User Review: Sierra Designs Avalanche Jacket

Sierra Designs Avalanche Jacket
Above: The current Avalanche Jacket, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed November 24, 2000 by Brian

Rating: rated 2 of 5 stars
Fabric: 3-ply gore-tex
Price Paid: $470 srp

pros:

great hood - snug to the face, kept periferal vision clear, turned when head turned.

interior pockets - great for keeping water bottle thawed

cons:

had a lot of trouble with this jacket. sierra designs warrantied it each time, after the third or fourth incident they gave me a full store credit (for the full suggested retail price) rather than give me ANOTHER replacement jacket.

leaked - i had to send it back a number of times because it was leaking at the neck. the problem had nothing to do with cleanliness or wear or exertion. SD claims that i have a chemical in my sweat that breaks down the gore-tex. gore refutes this by saying that gore-tex is chemically inert and doesn't react with sweat at all.

stitching - had a minor problem with one of the pocket zippers, it kept getting jammed on loose threads.

summary:

i would have been satisfied with the jacket if it hadn't leaked. the cut was good, the hood was well designed... nothing mind blowing, but it would have been a solid jacket, if it had been stormproof.

another thing to note is that SD was very good about honouring their warranty. they replaced it a number of times and then finally just suggested i accept a credit and use it on another brand.

the customer service rep claimed that my situation had occured only once before, and that we were anomalies. however, i know at least one other person personally who has had what seem to be similar problems along the sleeves.

the long and the short:

i would not recommend this jacket to anyone who is planning on using it for multi-day trips in the rain. cold weather sports where rain is unlikely are probably fine.

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