Bushwalk Australia

upcoming gear from Rab, Keen, Berghaus

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/gear-news/ ... 11133.html

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/gear-news/ ... 11134.html

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/gear-news/ ... 11132.html

Rab packs, interesting.

Not sure about that Berghaus Hyper smock though. They've been hyping it for ages and I just can't buy into the reversible function. Sure it's neat but I really question that it will make any perceptible performance difference. It's the same fabric layers between you and your body and the whole point of primaloft/synthetic fill is to inhibit convection. Anyway, I might still get one since it's ridiculously light for 40gsm of insulation.

sometimes primaloft inhibits convection too much and ends up too clamy, polartec new alpha synthetic insulation is designed to be more breathable and reduce the clamminess, somes in two types one more breathable than the other

But this isn't Polartec Alpha, it's Berghaus' own synthetic fill which is more likely to be more similar to primaloft. And regardless of which side is in or out, the vapour barrier effect of the more windproof layer remains. I suppose the idea is that air can circulate within the insulation if you have the more air-permeable layer outwards but as I said above, the whole point of synthetic insulation is that it inhibits convection, so not sure how much practical difference this feature would make.

if more air is circulating in the primalof then its allowing the temp and potentially the humidity to drop inside the jacket making it a cooler jacket