The time period “overbuilt” is a kind of marketing-speak monikers that will get thrown round so much nowadays when speaking about outside gear. It’s a elaborate method of claiming that stated gear’s designers prioritize issues like sturdiness and efficiency over adhering to established pricing conventions for a given product in a given class. In fact, there are solely a handful of firms that overbuild their gear. Relative newcomer (a descriptor we’re going to shortly should abandon utilizing) and Bozeman-based Skwala Fishing is a kind of firms, and its newest providing, the brand new Skwala RS Outpost Jacket isn’t any exception.
Overbuilt gear comes with uncomfortable side effects, some welcome and a few not. Producers get longer and costlier R&D cycles and heftier MSRPs imply a better barrier to entry for purchasers. However, on the finish of their rainbow are larger margins and earnings, or so the hope goes. Customers get increased costs, which nobody will get enthusiastic about, however get gear that works higher and lasts longer (and thus must be changed much less typically) than inexpensive rivals. Or, once more, so the hope goes.
Skwala’s new RS Outpost Jacket is, a minimum of on paper, a severe individuals of cold-weather gear, that includes not only a wind- and weather-blocking and heat-trapping design, however which totes alongside a couple of modern options that may simply be distinction makers for anglers standing waist deep in near-freezing water whereas howling wind blasts week-old snow and ice off the riverbank and whips it up right into a face-stinging frenzy.
This is a primary look.
Warmth Trapping
Probably the most notable design spec that may leap out at gear nerds, individuals who spend their day working contained in the places of work of an outside gear model, or anybody else that makes use of phrases like “textile” and “face material” with out blushing is the 150g of Toray® 3DeFX+™ spiral insulation that’s packet into the RS Outpost. We’ve twiced lauded Skwala’s Fusion 3/2 Puffy for the way properly it insulates (amongst different issues). For body of reference, the three/2 Puffy has 90g of the identical insulation. The RS Outpost’s 150g ought to supply severe heat on the water when it is sorely wanted.
Picture: Austin Trayser.
Stretch
There’s not an excessive amount of to say right here, actually. Skwala makes stretch and motion a cornerstone of all its attire and the identical is true right here. The 3DeFX+™ spiral insulation talked about above wasn’t solely designed for its insulative properties, it was additionally designed by Toray for stretch (imparted largely by its spiral fibers).
That very same stretch is discovered all through the RS Outpost Jacket — in its wicking layer, it’s face material (see?), and so forth.
Blocking
Along with that includes 4-way stretch, simply talked about above, the outer shell of the RS Outpost is supposed to maintain the weather at bay. A Nylon PrimeFlex stretch-woven face textile combines with a water-proof however breathable Toray® Entrant® microporous laminate and DWR water-repellent end to maintain water and wind out and (most) of your physique warmth in.
Options
You’ll discover all of the options you’d count on on a high-end wading jacket on the RS Outpost. Massive gear pockets, waterproof zippers, hand-warmer pockets, lock-down adjustable cuffs, and so forth. One factor you received’t discover on different jackets nonetheless, is the Outpost’s modern new pass-through pockets. When you’ve completed any severe cold-weather angling, you understand that on the actually harsh days, hand-warmer pockets typically don’t supply a lot of a heat up. To handle this weak hyperlink, Skwala constructed pass-through pockets into the RS Outpost, that are designed to line up immediately with the hand-warmer pockets of their RS Waders, the place theoretically there may be rather more hand-warming physique warmth ready to deliver feeling again into your numb palms and fingers.
Wrapping Up
Time and area testing will supply the ultimate phrase on whether or not Skwala’s new chilly climate piece is a winner, however there’s so much to be optimistic about. If, in the end, the RS Outpost Jacket makes frigid days on the water simpler to look ahead to, longer, and extra snug, then there shall be an incredible quantity of worth in that for anglers that aren’t content material to let the calendar ship their fly rods into hibernation.
BUY THE RS OUTPOST
