Hi Chris, i've been trying to decide which winter jacket to buy and I have found your videos to be very helpful. Thanks alot.

Nice video Chris. I have several pieces from Rab & have now started collecting Arcteryx since watching your videos. As you say they are all nice pieces & I live the technical details & the fact you can select the right piece for the right conditions. Great work keep it going! 👏👏👏👏

hi Chris, love hearing your story! one question, why is the Proton Heavyweight more expensive than Nuclei SV, although everything of the nuclei sv is better than the proton.

Diminishing returns and marketing prowess. Arc is nice, if you can spend the investigative time and have access to assess the options, and you will use it enough to matter. Appreciate your work on this topic. I was a northerner who worked for years in Carhartt/Danner/Sorrel. Yeah, a lot of cotton, canvas, leather and wool. Goretex lived only in my boots but well worth it. I’m now an older, retired northerner/southerner/northerner and lighter weight insulation and protection have become priorities, along with cost. I fell into the Arc T obsession, but I was saved before the try-on evolved into endless investment. I have RAB and Mountain Equipment, and it’s always available on discount - seldom the case for Arc T. So, diminishing returns. I appreciate leather in a car, but it matters more in my furniture. Keep up the great work.

I like that Arc’teryx stands by their products. I’ve had some jackets repaired and one of them was about 13 years old.

Hi Chris! The thing that brought me here - due to our cold wet New England (NE) falls and winters - is the fact that we can't do practically anything outdoors without the "right" layering. I found your words about Hally Hansen (HH) to be especially interesting. We moved here from the South after Katrina changed our lives forever back in 2005. We arrived in NE in December and, man, were we ever NOT ready for the weather! This situation forced me to start researching HARD, and the solution I came up with was HH. In fact, we still have more than one of our favorite outer shell jackets, the Vortex, that we still use today. We also still have a few of their mid-layer fleece jackets, too, but, by far, the Vortex outer shell is what always comes to mind whenever I think about replacing our critical outer shells. If anyone knows what I mean and can recommend an outer shell that compares to the Vortex - i.e., wet weather protection, breathable, lots of pockets and a stow-away hood - I'd be over the moon to get it. Thank you.

Really good video. Comparison helpful as always. Arcteryx will always be the king of jackets to me. I had a friend and our sons played on the same travel baseball team. Inevitably we would sometimes get caught in bad weather in the early spring and he would always go to Walmart and buy a jacket. I never saw him twice in the same jacket and then I figured out why. At one tournament it was unseasonably cold and rainingIt and I saw him shivering in yet another new jacket and I don’t think it was gortex. Then I ask him hey Tony why do you still have the price tag on your jacket? He said I had to stop this morning at Walmart and pick something up to stay warm but when we get home I will be returning it to Walmart to get my money back.

I have a few Rab jackets, Axion pro, microlight alpine and cirrus. Incredibly well made and the fit is second to none. Being able to move so freely is a revelation, it's like wearing a second skin not a jacket and there warmth rating is definitely conservative. Very very warm jackets. Do your homework and pick the right jacket that suits your needs. I have the microlight alpine for active stuff, this jacket is fitted and the is ludicrously comfortable especially when on the move. Gets colder when stood still, I can wear a t shirt under it and be warm down to about 5 degrees Celsius. Cirrus is my go to for shopping and general out and about in and out of the car etc, it's synthetic so I'm not paranoid about getting caught out in the rain and ruining the down feathers. It's a brilliant light jacket to just throw on and go about your business where you won't over heat or feel like you're wearing a sleeping bag. Axion pro is for standing around in fields in the cold walking my dogs and most cold winter activities I'm UK based, we don't get silly cold like Canada but we do get damp cold weather that chills you to your bones, I have a Canadian friend who hates UK winter because it's so bitter. This treo of jackets will see you through all 3 seasons up to probably minus 10. Don't get caught up in the trap of buying unnecessary warmth or features Rab, Montane, Mountain Equipment are probably the sweet spot for me for bang for buck. Not exactly cheap but you do get what you pay for. Anything above this price point and you're paying for the name. There are better value out there if you know exactly what type of jacket you want and do your homework, but for, quality and functionality these are hard to beat Avoid, Regatta, North Face, Trespass, Mountain Warehouse