Yep, I dug out my emergency bag after reading about that lad’s leg break on the UKC article, and that YouTube vid shows how things can escalate quickly, even in relatively mild conditions. Easy to forget how different things feel on the hill when you stop for more than a few minutes
If all goes according to plan then it’ll stay there unused for the next ten years.
It may well be a completely pointless purchase.
Start taking a flask of tea and some soft biscuit things with you on rides? Then you can use the jacket for a warm stop on a hill with a good view. Best bit of a winter ride.
I wonder if semi-permanently compressing a synthetic jacket is actually very good for it. Down sleeping bags outlive synthetics because down fronds are more durable when compressed/decompressed - ie: don't break as easily, spring back more enthusiastically. There's a limit to how lofty you can make down because at really high fill power levels, I'm told, the processing needed means it starts to become brittle and breaks down.
I guess with an emergency jacket it comes down to whether you cause more damage to the fill by it being compressed or whether the repeated compression causes the damage. I don't know the answer - I'll see if I can find out - but certainly with sleeping bags, accepted wisdom is that it's best to store them decompressed and I treat my emergency Primaloft in the same way. That said, I also use it on rides more often than you might think. Basically for any stop in winter longer than a few minutes. Nuclei looks like a good call.
Possibly over thinking things. My Nanopuff kept me toasty on breaks last Tuesday/Wednesday, and as an extra layer in a 2+ season bag on a night that went significantly below zero (more ice inside the tent than outside it). Pick a decent quality jacket that fits, store it loose when you're not using it.
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Hmm yes. May be right about compression.....
I can't really vouch for it as it hasn't arrived yet, but I ordered this - pacakable, insulated, claimed weight is 5g less than the Arcterys - seems a bargain and I like the colour. Plus as a jacket that will be chucked into a bag for biking I'm happy to go cheaper.
https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/2499505
Then you can use the jacket for a warm stop on a hill with a good view
This is what I love about my hiking belay jacket. Stop for lunch wherever there's a nice view, two fingers to the cold and wind almost. No hiding behind a rock for a hurried lunch.
I bought a Endura GV500 insulated jacket, very warm and packs down small for cycling. I sometimes take it with me walking if I dont take the Prism.
I have nothing to add to this, but every time I see it in the chat page it reads to me as lightweight emergency lawyer.
For all those non serious and yet immediate legal needs....
I carry an Alpkit Heiko, or perhaps its predecessor.
Alternative was a Patagonia nano puff. SO has one of those and it is an ideal extra layer and packs up small.
What ever you get don't leave it compressed in a bag if you want it to perform at is best when it's really required. Also if you have been exercising hard and your base layer is wet then a fresh dry one will help enormously.
https://www.climber.co.uk/gear/rab-kaon-jacket/ Seriously good jacket and 800 fill power and 250 grams 🙂
Alpkit do a couple of 350g ish primaloft jackets that don't cost the earth.
I have one of their older ones and it works well as a bottom of bag jacket or it's "cold and damp but not raining out" jacket.
