Mountain Hardwear | Trinity Soft Shell Jacket | Field Review

Description

Krik of Black Owl Outdoors reviews the Mountain Hardwear Trinity Soft Shell jacket that was sent to us by Chris from Sierra Trading Post. If you're unfamiliar with Sierra Trading Post, they offer outstanding prices on all types of outdoor gear and equipment.

Click the link below to receive an additional 25% off most items on SierraTradingPost.com.

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Tags: black owl outdoors,nature,camping,hiking,backpacking,survival,bushcraft,wilderness,forest,backcountry,Mountain Hardwear (Business Operation),trinity jacket,softshell,soft shell,Sierra Trading Post (Business Operation)

Video Transcription

it was so Turtles it's Creek here with blackout outdoors today I'm going to be doing a video on the Mountain Hardwear Trinity jacket this jacket is courtesy of Sierra Trading Post I want to thank to Sierra Trading Post for giving us the opportunity to review this this jacket also there will be a link included in the description that will give you the viewer a 25 percent off discount any pretty much any item on Sierra Trading Post so what you need to do is put that link in the address bar and I'll take you to the site and a discount will be applied if you don't know what Sierra Trading Post is it's a really great website for discounted gear so if you're looking for a certain piece of gear definitely check that out and you can probably find it find it discounted but this is the Mountain Hardwear Trinity soft shell breathable and completely waterproof jacket so in Sierra Trading Post this jacket is going for 251 dollars and some change retails for believe three hundred and fifty dollars and like I mentioned before it's a soft shell and that literally means does basically the texture of the fabric it's soft you really don't get that crinkle effect as you would normally on a lot of weather and waterproof shells excuse me it is completely waterproof and this sort of falls under the line and in the activity categories as you know high activity levels in the colder months of the year I'll touch on that once I get into some of the features of the jacket but on the bottom running the entire circumference of the jacket there are is a drawstring and there's two different positioning or I guess cinching points there's one on the left side and one on the right side really likes to have it on both sides that way you can even the jacket out you don't have it just pulling from one side you have two pockets on the front right here that feature YKK zippers and sort of reversed and or

meaning they're waterproof because you have this fabric running on the entire outside of the zipper track and as I pull this down you'll see the track exposed and then as you zip er up when the track meets this isn't you know 100% completely completely waterproof but it's almost there and you'll find that on you know all waterproof shelves this type of taped a zipper track if you will and at the top of the zipper there's sort of this little I'll call it a carport for the zippers so that there is a little gap where the zipper meets at the end where the tracks me to keep this I'll keep elements keep water out of that and that's featured on the other side as well under each armpit through our zip pit zips again feature that finished material over visit the zipper track this is black contrasting here two-way zipper on here up or down these are kind of a pain not the easiest or smoothest pull while you're wearing the jacket to open these up a little bit one of the few gripes I have with this jacket I'll talk about the other ones as I touch around the jacket but nonetheless a nice feature that if you do need to get some extra you know heat if your activity level is increasing and your body temperature is rising and you feel like you do need to you know get you know dump some more heat it's nice because obviously the pits your head you know your crotch all those in your feet those areas are really high heat areas where your body expels heat what's important to keep them you know keep them covered but also to expose them when you need to dump excess heat moving on on each end of the sleeves each wrist there are there is an adjustable system here to accommodate to if you're wearing a glove a glove will fit securely this is large enough to have a glove pinched under there and then you can cinch it to the size you need which is really nice to keep cold breezes keep snow from coming up your sleeves anything like just hooking loop system present on both sides and since I'm here in the icon service is the dry queue this is the technology and I lined from Mountain Hardwear it's basically there's an elite a core and active this is the core which is right in the middle the elite obviously is the say the highest technology and the dry queue line that's sort of reserved for the most extreme sort of activities in in the colder months but basically it has to do with the fabric mounting hardware not buying any finished fabric and assembling it they're doing it all themselves with this with the polyester of the shell but nonetheless it's a really really nice highly breathable waterproof shell for colder months not an insulated shell it is a shell so you wouldn't need to insulate properly depending on the weather but it's really gonna work nice as a show and it does work really nice as a show moving on to the hood system I really like it on this jacket for a few reasons one it already has or it has a sort of reinforced or shaping to brim if you were if you will stiff brim which is really nice as it sits on the head it doesn't allow the hood to come over the eyes depending this hood will accommodate a helmet it does accommodate a helmet but just this who this brim is a really nice feature very nice feature I really really like the hood system on this and the way you can cinch it down via right here this will pull the port down sort of round your head if you will using this and then on the back of the hood again there's a string that runs underneath here that you can cinch this down and it tightens the hood to yourself and as you move and articulate your hood from left to right it stays close to the head as you move your head doesn't move inside of it you know it's like depending on some hood systems it's a really nice really nice and awesome feature of this jacket I really really like it the main zipper here does feature again the sort of tape to zipper track

one thing I would have liked to see on this main zipper is actually two zippers on here it only has one it would be nice though to have a second zipper here so that effect if you are potentially having the zippered up then you could have a second one down here too actually you know if I could zipper this up a little bit that way I could have this open have I know some more heat heat get out or just whatever just another nice little feature for you to be able to tailor depending on the activity doesn't feature that not sure why but it would be nice to see it on this jacket one other thing since I'm on the outside the jacket and this is pretty much the last thing I'm gonna touch on on the outside the jack is there's no accidental pockets no chest pockets up here these hand warmer pockets and or just you know two external pockets in general are nice but it would be nice just to see one up here depending if the zipper tracks running perpendicular to the ground or parallel it would have been nice just the stash some smaller things up out of the way of hip belt harness anything like that which these pockets are long enough they will accommodate being able to I wear a hip out or a harness and still be able to get your hands in if you need to warm them which is a nice feature but still would've been nice to see another pocket on the outside there is a mesh pocket on the inside which I'll get into right now on the inside of the left left side if you will there's a small little mesh pocket generously sized about the size of my hand and that's it on the other pocket on the jacket nothing on this side at all and since this is a waterproof shell means it has fully taped seams and for instance just on this seam right here you can see this where fabric meets it's completely taped and see it here then running down all these other seams end of a zipper right here are some tape on it see oh something to look for you know to see the quality and the effectiveness of a waterproof shell to see the you know the extent of the tape seems and all that mm-hmm this is just does a really really nice job and I'll dump some water on it then to show how it just you know repels water and beads off of it and the this gray all the gray accents and basically get this whole panel on the back here is this little bit of this ShamWow ShamWow type material really comfortable in the skin like I said this jackets really not gonna offer that much insulation it will it will block wind does a pretty nice job at that as well but if you're gonna be using this in the cold weather

like I said all activity-dependent I've done a video on wool while I like that for certain activity activities in the quarter months of the year you know this is sort of a contrast to wearing wool because from wearing wool I'm really not gonna be moving around that much but this is basically meant for you to be active in still be able to breathe without sweating too much which is very important in the winter you don't want to work up a sweat and that's basically the features of this jacket I believe the shell is made out of complete 100% polyester I believe that's what it says on the tag depending on the size this jacket is going to be about a pound and a half give or take a few ounces so not really a lightweight ultralight shell for those who go into that you know trying to find something that's really ultralight but nonetheless really effective effective effective jacket for what it's intended for so this is definitely definitely not a cheap not a cheap jacket I like to do a lot of things in the forest I like to be outside doing a lot of different things so the clothes and the gear I have sort of reflect that specific activity level so this is why I'll sign it sort of interested in getting this type of garment from Sierra Trading Post just to try it out use it because one I probably could never really afford or afford to spend the money to try out something like this so I was really interested to do it and I'm really really happy with these soft shows they're really cool I know the military sort of uses this type type of technology the soft shell waterproof like that just because it's a pretty rugged layer considering all things considering obviously not as much as like you know some other nylons or different poly blends but nonetheless pretty rugged really waterproof hold tight I'm going to grab a bottle and just dump some water just send up some water to show you obviously dumping water is really not gonna mimic rain cuz its ton of water one spot but let's pop straight off no absorption and this is a pretty extreme test you know that much water that concentrated in one single spot but nonetheless super repellant really awesome really awesome type of technology and shell in general there's any things I didn't cover or any questions you have about this jacket this type of technology this you know sort of shell or garment outer layer leave a comment let me know start an exchange like I said for the price it's pretty expensive for show so depending on your activity level if you're going to be out in the dead of winter being really active you sort of do need a proprietary

you can't just go out you know it can jeans and a sweatshirt stuff like that as opposed to you code if you're hanging out by fire so that's where the sort of you know price comes into play and technology for for those who want to be super active in the dead of winter and you know really snow-covered environments but all in all it's a really cool jacket the colors I could give or take but this black you know I really like just cuz it's muted I don't only like a lot of bright colors in general but with that being said I hope the video is helpful like I said leave a comment if you had experienced using soft-shells waterproof probably breathable all of that type of stuff let me know I'd like to thank Sierra Trading Post again for giving this the opportunity to work with them and be able to you know try out some different gear and specifically I'd like to thank Chris at Sierra Trading Post go check out their site if you're looking for any pieces of gear you might be able to find it at a discounted price remember tech outback outdoors comm check us out on Facebook check out blackout on Instagram this is Craig signing out with black outdoors later Turtles