Looking to replace my old Rip Curl winter jacket with something a little more modern. After a quick look round Ultimate Outdoors these ones caught my eye.
RAB Valiance
RAB Positron
Mountain Equipment Lighline
Montane Black Ice (not at UO but was recommended)

Any ideas from the good folk of STW would be much appreciated.

For doing what activities? Where in UK?

Good point.
All UK based. Will be mostly used for proper cold days when walking the kids to school. Steady family walks round the local hills and also stood around watching my lad play football.
Please don’t imagine any rock climbing or scaling of mountains. I’ve never had a good quality cold weather jacket but have £200ish pounds to spend and thought I’d treat myself.

Synthetic insulation is a lot less faff for washing. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/down-clumping-in-jacket-after-washing-is-it-hosed

This: http://www.musto.com/en_GB/ventile-arctic-primaloft-parka/MJ2140.html

obvs!

Montane Black Ice for general duties though 🙂

A decent belay jacket should do. I bought a Haglofs Barrier 3 for about £90, and it has been great. It isn’t downpour waterproof, but I haven’t been wet yet…

http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Jack_Wolfskin_Mens_Troposphere_DF_Texapore_O2_Insulated_Jacket/?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=directory&utm_content=GBR&currency=GBP&country=GBR&SelectedBundle=183480&SelectedItem=695660&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoc6W2MSt2AIVyb_tCh3P4gDjEAQYASABEgIvZ_D_BwE

Bought for similar activity to you OP. Really warm and waterproof and not too expensive

As ever check decathlon, I saw two super warm jackets there perfect for what you described today.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-700-rain-mens-waterproof-insulated-jacket-dark-navy-id_8317488.html

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rainwarm-900-3-in-1-mens-waterproof-jacket-black-id_8317482.html

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-1000-rain-mens-waterproof-down-jacket-black-id_8343842.html

£67… and Spotty Dog IMHO…

stuhawk – Member

Good point.
All UK based. Will be mostly used for proper cold days when walking the kids to school. Steady family walks round the local hills and also stood around watching my lad play football.
Please don’t imagine any rock climbing or scaling of mountains. I’ve never had a good quality cold weather jacket but have £200ish pounds to spend and thought I’d treat myself.

Avoid down imo. My wife and I both have Mountain Equipment Lightline jackets, she feels the cold, I don’t. I almost never wear mine. Other than standing watching football in near zero temps it’ll be of little use (unless you really feel the cold). Even then you won’t want to get it wet. The water resistance only works up to a point.

I’ve got a Montane Hi-q Luxe jacket and a gilet with primaloft gold, two ME Bastion jackets, an older primaloft and newer polar loft jacket and they are the real mvp’s. Went for a frosty 1 degree walk today in my bastion jacket with a mid layer (me eclipse) and once I got warmed up and starting walking up hill I was too warm.

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I’m going to try and visit a store with some knowledgeable staff, not an easy task these days.

visit a store with some knowledgeable staff

First a difficult question then you ask the impossible! 😆

Best jackets to cope with UK type cold/damp conditions? Paramo. Nothing else comes close. They even have some more sporting cuts these days rather than their traditional “bag of spuds” look.

Down can work but you need to be careful about not getting it properly wet and it’s not really suitable for wearing during intense activity in the UK. Most decent down jackets will deal with a short shower but not heavy or persistent rain. Unless you really are after performance then synthetic will be fine for most people and for day to day activities. (we’ve five down jackets and one down gilet in the house!) The other thing is that not all down is equal and the good stuff that everyone raves about won’t be found in jackets at the cheaper end of the market – very roughly 900 fill power down has twice the insulation of 650fp but it costs more than twice as much per gramme.

Go with Paramo 😉