Initial Impressions
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Wow.I received this jacket from Arc'teryx as a warranty replacement for an old jacket. It's phenomenal. Chinese-made or no (I'm looking at you, bow2852095) Arc'teryx is still the best in the biz. Hell, SkiLogik makes all their skis in China, too. No one complains about that.Seam tolerance and attention to detail are spot on, as usual. I'm 5'10, 200lb with a 41 chest and I'm wearing a medium with room for a midweight fleece underneath. Actually, I'm wearing it right now over a medium Stoic Hadron anorak (despite the fact that it's still 78deg in my living room - I suffer for you, Backcountry!) and it's completely copacetic. And, don't get the idea that the dead bird has started vanity sizing for the American market. The fit is still tailored in the torso and designed to fit the athlete. My weight is all in my legs and ass.My medium weighs 12.77 oz (362g) instead of the 12.9 claimed. It's only a 3g difference, but it's nice to see a piece of gear weigh less than claimed, no matter how small the discrepancy. I really did weigh it, which reminds me that I need to update my spreadsheet. Don't judge.New features include the plastic tooth zipper instead of the coil. Arc'teryx says its just as water resistant as the old zippers, but if you break a tooth, the rest of the zipper remains functional. Once you break a coil zipper, it's done.The hood has the usual drawstrings to tighten around the face and behind the ears, but Arc'teryx added a third string at the base of the neck to pull the hood back. This fixes the problem I've always had with helmet compatible hoods: if you're not wearing a helmet and your head is not helmet-sized, even when you tighten the drawstrings, it still falls over your eyes. Bravo!Tomorrow night will be the first night out. We're expecting rain to roll in overnight, so it should be a good test. I'll report back.
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