Buying a Snow jacket

Ltxn25 on 08/08/2017 - 18:12
Last edited 08/08/2017 - 18:20 by 1 other user

Hey guys need a bit of advice buying a snow jacket. I am heading to Buller next week (first snow trip in a long time).

Budget is about $200
Any chance of a good 20K jacket at that price?
I've seen this but its only critically seam sealed (not sure how much this will come into play)
Ripzone

Then you have something like this which is $45 cheaper but only 10K waterproofing
Bonfire
Is this sufficient for a noob who will fall over a lot?

And then you have a 10K jacket like the following on Rays outdoors:
Outrak
$75… What am I missing. Its fully sealed but seems to good to be true.

Any other suggestions?

Cheers.

Sports & Outdoors

Comments

  • djkelly69 on 08/08/2017 - 18:22
    +2

    Aldi if they have any stock left? Not sure on the numbers, but seems to do the job for me and a lot of other occasional snow goers.

  • MsBin on 08/08/2017 - 19:47
    +2

    You actually might be better off renting rather than making a last minute purchase- lots of places renting jackets/ gear there at not unreasonable prices.
    Then in the off season you'll likely able to pick up a better bargain, knowing what it is you require.

    • [Deactivated] on 08/08/2017 - 21:34
      +1

      There's plenty of Aldi gear on gumtree … almost certainly worn less than rental gear. Just sell it when you're done … voila free ski gear rental.

  • RobMel on 08/08/2017 - 19:47
    +1

    I did ski in Kathmandu gear, no issues. They have great winter sales on.

    • [Deactivated] on 08/08/2017 - 21:33
      +1

      I always find kathmandu overpriced … even with their 90% off sales.

  • joe88 on 08/08/2017 - 20:06
    +2

    The one from Rays will be fine. I paid $45 for a jacket from Aussie Disposals and have used it for the past 5 Australian seasons as well as ski trips to NZ, Canada, and France. Layering is more important. Spend the remaining money on some good quality merino base layers (mine are from Icebreaker and the top was around $100 iirc).

  • garffi on 08/08/2017 - 21:39
    +1

    I think 20K may be an overkill? My jacket is from burton and they're 10K. I just came back from mt buller after the blizzard and my inner clothing were completely dry. Make sure you get some warm gloves because my fingers turned to ice blocks.

  • BuyoTheCat on 09/08/2017 - 09:39
    +2

    The best advise is only buy discounted gear.

    $200 for a branded jacket is ok.

    Aldi gear is very good value for money.

    dont let the 20k/10k fool you. In rain, no amount of k will matter. If it is really raining, it is better to cut your loses and go to the pub.

    • 2ndeffort on 18/08/2017 - 18:10

      Yep, i spent last Saturday skiing in my club's annual ski race at Buller. I was wearing a Goretex Patagonia Shell and Kjus pants. It poured rain most of the day and whilst i was mostly dry it wasnt a lot of fun in the rain. race was at Skyline but afterwards skiing down the Summit was exciting with about 1m of visibility!

  • tank17 on 12/08/2017 - 05:58

    I personally tent to buy jackets for professional sky purposes.
    Qhen it comes to winter jackets i prefer somethin thin and manageble. You won't be stayng outside all the time so you won't need any super gigantic thing. I want smn comfortable, that keeps me decently warm enough to move from car to "locationX" and does not bother m while walking or driving.

  • 2ndeffort on 18/08/2017 - 18:20
    +1

    I bought all my gear in the post season sales they have from the US. I ski a lot at Mt Buller as i am a club member there and i go to the northern hemisphere every year on a ski holiday as well. It is probably too late for your trip but this looks like a good deal from one of my favourite go-to online ski shops https://www.levelninesports.com/armada-emmett-insulated-men-… beware that price is in US dollars and there is postage on top of the price.

    If you are going to takeup ski/boarding as a hobby get your own gear. Rental gear is pretty nasty and nothing riuns an expensive trip to to the snow like being cold and wet. Good gear means you can stay out and enjoy what you are doing. Also, nobody wants to look like a newb, even if you are one. Nothing screams newb like rental clothes. If you are doing your one and only 'tryout the snow' trip, fine, rent away. If you are going to make a couple of trips a year but a decent jacket. Also, if you want to avoid looking like a newb, dont tuck your pants into the top of your boots, dont leave the snowboard boot cords dangling/dragging in the snow and dont leave a gap between the top of your goggles and your helmet.

    Some folks swear by the Aldi stuff, I bought some for my kids when they were small. It was OK, nothing special, low end stuff. My mate skis all over the world every year in Aldi pants and loves them, horses for courses I guess.

    • txn25 on 18/08/2017 - 23:17

      Mate appreciate the post! I've actually managed to go a few times to Buller now and am hooked. I've taken to snowboarding and am keen on getting some real gear.
      Got any more US stores I can have a look at?
      In terms of equipment, is it better to buy local? I've heard good things about the Melbourne snowboard centre.
      Cheers

      • 2ndeffort on 21/08/2017 - 12:43
        +1

        Melbourne snowboard centre had some good deals in their pre-season sale. I've found that because ski/boarding is a very seasonal activity, shopping outside of season is where you get the deals. Right now, peak season you probably wont get a good board deal in OZ. For boards, because so many aussies go overseas in the northern winter they often dont drop their prices too much either. I bought both my sons boards at level nine sports. I used to buy a lot of stuff from Sierra Snowboard as well but they got taken over by 'The House' and all the bargains disappeared. i bought loads of stuff from Sierra Trading Post but they dont have much ski stuff right now and what little they do have seems to be locked out of shipping to Australia or has such massive postage costs that it kills the deal. A few years ago I bought a Spyder jacket from Sierra, price at my local ski shop was around $700, price at Sierra was $200. i went skiing in the US so I bought it and put my hotel down as the delivery address (free shipping within the US), when i arrived at the snow and checked in to the hotel, box with jacket was waiting for me!

        If you can use a mail forwarder like shipito etc you can often find great deals at www.6pm.com they will be last seasons colours for North face or Patagonia pants at massive discounts. Similarly, if you are OK using a mail forwarder checkout the Patagonia and Marmot websites for ski clothes. Marmot recently had a massive sale, I nearly pulled the trigger on another pair of pants but i have 4 already and the Mrs would have killed me! Also using a mail forwarder tryout www.steepandcheap.com I havent bought anything from them for years but they used to have occasional great deals.

        Finally, checkout Amazon.com I havent looked for a while but a few years ago i got kids Spyder ski clothes for some 80% off prices. You never know what is on sale at Amazon, every chance there will be some cheap ski kit.

        There should be some sales in about a month's time when the Northern retailers start clearing inventory for the 2018 stuff. Often the UK ski shops have decent deals as well as the US ones. Often postage from the UK to oz is cheaper than from the US. i cant remember all the UK sites, Ellis Brigham and snow & rock are a couple that spring to mind.

        Kit wise there used to be a great website called spadout but it was closed down and much harder to find kit deals now for ski stuff.

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