stopping. Putting this on, you are instantly cocooned in a double layer of that densely woven nylon and a polarfleece liner. I've had snow-jackets that haven't been as toasty. Speaking of which, it is also flash/flame resistant. Good for Flamin' Moe's, campfire mishaps and for those putting their very only body in harms way. It's also feature packed.

There are three distinct sets of pockets, each recessed under a fold of the outer layer: The first pockets are the regular "jacket-hand warmers" and are exactly what you'd expect. Zippered, deep enough to shove your hands in, wide enough to accommodate the cuff of the jacket (avoiding that "ride-up" effect) as well as having space to stow every-day items like keys, gloves or whatever. A bonus feature is that they are fully backed. No thin nylon mesh leaving a wind-penetrating hole into your cocoon of warmth!

The second set of pockets are a pair of nicely tailored bicep-pockets. Not only are these angled for ease of use by the wearer, but also angled so you don't need to keep stuffing items back in if you happen to leave them unzipped. The cavity is roughly the size of a CD, and is cut such that the lines of the pocket are obscured and blend into the lines of the jacket. A loop field at the upper edge of these pockets adds to that, whilst giving a couple of spots for adding your favorite, or needful patches. Here's one of my TAD Spartan mountaineering patches

Each arm-pit features a double sized zippered vent, which I must say, is an AWESOME addition. Being able to open up a little and vent, whilst still keeping your front zippered up is a great boon, allowing you to regulate temperature whilst keeping your core dry. It also means I get access to the contents of my holster harness whilst keeping my front zippered up. I don't know if this would be of any use to the "concealed-carry" types out there, but it means I can grab my Myki train-card without having to get a chest-full of drizzle.

You can see here that the sleeve/torso junction is well gusseted leaving plenty of mobility, without either bunching up when arms arm lowered, and not making the waistline ride up when giving a "French Salute". Having your arms free to climb ladders, scale fences, lay prone and outstretched all whilst not exposing your belly and kidneys to the elements, or exposing my under-layers to the elements is very desirable. The bottom hem of the jacket features two adjustable drawstrings to further tuck in your parts. The wrist cuffs are hook-and-loop cinch-able, to close off the elements as well.

  The detachable hood also bears some detailed discussion. The hood attaches to the body of the jacket with a solid zipper, feeding into a recessed flap on the collar. It also features two hook-and-loop tabs at each collar-corner, which sandwich into corresponding pockets on the collar, giving a more secure, and broader wind and rain-stop. The back of the hood features two separate drawstrings, one for the brow-line, the other pulls the lip of the hood back from the face. This gives a remarkable amount of customization to the fit and wear of the hood. A third more conventional drawstring at the front of the hood controls the face aperture. It also controls the built in bill, which I loved, as a glasses-wearer, I hate getting rain splatter on my specs.

Where are those third sets of pockets you ask? I didn't forget. They're hidden, concealed in the hemline of the main zipper at pectoral level. This is a great place for my iPhone, I've found, but could just as easily hold ID, passport, a billfold or a a nasty surprise item like my SAR comb,these pockets accommodate a CD case easily, to give you an idea of the dimensions and are cut such that the contents don't bulge or "hang", divulging the position of your hidden goodies. As with the bicep and hand pockets, the pocket lining is fully covered by the polarfleece internal layer of the jacket.

The main zipper line is double ended, and features a chin to hemline tongue to block wind and wet incursion, giving you plenty of ability to rug up, the double ended zipper gives you access to your beltline or regulate temperature. I have had a few issues with lining up the two zippers, but I seem to always have that when it comes to double-ended zippers, but that is really my only point of contention with this jacket as a whole. There aren't any internal pockets, but given how I layer my tops and pockets, this isn't an issue for me. I always have my Holster-Harness on, which is all the internal pockets I'll ever need. This jacket really makes winter go away. Now to do something about my legs!

Review: Lazy Patch Duvet Suit

Winter is Coming. I am really not fond of the cold. I have lived in Denver in the US, Surrey in the UK and Calgary in Canada, so I am no stranger to "proper" winters, with snow, sleet, black ice and exploding water pipe misery. That's one of the reasons I am so pleased to be living in Melbourne, all in all, we have very mild winters here. The temperature rarely drops below freezing. The weather is however, very changable and the butt of many jokes....

Either way, I dont enjoy being cold. I'm usually happy to put layers on, with a t-shirt, a vest, a polar fleese jumper like the ones I have reviewed, and the like, but there are times where I just want to rug up, sit at my computer and watch hilarious people hurt themselves whilst family records it for YouTube. Thats where the Lazy Patch Duvet Suit comes in perfectly. They also get called Doona Suits, but thats a cultural thing I think :)

I  got mine a few years ago, a gift after spotting them online, these are in fact made by a Melbourne based comapny, which pleased me to no end. What they are is a set of pants and jacket, made of fluffy doona material, with a cotton inner and outer laer, stuffed with 100% polyester. The great thing is that they are made as an "all over" outfit, being extra long in both wrist and ankle length, which is especially good for a long limbed critter such as myself, regular pajamas usually leave me with bare chilly skin.The Lazy Patch suit jacket also is cut long to ensure you have good coverage and no sneaky drafts stealing away your precious body heat. The jacket features a large pectoral pocket, and two good-sized hand pockets as well as a very high collar, giving you doona all the way up to the cheeks for that all-over body warm feeling.

The zipper on the jacket is double ended, so you can regulate your airflow, for when things start to warm up. The pants have a drawstring closure, which normally would perturb me as I don't have much in the way of hips, but tying them up , combined with the squishy nature of the doona-pants, have never given me pause to worry about loosing them. They also feature a set of pockets, which is great. Lazy Patch have recently started shipping their suits with a clip on hood to reduce the loss of heat from the head (but please note the old "75% of your heat loss is through your head" myth was busted). My suit pre-dates this however, so I can only guess at their awesomeness. They also make booties of the same material to complete the all-over body cocoon of warmth. Now, obviously, my suit is in Woodland Cam, but they offer a variety of other colours, mens/womens/kids cuts and the like. These aren't weatherproof, being cotton based but for those times when you are going to be cold but dry, they are really exceptional for keeping you warm, not weighed down with layers and layers. Purpose built to keep you snug, indoors. That said, I've taken these camping frequently, great for those nights around the campfire and the early morning dashes to the calls of nature.

They have a new product, an all encompassing suit they call the Pouch Suit. This looks a bit more rugged,
outdoors capable. I'd love to give one a try. However, till then, I will be spending more evenings in my Duvet Suit, trying to remember not to wander to the shops in it, more for the cammo than anything else.

So, come the storms, snow-drifts, blackouts, I'll be ready. And warm.

Review: Platatac Microfleece Half Zip Jacket

Winter is coming! which is the kind of natural disaster I am always fond of being ready for. I've lived in both the Middle East and West Africa, and much preferred that to my time in Calgary or England, especially the winters. I am not ford of being cold, so any opportunity to rug up is a good one.I happened to be trolling the Specials on the Platatac webpage
when I saw that there were microfleece jackets on sale. I'm a big fan of this kind of material, not only because it is light, and soft, but also quick drying and warm.

I also have fairly mutant-long arms, so generally end up with cold wrists and hands as they poke out the end of shirts and jackets that would otherwise fit my body. this means that it's rare for me to find something that fits me all over. I took a risk with the Microfleece Half Zip Jacket and have been really pleased with the results.

Made from 100 weight Highland fleece, the jacket is rather surprisingly thin to feel, but are really warm and cut the wind. The collar is high and I generally wear it up  to protect from wind chill but it can also be rolled down like a skivvy to trap heat escaping from the neckline. Each bicep has a big patch of hook-and-loop for attaching  patches, here I am sporting two from Triple Aught Design.


The extra long body of the jacket (admittedly this was the XXL) means that I am shielded from the deathly fingers of chill on my kidneys as I am adventuring. An especially awesome feature are the thumb-loops that sit unobtrusively just inside the wrist seam, and allow the wearer to hook their thumbs through to ensure the sleeves don't ride up, and keeping the hands and wrists snug and warm. I was so pleased that these fit my otherwise mutant-long 196cm arm-span. Great for cold mornings trudging, keeping your wrists warm at full-draw with your re-curve bow or going full mall-ninja tactical on someone. It keeps my paws warm. I like it. I bought a second one, in the "full-zip" in black, because, well, Winter IS Coming.


It pleases my Scandi heritage to no end that this top has evolved from the famous Norwegian army shirt or ‘Norge’. That's two kinds of win, to my mind.