Paramo Tiempo Fleece

My wife bought this for me as a Christmas present. It should have cost £135, but she found one in TKMaxx much reduced!

It is a strange concept. A longish fleece with a windproof lining. The outer layer is a very soft velvety material coloured "Chilli red". The jacket is amazingly soft, floppy and is superbly comfortable, in complete contrast to the Polartec Powershield soft shells I own, which feel almost like suits of armour in comparison.

The Paramo has numerous single handed adjusters and the excellent wired hood can be snugged down in two planes of movement, vertically to reduce the hood volume and around the face horizontally to cover the mouth and nose if required, via handy pull knobs. The waist has an internal tightener activated by pulling two toggles, one in each handwarmer pocket. The hem also is adjusted by a pull knob and even the neck of the garment can be tightened to keep out all draughts.

All adjusters are elasticated to ensure freedom of movement, but still keeping things nice and snug.
There is also a capacious map pocket on the front and a second storage breast pocket on the other side.

I have worn it three times already in cold windy conditions and it is surprisingly warm and feels pretty much totally windproof. The elasticated cuffs have press stud fasteners and the storm flap over the zip has a similar facility.

It really is a very carefully thought out design and is supposedly fairly water resistant. I tried the material under the cold tap (faucet to you Americans), and the water just rolls off.

I feel that it is the kind of garment that you either love or hate. I love it for the design and superb comfort. I have yet to try it out in full mountain conditions, but I am sure the removable hood will keep out high winds and the jacket is pretty warm for the weight.

Some people will find the floppy nature of the garment a little off putting as Paramo garments do tend to give one the "sack of potatoes" look. However, my wife has owned a Paramo outer layer garment for some years and loves it.