Ridgeline Monsoon Elite 2 VS Monsoon Classic

Description

Monsoon Elite 2: https://ridgelineclothing.co.uk/collections/home-page-collection/products/monsoon-elite-ii

Monsoon Elite Classic: https://ridgelineclothing.co.uk/collections/home-page-collection/products/monsoon-classic

Connect with me!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrianOutdoorLife

Instagram: http://instagram.com/outdoorlifeofbrian

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OutdoorLifeOfBr

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/outdoorlifeofbrian/

Tumblr: http://outdoorlifeofbrian.tumblr.com/

Tags: Outdoorlifeofbrian,zedoutdoors,mcqbushcraft,dave,cantebury,outdoors,wild,camping,wilderness,travelling,living,bushcraft,skills,woods,nature,hiking,walking,adventure,backpacking,canoeing,trip,tent,tarp,traditional,hammocks,ultralight,lightweight,trail,knife,axe,tools,fire,firelighting

Video Transcription

[Music]

[Music]

hello people and welcome to another video so you may remember in my last video I made I was haven't even checked you guys was it for a wonder I was talking about the original on monsoon Jackie that I got sent and I've got to certainly all classic version and then I mentioned I was also getting set in a new version to try out and the idea was I'm going to do a comparison video so I'm now going to shoot that comparison video for you now we'll start off by saying I have been sent these two jackets I'm sure many of you already know I am part of the faithful light team with loin all that means is that I get new garments that in the pipework I get them first I try them out I give my PT you guys I do reviews and I give feedback on the jacket and potentially improvements but at the same time I'm going to be as unbiased as possible and I'm also state before I start this is not a review this is an overview however I have been using the jacket for the past week I'm out here in the Forest of Dean I've been out here for about a week now and this is an overview so I'm going to give you my brief thoughts on the past couple days of using both garments and my general thoughts and six months to a year down the line and then don't do a proper review video of the new monsoon Elise when I've really tested really gave it some work and will give a proper feedback but this is an overview I said I again I told Regina I would do this to compare the old version with the new just to give you some general thoughts and feelings and whether they said audience would like to purchase so so here we have both garments the classic I will say the classic you know it came out several years ago now but they have a China dick it's not the this is not the old old version it's the new version of the old if that makes sense and this is the new monsoon elite ii said jacket we've got both when i put the old classic on first this is slightly big on me it's not it's very comfortable so i actually don't mind it many people have told me it's a bit too big but i'm honestly not that bothered about like maybe it's a little bit baggy on me it's not it's not so big that I wouldn't wear it put it that way I do actually kind of like it now you'll remember when this first came out it was a massive deal the bushcraft community loved it the main reason they loved it was because it was very much like the Swazi if you recall but with a better price point no it's made of that quilt X material which means when stalking when you're at like game keeping doesn't make a noise it's very soft fabric what that means is it got a lot of stick for being a very warm jacket and when I say warm it is a warm jacket I mean if you're out for a stroll I mean it's late October now and I went for a hike with this hates hot it is warm under here I've just got a very thin one of the really thin ridgeline fleece I mentioned in the other video I've quite awareness is an undergarment for both these jackets so it's a fair test it's a warm jacket and you've got a lot of stick for that a lot of people bought this jacket a lot of people sold this jacket because it's just too hot it's great for walking around in the woods it's great for bringing you an obtain port it's a very solid jacket

absolutely bomb-proof but it's not one for walking it's not one for canoeing it's definitely not one for hiking however what the have changed about this jacket is they've taken the neoprene cuffs out it's still a thick heavy weight jacket so they've taken the neoprene corset so you breeze a little bit better I do believe the zip is a bit longer as well a bit more vent so you can ventilate a little bit better so the Hamptons some minor adjustments it's still on their range it's still a firm favorite of mine where I'm gonna use issues when I'm out in my local boards well look watching wildlife I don't know a lot that anymore but used to warlike photography that kind of thing if I ever take that up again that's the jack I'm gonna go for well I want to be warm quiet and dry so this is the it's still gonna be firm favorite of mine so that's the classic now I'm gonna put the new elite 2 on I'll show you the comparisons and then later on I'll lie on the floor so you can physically see the difference so remember this is the quilt text material which is what which is what a lot of the ridge line jackets are made it off I believe nope just so just one doing it on mention of its sizing on medium in most things are small in some things as you can see there's not a lot of meat on the bone the classic is it's a small this is an extra small and this fits me perfectly so take that as a size comparison in terms of what to get yourself so I would say get the size down from what you need let's put this on

now do you remember I'm honestly trying to not be boiled steer knowledge alert which one has told me you know give a fair comparison I'm not here here trying to sell you these products I'm simply giving you my thoughts and feelings I must say when I first got this Jackie oh yeah I was instantly impressed purely because it's very nice I mean it's not a lightweight jacket by any means books it packs up the same size as my ultralite rub jacket that I use for hiking so it is literally it's very tiny it's very packable and for a jacket this big which is a smoke jacket that's incredible

nope hello the material is different this is not the quilt X I don't know what the materials called I'll be honest a conference I think you might imagine some pomp and I can't remember him but he did tell me it's it's just over five foot no sorry it's just over 400 grams lighter than it than the classic which is a lot and you can feel it it doesn't feel like heavy jacket for me this is going to be I've already mentioned this previously in Instagram posts but this is going to be my canoe jacket this is gonna be the jacket I keep him a bag and when it's when I'm expecting it to be like ruff kids or heavy heavy rain put this on and my boy today goes over the top it's also gonna be my jacket when I am out hiking not ultra hiking when I'm hiking I don't know I do love hiking january/february over in M the Shropshire Hills and when it's pissing it down this is gonna be my go-to jacket and when I'm out in the woods and I'm kind of doing a bit of a hike and a camp you know kind of that Bush guff moving see this is a jacket because it's packable it's like white bootie to bomb-proof I mean you know what I mean the whole smoke situation now the features that are different is you've got a chest pocket I love how old school begin with this who don't zoom in anymore we just go yep there we go chest pocket the classic does not have something else a look about this is there's a waterproof the zip here so if you're standing around the woods you know in the rain nice and tight it's not some toy train your body yeah it keeps a heating but if you're moving you're moving around you can unzip that boom it's only the one side but you don't need it both sorry to that I will put your plenty and you can walk very very comfortably now it's still got the big zip like before what I like about this is the zip is removable waterproof zip so we're all okay now I'll be honest I haven't took this off on camera before so let's see if we can do this in a wanna undo button new zip when do you button I like that mainly because you can't pack it away so if it's not raining it's a nice day you don't need to have your food blowing around you can just go with your high collar jacket yeah that's nice like that well if you do have it on you've got the waterproof zip let's get a shot of this and turn your day slowly there you go you know that starts turning to a bit more of a casual jacket so you know I'm gonna compensate later we're gonna go for a little wonder I wear like this I don't need the hood it's not forecast rain but I still want my jacket on to keep warm nice top feature I particularly load up your pockets chest pocket isn't the biggest one compared to what they used to be that's because it's as if as the scene but it's kind of where your phone goes or your compass with a massive pockets on it in the bottom this one's kind of stops at the scene but it's still deep so bear the two jackets mix each other as you will see we've got chest pocket on the new one no chest pocket on the classic and we've got side warmer pockets on the new one no side warming pocket on the old one and we've got the expansions appear on the new one no expansion zip on the old one the new one has got neoprene cuffs to keep the moisture out of your wrists the old version has not to try and reduce heat and help you ventilate more those are the main comparisons on features so now I'm going to just show you clips of the last week well been adventuring around talking about the jacket thoughts and feelings of what's going on in my head when I'm wearing e two jackets and share that with you okay then so we're here on the side of the river why we've been canoeing for about half of the day but I've been wearing the elite 2 and I've just got the really thin ridge line fleece underneath I have to say I have been comfortable all day in fact at one point or even I was a little bit chilly keeping in mind I do run quite cold so most people do just fine yeah paddling all day paddling against the wind so we've been really going for it and I haven't been overheating so thumbs up so far I'm going to do now for the second half of the day we're going to change the jacket over and I'm gonna put the classic on and see how that compared to see if we overheat which are expecting to overheat because you know you want the buoyancy aid on as well so you know you are warm expected over here so I'm expecting to overheat in the classic but I haven't done in the least so we've been paddling upstream for 40 considerable amount of time again very hot in this jacket my lower back but we expected that didn't win so we've been walking for about half the day and the first half of the day I was wearing the elite 2 and the hats I was very comfortable and I did have to put an extra layer on in the morning but it was a quite a cold morning but I very quickly took that off and I was I was nice until I started doing coins then I've got quite hot which is to be expected anyway see ya on an autumn day I was very comfortable hiking just had lunch and we've swapped over to the classic so we're gonna see how we get on and see what the differences okay so it's the following day oh and just update you on the classic that was wearing on the hike yesterday I was warm and I wasn't uncomfortably warm really until I start going uphill when I when I was wearing that jacket there was a lot of uphill sections always getting really hot and I was video heating and I got to the point where I had to take it off everybody's poison morale day so it's kind of it's definitely warmer than the nearly - absolutely 100% one thing however I did no pieces what did miss is I miss the hand warmer pockets that the elite two has I've got you stack I can keep them hands in there I get quite cold hands and because I do one cold as I mentioned and I definitely missed the handling pockets that the elite - huh so that's it that's a bonus for me so I want to talk briefly about the fabrics so here we've got the old quilt X doesn't make much of a noise it's quite quiet now the waterproof membrane is underneath with gore-tex so if you want this to waterproof we do shed water but if you spray it with fab sail or something it will share water much better now you'll notice you someone lot of my videos my go-to waterproof or when I'm doing canoeing or bushcraft that kind of thing I wear the pintle smock which is made from this quilt X fabric and it works fantastically it's always kept me dry but what I did find is when I did the river spey trip with Paul curtly last year that was a week out getting very wait it rained a lot because it was October and we're in the canoe Big Rapids we were getting soaking wet he kept me dry so I'm not slightly for that but what did happen is I didn't spray it and it was getting quite worn Dale said there was no fab sale on the quilt X itself so what happened is that quilt X then turned into it that quilt X then turned into an absorbent material so the whole jacket was basically soaking wet he's drying inside but what happened was it was heavy so every day I had to get up and put a wet heavy jacket on which becomes very cumbersome throughout the trip I'm getting tireder I'm getting more like niggly things like you want things to be easier but putting the wet jacket on it weighs a ton wasn't fun in the morning like I was already tired last thing I wanted to be weighed am on my jacket that's where quills they kept me down for the first time so with this fabric that's not going to because it's a walk to proof fabric if that make sense so it's just gonna shed water not gonna have that issue however just to love its place if you out there stalking if you're hunter shooting wildlife watching that kind of thing bang on if you've run cold and you want to bomb proof jacket you're gonna be boiling hot in walking around in the winter boom going to keep you warm however you could put layers on under way underneath one of these so this is gonna be my go-to jacket now and where the pin tower used to be I used to wear the pin tab because it was lightweight and packable because it wasn't very long however this packs down smaller than the pintail jacket and it's bigger it's a bigger jacket it's bottom more bomb-proof it's gonna be like lighter obviously weights when it's soaking wet because a pintail Jackie get soaking wet so this is gonna be my go-to jacket for majority of things apart from alternate hiking where I literally do save every ground possible that's my thoughts thoughts and feelings on the fabrics themselves so as an overview this is still a warm jacket but nowhere near as warm as the classic I can wear this I know I'm going to be able to wear this in the Shropshire Hills when I hike into the winter mean I only do a lot of hiking between and November to kind of march in those ones where you can't really which company can be company more we'd like to do a lot of hiking because we just kind of hit there hit the hill was get soaking wet go home get a nice Android definitely 100% using that jacket for this not going to use this jacket for hiking in the saw-max it was still be too warm I think don't know yet but that's my thoughts and feelings classic obviously still a very hot jacket but you can use when I mention it early you know stalking etc so yeah they're my thoughts and feelings they're where that's where these jackets are fitting into my arsenal and I hope that helps you

so that's it for this video I really hope you enjoyed it I hope it helped you out and be sure to ask me as many questions as you like in the comments I will get back to you as best as I can I know when you're making an important purchase like this and there's a lot of questions so hit me up and I'll get back to you please keep in mind the sizings I am normally around a medium and this is an extra small and it fits me perfectly ridge line do take them at that time to make their garments on the larger size so pair that into consideration when you're considering the purchase and I will be back to you regarding this jacket you know about six months time to a year depending when I get chance give you a proper thorough overview sorry

review but as for now I'm will say I'm very impressed I can't see how he's gonna be a bad jacket but only time will tell so yeah I hope you enjoyed this video let me know in the comments what you think any questions please let me know or try and get back to as many people as possible because I know when you're making decisions on a lot of big purchase you want to know information when it comes to sizing take into consideration I am normally a medium but I have to have extra small for it to fit me to get the now so it looks normal yeah because I know that's a normally a big question with the Vigilant of things because they do tend to come come up quite big

so until then thank you for watching I'll see you again very very soon [Music]