Reviews > Clothing > Jackets > Big Sky Products Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket > Thomas Vickers > Long Term Report

Big Sky Products Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket  Long Term Report

May 23, 2006

Tester Background:
I grew up in the piney woods of southeast Texas. Camping was a quick trip into the mosquito-infested woods behind the house. My style has evolved and over the last 4 or 5 years, I have begun to take a lighter weight approach to hiking gear (I still use sleeping bags and tents, just lighter versions). While I have flirted with lightweight hiking, I feel that I am more of a mid-weight hiker now. My philosophy is one of comfort, while carrying the lightest load possible.

Additional Tester Measurements:
Chest girth: 39 in (99 cm)
Arm length (shoulder to wrist): 23 in (58 cm)
Torso length (base of neck to waist): 23 in (58 cm)

And the testing ends:
During the long term phase of this report, I was able to dayhike, geocache, and even attend ropes course training in the Big Sky Products Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket.  It saw all sorts of trail conditions, from flat, level trails to bushwhacking through the South Texas brush. It saw a lot of wear in woodlands and even some along the roads in the area when I jogged.  The main dissappointement for me was that I never really got to spend prolonged time in the jacket while it really rained. The main preciptation during this test period was between a heavy fog and light drizzle.  The only thing I learned in my one rain experience was that keeping the jacket's hood rolled up and stored away provides a great water barrier when I needed to bend over. Rather than water running down my back and into the neck of the jacket, the rolled up hood/collar stopped the water completely. 
I was also lucky that the spring turned out to be cool enough to keep testing the jacket.   When the temperatures got above about 79 F (26 C), it was a bit warm for me to be wearing the Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket. 

Construction:
The Big Sky Products Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket came back from the manufacterer with brand new zippers. Apparently, the wrong zippers had been installed and Big Sky Products had them replaced.   Of course, the first thing I did was start zipping and unzipping them to see if they worked any better or any worse than they had before. To be honest, they did seem to slide a bit smoother in both directions, especially the under arm zippers.  I had not had that much of an issue with the zippers on this jacket, but knowing that Big Sky Products was willing take the necessary steps to fix the issue increases me comfort level with this company and their products.

Over the course of the test, I have worn this jacket with at least two different packs and there have been no wear issues that I can see.  I was initially worried that the Epic fabric was fragile, but it has held up to the worst that I had to offer, which includes bushwhacking my way to several geocaches. 

Other notes:
One thing I have come to really like about this jacket is the location of the front pockets.  When I go geocaching I tend to put things down and then have to go back for them because they remained on the ground, forgotten by my wandering mind.  It is also difficult for me to squat down at a cache and pull things out of my pants pockets.   The pockets on the Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket are positioned so that I can sit on the ground, stow my GPS in one of the pockets, pull my pen and goodies out of the other pocket, and do all the necessary cache work with ease.  To me, this is a huge deal. Not only are the pockets easy to open, easy to use, and big enough to hold what I need, but they make doing all of my geocaching chores extremely easy.  I hate to say it, but since the weather is getting warmer, I will have to go back to my old, unorganized method of geocaching. 

During this last phase of the test I reaffirmed the Warm-n-Cozy Jacket's ability to block wind.  Once again I was blessed with some unexpected and very windy conditions that would have been very uncomfortable without this jacket.  If nothing else, I have learned that when I expect windy conditions, this will be the jacket that I pack.

Questions Answered:
FIT
1. How well does the Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket fit? Is it too tight or too baggy?
It was big, but not too big. The size allowed me to layer under it without feeling confined and the generous cut never impeded my range of motion.

2. Do the drawstrings (waist and hood) allow me to adjust the fit to sufficiently to meet differing weather conditions?
The drawstrings didn't allow me to really adjust the fit that much, but they did allow me to adjust the seal on the jacket.  Tightening the drawstrings kept the weather out of the jacket when I needed it too, but really did not affect the fit or my range of motion. 

3. Can I layer under this jacket?
Yes. As much as I want.  The size large I tested leaves plenty of room for me to layer as much as I needed to.

COMFORT
1. How well does the Epic fabric breathe?
I am not really sure how to report on its breathability. When I engaged in high impact activities with this jacket, I tended to open zippers and vent, rather than try and let the fabric breathe.  I can say that when I was standing around or doing low impact activities, I did not get overly sweaty. There was no build up of moisture inside the jacket, but I do not know if I can put this down as due to the breathability of the Epic Fabric.

2. How well does the jacket vent? How many zippers does it have?
It is easy to overheat in the Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket, but I didn't have to stay that way.  The thing that I really liked about the jacket  was that when I got hot, I opened a zipper. If that didn't work, I opened another zipper.  With five zippers (one front, two pit zippers, and two pocket zippers) it was easy to find a comfortable level of venting.

3. Can I use this jacket in all levels of activity?
Yes, I used it standing still and running, not to mention every activity level in between. 

4. Does it keep me warm?
Yes, if I was layered properly, it was quick and easy to build up body heat to keep me warm inside this jacket.  Its ability to keep the wind off of me also contributed to keeping me warm even in very windy conditions. I often wore it as my only outer/long layer and it worked great as a light jacket/windbreaker as well.

PERFORMANCE
1. How well do the zippers work? Do they slide easily? Do they stay shut?
The zippers always worked okay for me. Once the replacement zippers were in place, they worked even better. It was no problem to adjust the zippers while in motion and they moved smoothly and stayed shut or open, depending on my needs.

2. Are the zippers waterproof?
I wore the Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket in all sorts of precipitation-the most common was a heavy fog or light drizzle during this test period.  I experienced no leaking around the zippers from this light preciptation.  I was only out in one heavy down pour, and I didn't have any issues with leaking under that condition either.

3. Can I work the zippers while wearing the jacket? (this includes front, pocket, and venting zippers)
Yes. Even if I was backpacking or jogging, the zippers were easy to access and adjust while moving and wearing the jacket.

4. How water resistant is this jacket? Does the fabric ever get wet?
The fabric never wet through on me during the test period. It was very resistant to drizzle and fog, but I also didn't get any prolonged exposure to heavy rain during the test period. 

5. How wind resistant is the jacket?
This is probably the most impressive ability of this jacket.   It really does keep the wind off. During the long term phase of the test I was taking ropes course training.  I wore the jacket for two eight hour days that were extremely windy.  The temperatures were in the low 70's F (21 C) without the wind that was hitting me and even lower due to the wind. The Big Sky Products Warm-n-Cozy jacket kept the constant wind off of me for two days and made the training much more bearable.  

6. How durable is the Epic fabric? Will it hold up to normal wear? Will it hold up to being worn under a pack? What is Epic?
From this test I have learned that Epic fabric invovles an encapsulation process during its creation. So the water resistance is not a coating, but actually part of the fabric's fibers.  I have also learned that the Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket is durable under all the conditions I used it. This includes backpacking, geocaching, and many other outddor activities.  It is nowhere near as fragile as it first appeared to me.  What I don't know is how to clean it. I really wish Big Sky Products would provide some information on how to clean the jacket.

Reviews > Clothing > Jackets > Big Sky Products Warm-n-Cozy Epic Jacket > Thomas Vickers > Long Term Report