 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello, i was wondering if anyone knew of any good quality jackets under 150 dollars? Something waterproof, durable and breathable. I will be using it skiing most often. Perferably just a shell without any or much insulation. I would really like an eVENT jacket as i tend to perspire alot. If anyone could find an eVENT or similar technology jacket that would be great!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I got a Goretex Soft Shell Adidas jacket in TK Maxx the other day for £25! the ticket on it says it was reduced from £40!!! how i laughed when i saw the price ticket on it.
It's got orange on it but what the hell... for £25 i'll happily wear it skiing and biking. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Never go budget on boots or jacket, skiing is an expensive sport and to have it ruined by poor equipment just isn't worth it.
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shoogly, some TK Maxx stuff is excellent value. Tchiebo is also quite good. I still wear my 4 year old sallopettes and jacket from Tchibo and it has kept me warm and dry in the whitest of whiteout conditions. I don't think you necessarily have to go for the expensive stuff all the time (and quite often it doesn't guarantee quality.)
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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sailoholic, Welcome to 
I assume from the terminology in your post that you are NA-based. If so you will find Spyder jackets for less than that in your local 'chain' sports . I bought 2 in 'Dicks' last year for less than that .... they are ridiculously expensive in the UK but some folks swear by the brand.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Decathlon have some brilliant jackets at under a half of what they'd cost if they had a well-known brand label.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Renry, this is it here...
i've always had quite understated jackets so i guess i just need to adjust my eyes to it!!! but for £25 i'm not caring!
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I got a 66 North Iceland eVent jacket off Steep and Cheap for about $80, postage costs to the Uk bumped it up a bit but if you live in the US you should definately be watching it.
www.steepandcheap.com
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| shoogly wrote: |
Renry, this is it here...
i've always had quite understated jackets so i guess i just need to adjust my eyes to it!!! but for £25 i'm not caring!
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I want one of those been trying to find an orange jacket without payin an arm and a leg
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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jase2472, try your local tkmaxx...
the one up the road from my work - edinburgh - have a couple of orange Nike ACG jackets. Top of the range stuff from last year. Reduced from £350 down to £100 i think.
I guess it's all down to luck as to what's in the store when you're there.
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cheers buddy
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You know it makes sense.
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| PowderHunter wrote: |
| Never go budget on boots or jacket, skiing is an expensive sport and to have it ruined by poor equipment just isn't worth it. |
that is an extremely arrogant and snobbish post.
there are many posting here who will testify that tey have had perfectly acceptable clothing, reulting in very enjoyable ski trips, even from the likes of Aldi or LIdl, or slightly more expensive from Tchibo or TK Maxx.
Even if you insist on having named brands for some reason (the TK Maxx ones are anyhow), then you can often get them for reasonable prices from outlet centres.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I agree with alex_heney, I think people make far too much fuss about ski jackets. All it has to do is keep the snow out and breathe a bit. Put a few layers under it if you get cold. I'm amazed that people still buy coats for £500.
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Poster: A snowHead
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No alex_heney, I believe what powderhunter wrote is called an OPINION. And he is for the most part right. You can't go budget on boots. Period. And as for jackets, if you want to stay warm and dry, and you don't want your jacket to be sopping wet at the end of the day, and you don't want your jacket to stink after a few days skiing (as I found my old, £25 last season bargain jacket did), you would expect to have to spend some money, if not necessarily £500.
It is immature and frankly nonsensical to call someone 'arrogant' or 'snobbish' for giving their opinion that good equipment costs money. With the exceptions of certain surprising deals and the mark up on designer goods, one pays for what one gets, as in all walks of life.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
you would expect to have to spend some money, if not necessarily £500.
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no, not necessarily £500, more like £50 if you follow the excellent advice above. I have skied six solid seasons now in Trespass jackets costing £50 at T K Maxx, They are fine, and if they stink, nobody has ever told me! Boots are different, because sometimes if you pay for the most expensive in the shop they'll be absolutely wrong for you, too stiff, too high end, too demanding. Again, there are loads of opportunities to buy 100% acceptable boots - in end of season sales, at good prices. And for a beginner, for whom comfort is a priority, and who doesn't have the technical ability to use the kind of equipment needed by a downhill racer, to pay big money for boots is at best unnecessary and at worst a complete waste of money. I wouldn't call someone who wanted to pay £500 for a jacket, or hundreds of pounds for boots, snobbish. It's their money.... But if they felt that someone who had a £50 jacket and last season's boots was a loser, then I would call them rude. If they believed that a recreational skier couldn't get decent ski jackets or boots without going to the "top of the range" I'd call them ignorant. This kind of rubbish doesn't seem to be so prevalent in Europe; French skiers of far greater ability than the average packaged Brit seem to have no concerns about being clad top to toe in Decathlon or Go Sport's own brands. Or, for that matter, fifteen year old all-in-one suits. I do enjoy seeing some lad in £1200 worth of Spyder gear being effortlessly overtaken by a 55 year old skinny Frenchman on the "wrong" skis, in the "wrong" boots, and with a pink and purple suit on!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| WellingtonBoot wrote: |
No alex_heney, I believe what powderhunter wrote is called an OPINION.
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Of course it was.
And an arrogant and snobbish opinion.
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And he is for the most part right. You can't go budget on boots. Period.
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There isn't really any such thing as "budget" ski boots, AFAIK, so that part was irrelevant.
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And as for jackets, if you want to stay warm and dry, and you don't want your jacket to be sopping wet at the end of the day, and you don't want your jacket to stink after a few days skiing (as I found my old, £25 last season bargain jacket did), you would expect to have to spend some money, if not necessarily £500.
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You might expect that, and so might powderhunter.
It is arrogant and snobbish to just dismiss all budget options without question though.
There are many people on this forum who have found perfectly acceptable ski wear at very knock down prices.
Including me.
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It is immature and frankly nonsensical to call someone 'arrogant' or 'snobbish' for giving their opinion that good equipment costs money.
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I could not disagree more.
It is his opinion, obviously, but that is an opinion which does not seem to be borne out by the experience of many SH.
And for that reason, his opinion IS arrogant.
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With the exceptions of certain surprising deals and the mark up on designer goods, one pays for what one gets, as in all walks of life. |
Those "surprising deals" seem to be rather easy to find, although some of them (Aldi, Lidl, Tchibo) are only tere for a week or two at a time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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One word; EBAY!!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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one pays for what one gets, as in all walks of life.
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this is such a mistaken view, in so many walks of life, that it is amazing that people still say it, meaning "if you pay more, you get something better". That is so often not the case. There is plenty of expensive, low quality, tat around. And plenty of well made, decent quality, well priced, merchandise too. You have only to look at the huge differences between the cost of Spyder gear in the US and in Snow and Rock. Even the most arrogant "you get what you pay for" merchant would not, presumably, argue that the US punter gets a poorer deal than the UK one? Quite a lot of goods are very differently priced between different markets (eg cars, same model, very different prices). You need to shop around, unless you have money to burn. Sellers will charge what the market will bear (hence the stupid prices some ebayers will pay for poor, or old, skis). That's why petrol costs more in some parts of England than in other parts, not because you get a "better class of petrol" in Bristol than in Havant. I suppose some people just like to comfort themselves that they have not parted with their money in vain, and that parting with more makes them better than those who have parted with less. Sad, really.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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it's a law of diminishing return IMO
i'd expect a GBP150 jacket to be a lot better than a GBP50 jacket. i wouldn't expect a GBP400 jacket to be that much better than the GBP150 one
and anyone who pays full retail is a mug 
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Arno, I'm sure you're right about diminishing returns, but because the prices you can find are so hugely variable, for the same product, there's really no such thing as a "£150 jacket".
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it's a law of diminishing return IMO
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Absolutely
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i'd expect a GBP150 jacket to be a lot better than a GBP50 jacket
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yes, unless you get that stupidly cheap deal in TK MAX above - nice work! That jacket will likely be better than quite a lot of £150 jackets.
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i wouldn't expect a GBP400 jacket to be that much better than the GBP150 one
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right. Although the benefits of the better jacket are real whether they are worth paying for depends on a) personal taste and b) how much cash you have.
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and anyone who pays full retail is a mug
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ouch. I paid full retail for my Arc'teryx Sidewinder 3 or 4 years ago. It was a new model and there weren't any deals available. Don't regret it though.
J
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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shoogly, There is no problem with your orange jacket - I really like it
As for cheap and cheerful jackets from the likes of TKMAXX, I've seen some really good stuff there at rock bottom prices - yes, you have to watch out for the odd second, but largely its just last years colours/styles and what's wrong with that?
If it wasn't for the place myself and my family would probably get cold and wet on the slopes, as it is we all wear waterproof, warm, breathable jackets, salopettes and gloves by medium range remanufacturers, Tresspass, D2B, Columbia, Surfanic, Rossignol (and if I found better manufacturers there for the same sort of price I'd buy them - they had top shell (waterproof, but not so much insulation?) Berghaus for £25 in my local store last time I was in for the children) imho more than adequate clothes for holidays skiers. Esp. as you can often buy stuff from the top of the ranges of the medium priced manufacturers which must be at least as good as some of the bottom to mid range items from the dearer manufacturers.
At the end of the day can those folks wearing the £500 jackets remember what the person next to them in the ski lift the last time was wearing? OK, as has been said its their money, but the way I see it I end up with £400 more in my pocket to spend on actually skiing 
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| pam w wrote: |
| I wouldn't call someone who wanted to pay £500 for a jacket, or hundreds of pounds for boots, snobbish. It's their money.... |
Well exactly. Not that powderhunter or I have suggested that we or anyone else have bought or should buy £500 jackets of course. But if we had, this would still be true.
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| But if they felt that someone who had a £50 jacket and last season's boots was a loser, then I would call them rude. |
Just as well no one's said anything like that then.
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| If they believed that a recreational skier couldn't get decent ski jackets or boots without going to the "top of the range" I'd call them ignorant. |
Again, just as well no one suggested it was necessary to go to the top of the range then.
| alex_heney wrote: |
You might expect that, and so might powderhunter.
It is arrogant and snobbish to just dismiss all budget options without question though.
There are many people on this forum who have found perfectly acceptable ski wear at very knock down prices.
Including me.
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I am very happy for you if you have found yourself bargains on ski equipment.
Thing is, no one has dismissed all budget options without question though. I made allowance for exceptions, and while powderhunter wrote 'never go budget', the principle being suggested there is that you should never cut back on quality in favour of lower cost, if the cut back in quality will result in an unpleasant skiing experience, as it might do.
If snow and rock were to have a brainstorm one day and were to offer us a brand new, unblemished jacket for £30, we (and I think I can speak for powderhunter here) would certainly see the value in such a purchase.
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It is his opinion, obviously, but that is an opinion which does not seem to be borne out by the experience of many SH.
And for that reason, his opinion IS arrogant. |
No, I think his opinion would be reinforced by the experiences of snowheads. His point was that you need decent quality snow wear, whether you pay £30 or £300 for it. Everyone would agree with that.
And even if others had different experiences, his opinion would not be arrogant; it would, like all opinions, be his own judgement based on his own experiences.
It is a shame that you seem to have such a chip on your shoulder (words such as 'snobbish' suggest this strongly) concerning those who are willing to pay good money for quality, and who don't have to/don't choose to pinch pennies when it comes to the purchase of ski clothing.
| pam w wrote: |
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one pays for what one gets, as in all walks of life.
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this is such a mistaken view, in so many walks of life, that it is amazing that people still say it, meaning "if you pay more, you get something better". That is so often not the case. |
You are partially right pam w. People do make the mistake of thinking that every extra pound they spend is converted to a proportional increase in quality, when in fact there are all sorts of factors that can skew this trend. The world is not completely topsy-turvy, however, and generally one can still expect to pay more money for better quality. Otherwise what would be the point in money.
| jedster wrote: |
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i'd expect a GBP150 jacket to be a lot better than a GBP50 jacket
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yes, unless you get that stupidly cheap deal in TK MAX above - nice work! That jacket will likely be better than quite a lot of £150 jackets. |
Not sure of your logic here jedster. It may be the case that this jacket would do a better job than many £150 jackets, but more likely it would not, given that it was supposedly reduced from only £40. I'd be surprised if you had any evidence to back up such a statement.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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How about gloves - that's an area where cheap and/or bad ones can be a problem I'd say? Save on the jacket I say and invest in some decent gloves...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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sailoholic, welcome to snowheads, though you might be forgiven for not venturing back after that load of shite.
Nice one lads n lassess. Little wonder that there is a recurring theme around here which tends to suggest that newbies can sometimes be put off by the vitriol in disparate views when responding to calls for advice 
I hope you are able to pick the bones out and get the advice you were after and that you dip your toe in again.
From personal experience, if you are still looking, TK Maxx is a sensible place to start from and they do indeed have some fairly well-known brands within your budget.
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| WellingtonBoot wrote: |
| alex_heney wrote: |
You might expect that, and so might powderhunter.
It is arrogant and snobbish to just dismiss all budget options without question though.
There are many people on this forum who have found perfectly acceptable ski wear at very knock down prices.
Including me.
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I am very happy for you if you have found yourself bargains on ski equipment.
Thing is, no one has dismissed all budget options without question though.
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That is exactly what powderhunter did, and that is why I took exception to his opinion.
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I made allowance for exceptions,
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Yes, you did, and your opinions and the way you expressed them on this are far more reasonable than his initial post was.
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and while powderhunter wrote 'never go budget', the principle being suggested there is that you should never cut back on quality in favour of lower cost, if the cut back in quality will result in an unpleasant skiing experience, as it might do.
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Which is fair enough, but is not what powderhunter said.
He said Never go budget, without any exceptions or qualification. The rest of his single paragraph reply read to me that he was saying that going budget would result in said unpleasant skiing experience.
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It is his opinion, obviously, but that is an opinion which does not seem to be borne out by the experience of many SH.
And for that reason, his opinion IS arrogant. |
No, I think his opinion would be reinforced by the experiences of snowheads. His point was that you need decent quality snow wear, whether you pay £30 or £300 for it. Everyone would agree with that.
And even if others had different experiences, his opinion would not be arrogant; it would, like all opinions, be his own judgement based on his own experiences.
It is a shame that you seem to have such a chip on your shoulder (words such as 'snobbish' suggest this strongly) concerning those who are willing to pay good money for quality, and who don't have to/don't choose to pinch pennies when it comes to the purchase of ski clothing.
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I have no chip on my shoulder whatsoever.
It is entirely up to each person how much they feel the wish to spend or can spend on whatever they do for a hobby. Spending more does not make them worse (nor does it necessarily make them better), it is just a different choice.
What I object to is not whatever he wants to spend, but his unequivocal "advice" to Never go budget - and this in response to a specific request for advice on a good affordable jacket.
It is IMO arrogant to tell somebody else to "never go udget" without having the slightest idea of their financial circumstances.
And it is snobbish IMO to assume that only the expensive stuff can be any good, which was very definitely the strong implication of his first post.
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You know it makes sense.
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If you are looking for good value jackets etc. I recently came across a UK website who specialise in past season's or discontinued colours. They do ski/board wear and equipment. There is a limited range of products and sizes but everything is top brands inc TNF, Mountain Hardwear etc and dead cheap ! Check out addictionsports.co.uk
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Will try it out thanks.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Right, you all seem to have gone mental.
I said never go budget on Boots and Jacket as I think they are the most important pieces of kit that if wrong can ruin a days skiing. If the average ski trip costs between £500-£1000 for a week and the average days skiing are 6 then that is £80 - £165 lost every day that you can't ski or have to go in early because it's too cold!
At no point did I say you have to spend a lot of money, that would just be stupid and yes I am calling you stupid if that is what you thought. If you can get a TNF or Arc'Teryx for a tenner then that is just a good deal, that is not budget. The budget end of the equipment spectrum tend to not include technological innovations that are PROVEN to work better at keeping you dry and warm i.e. materials such as Gore-Tex, water proof zips, a decent hood, powder skirt , et-cetera. If you don't have these, yes you can still have an okay days skiing but if you do have them you will be able to deal with nearly EVERY situation you will find yourself in whilst skiing. If you are a newbie there is a very good chance you are going to spend a lot of time on your back bottom and this will in turn make you wet, cold and miserable if you don't have the right materials covering your body. THAT IS JUST A FACT! If you have the right equipment you will be comfortable, dry and warm whether it's ten degrees or minus 40!
As for boots, "going budget" was meant as a reference to owning your own and hiring them. If you are serious about skiing, can see that you will do it for the next two to three years then buying your own is worth it and will enhance your experience no end. That is why I stressed their importance. Just buying the cheapest ski boot is expensive and there isn't anything budget about it. To suggest that it is would be foolish. In fact for a first pair of boots it is better to buy the cheapest possible as they will tend to be for beginners and will have more flex.
I hope you all take a deep breath and remember that we are offering advice to someone and shouldn't really be getting agressive with other people who post. Alex I think you need to calm down a bit and just remember that this is a fun place to be. Wellington Boot, thanks for understanding what I meant and skillfully making your point.
Powderhunter
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FAQ
