7Mesh Skypilot Jacket review

7Mesh describe its Skypilot as a “flawless wind and waterproof jacket for every adventure”. After 24 months of testing, Sanny is not so sure and ponde …

By sanny

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7Mesh Skypilot Jacket review

I use the Revelation jacket for when I was up in the mountains. Doesn’t pack down much but is by far and away the best jacket I’ve ever used in high lakeland fells with a bike.

Fair play to 7 Mesh for having a conversation but really, shouldn’t a £400 jacket be capable of being all things to all men, er persons. At least those riding a mountain bike of some form.

@johnnystorm

Hard not to disagree. It is a lot of money for a jacket that is not what the marketing blurb claims it to be. Despite the flaws, I still like it and use it a lot though. For the price, I was hoping for perfection but did not get it. That does not mean it is not a jacket that meets its design parameters well.

Going forward, I believe the move to PFC free technology in favour of ePE fabrics is going to present a real difficulty for manufacturers and consumers. The old tech is likely to be a high point for breathability and performance. DWR coatings simply don’t perform as well as they used to. Their durability does not match the old long chain polymers. Wetting out is much more of an issue now. I have old jackets that outperform the latest models which was something that Ian at 7Mesh acknowledged was one of the downsides of the move away from forever chemicals.

Cheers

Sanny

I believe the move to PFC free technology in favour of ePE fabrics is going to present a real difficulty for manufacturers and consumers.

On this thread, there’s a link to an interesting podcast about the technicalities of waterproof jackets, their compromises and the future of PFC free treatments. Essentially the take home messages is that none of the claims of any manufacturer about breathability vs waterproofness really stand up to any close scrutiny, and their advice for keeping a jacket in as best condition post PFC treatments as possible is wash it frequently in mild soap (but clean the washing machine beforehand) reproof often – with a heat treatment.

@nickc

Thanks for that link. I am not an expert in the area although have done a decent amount of research into this as an interested amateur for the article I wrote. In my experience, on properly minging days when it is pouring for hours, Shakedry has proven to be the most effective at keeping me dry without feeling boil in the bag. The downside is that it is fragile and does not cope with abrasion. Warm and wet are the toughest conditions to operate in. Paclite for me is really poor at dealing with those. There is no wonder fabric but some are definitely better than others and good design has a key role to play too. My older Gore and eVent jackets outperform more recent versions as they do not require to be washed after every use. How much of this is due to the older long chain PFC DWR coating I do not know but sweat build up when a jacket stops beading and wets out seems to be the biggest challenge for me. Everything I have read and my own experience suggests that modern DWR needs much more frequent reapplication.

Cheers

Sanny

 

Wearing a £400 jacket, do you stop at every bramble or branch slightly hanging over trail and carefully inch around it? Would be way to paranoid of a rip or tear

Going forward, I believe the move to PFC free technology in favour of ePE fabrics is going to present a real difficulty for manufacturers and consumers. The old tech is likely to be a high point for breathability and performance.

I don’t know. The ePE membrane tech is Gores’ PFC-free membrane – it’s due to replace the ePTFE membrane in all their fabrics by winter 2025. I’ve been using one of Mountain Equipment’s ePE ore-Tex jackets for about a year now for walking/climbing etc, and subjectively, I’d say the breathability feels the same as the ePFTE one. That’s just standard Gore-Tex though and it may be that the technology used to produce the more breathable fabrics – Pro and Active mostly – doesn’t translate over. But it might. It depends on whether the techniques and construction nuances they use with ePTFE work as well with ePE.

The latest DWRs aren’t great. Apparently this is at least partly because they are less resistant to contamination with oils, creams, gunk off your skin etc. They are quite poor ime. However apparently there is a much better PFC-free DWR in the final stages of development. I think it’s part-owned, financed by Patagonia, but I may be making that up.

The ePE thing and the PFC-free DWRs are not the same thing, though to be fair, the same imperative to remove PFCs from treatments and production processes drives them both.

Fwiw, my take is that because of the uselessness of DWRs, you basically have a choice between being damp from the outside –  but not too hot and sweaty – in milder conditions and warm and damp from the inside, but dry from the outside in cooler, wet stuff. The latter is arguably preferable when things are proper cold, but not snowing. The former when it’s milder and just wet. The cross-over point is subjective and depends a bit on you as an individual.

I should maybe read the jacket review now…

Can’t help but think that someone in the market for a jacket would find this review, get halfway down and think “what a load of rubbish, I’ll look elsewhere” when in reality most of the negatives come from the wrong usage parameters or the broken adjusters. The article reads very negative and flips around in the middle – as you say, it works well for what it’s designed for. Maybe a disclaimer at the beginning to that effect, so as not to put off potential customers too much?

Though personally I was put off right at the beginning as soon as I saw the price 😉

Luv 7Mesh gear, but it is expensive and I have only purchased when they have a sale on. Their recent BF sale had their goods at (for me) more acceptable prices.

I saw a video recently (can’r remember the website) of a guy talking about waterproof jackets and the upshot seemed to me is that you can have waterproof clothing or eco friendly clothing that is waterproof for a short while, you cannot have both. This seems to be born out by the comments above.

I’ve got three bits of 7Mesh kit so I have to say I agree with the comments on the hood, it is a pain, but it is by far the best jacket I have ever had. With regard to @si_onthebounce I suppose you could do that and ride really slowly and get paranoid but I’ve always taken a view that kit is for using so mine does sometimes (will come back to that) have the odd bramble tear and gash BUT (intentionally big but) they sell a patch kit and have a fabulous (and in my experience) cheap repair service too.

Their customer care has been nothing short of awesome, even when I bought a 2nd hand pair of trousers on ebay that someone had cut off way to short they sorted me out such a good deal on a replacement it was a no brainer.

So if you want good kit, you have to pay I guess, but sale stuff and ebay helps but the ability to self repair and send off (as well as it being good kit) was the main seller for me.

Having said that I wish they would a) Sort the hood out and b) I had the new version with the straps to attach it to the bike 🙂

James

As an aside I remember the pitchforks being taken up when an STW review was postive about an alpkit waterproof because it said the price was good!

Why Buying a Lightweight Rain Jacket is More Confusing Than Ever

This makes for interesting reading when it comes to breathability. The new ePE Gore fabric seems to be less breathable than PTFE based fabrics. The former comes in at <13 while shakedry is <3. 13 is judged to be moderately breathable, uncomfortable during high physical activity while 6 – 12 is very breathable, comfortable during moderate physical activity and 0 – 6 is extremely breathable, comfortable during intense physical activity.

With ePE, it appears to fall between two parts of the scale. If it was very breathable, comfortable during moderate physical activity, I would have thought Gore would have explicitly said so. So basically somewhere between moderately and very breathable and somewhere between comfortable during moderate physical activity and uncomfortable during high physical activity.

Reading that, I am glad I got my Shakedry and Active jackets now instead of ePE based ones.

Any comments or experience, please feel free to contribute.

Cheers

Sanny