264 MHC
FNG
I'm new to the forum but have been reading gear/clothing reviews on here for quite awhile, so I thought I would post up one of my own, to hopefully help some others looking into this piece. This is going to be fairly long but I like to be thorough.
I purchased my Forloh Allclima Softshell, in Exposed Camo, around this time last year and have had a chance to use it quite a bit since then. My hunting is Waterfowl on open water, some flooded timber, and Whitetail stand hunting, so my view of the performance may not line up with yours. I just want to go through the features of the jacket, where it needs improvement, and discuss how it has worked for me.
First off I will discuss sizing, since that seems to be one of the most asked questions about outerwear. I am 6'0", 215 lbs. I wear a 44 regular Suit jacket, 35" Sleeves and XL in most clothing. I am not super athletic, I do drink beer, but I'm not fat either. The sizing of my clothing is generally determined by my back/shoulders and not my mid section.
Based on reviews on the website, and their sizing chart, I originally purchased a Large in this jacket. When I received it, I liked the fit in the mid section, the sleeves were the right length but slightly baggy around the forearms, and the shoulders were workable but a touch tight. Because this is an outerlayer, I put my normal cold weather layers under and immediately felt restricted in the shoulders so I decided to exchange for an XL. Forloh's exchange process is very easy and also free. They sent out the new jacket once mine was shipped to them, but before they received it. Excellent. The XL is what I have now and the fit is just OK. I do now have ample room in the shoulders with layers under, but the sleeves are quite baggy, maybe a hair long, and the mid section is very loose. I would not describe this as an athletic cut, definitely more square with the waist measurement close to the chest measurement. The sleeves are not cut well in my opinion. Way too baggy at the wrist with no taper from the elbow. It is better with a puffy under, but would have been more comfortable and less bulky with some taper to the wrist. It does have velcro closures at the wrist but they are not well designed. More on this later. I understand it is hard to have a jacket that works both with and without multiple layers but there is a good middle ground that this jacket missed, at least for me.
This jacket has some nice features but is fairly minimal. It has two zippered hand pockets, backpack height, one external left chest pocket that is angled for some reason, and a left bicep pocket. It does have pit zips and some Suede like elbow pads. All zippers are YKK Aquaguard, thumbs up here. It has a waist cinch, and a cinch either side of the hood, but no rear hood adjustment, more on this later as well. All seems are sealed and taped and the material is of the 3 Layer waterproof breathable type.
Material:
I really like the material this jacket is made from. It is a 100% polyester 3 layer. The outside fabic is soft and smooth. It is quieter than any 3 L rain jacket I have ever seen and most normal soft shells, but not fleece quiet. The membrane has less crinkle than Gore windstopper. I have no qualms using this still hunting deer. I am not into Archery so this may not be quiet enough for that but I'd say its close. The interior is a microfiber type, similar in feel to the outside of a Kuiu peloton 97, but not fleece like at all. It is all bonded together and there is not a secondary lining, just one homogenous material throughout the jacket, except where it is doubled to make the pockets. The material is not super stretchy, but does have some give to it. The seems, being taped, have no stretch. It has enough overall stretch to be comfortable and not come tight when fully articulating my arms. Overall, excellent material.
Pockets:
The hand pockets are definitely high enough to be above pack straps. Slightly awkward in everyday use but doesn't really bother me. There is no lining in the pockets, just the outer material on one side and the inner material on the other. They could be bigger but I can get my whole hand in just fine. There is good coverage over the zippers to prevent water from running in and compromising the zipper. The chest pocket is a little strange. The opening is angled, I'm guessing just for style reasons, but the pocket is open all the way to the center main zip seam. This makes it feel smaller and shallower than it is. It does have a zipper garage at the top to keep water from running in where the zipper ends (never fully sealed at that location). This is a nice detail to prevent a common leak point. The bicep pocket is fine. It doesn't affect the function of the sleeve, but I've always thought bicep pockets were pretty pointless. It is maybe 4"x 3" with the opening only about 3". I have been keeping my hunting license/ duck stamp there just because its there. There are no interior pockets.
Continued next post...
I purchased my Forloh Allclima Softshell, in Exposed Camo, around this time last year and have had a chance to use it quite a bit since then. My hunting is Waterfowl on open water, some flooded timber, and Whitetail stand hunting, so my view of the performance may not line up with yours. I just want to go through the features of the jacket, where it needs improvement, and discuss how it has worked for me.
First off I will discuss sizing, since that seems to be one of the most asked questions about outerwear. I am 6'0", 215 lbs. I wear a 44 regular Suit jacket, 35" Sleeves and XL in most clothing. I am not super athletic, I do drink beer, but I'm not fat either. The sizing of my clothing is generally determined by my back/shoulders and not my mid section.
Based on reviews on the website, and their sizing chart, I originally purchased a Large in this jacket. When I received it, I liked the fit in the mid section, the sleeves were the right length but slightly baggy around the forearms, and the shoulders were workable but a touch tight. Because this is an outerlayer, I put my normal cold weather layers under and immediately felt restricted in the shoulders so I decided to exchange for an XL. Forloh's exchange process is very easy and also free. They sent out the new jacket once mine was shipped to them, but before they received it. Excellent. The XL is what I have now and the fit is just OK. I do now have ample room in the shoulders with layers under, but the sleeves are quite baggy, maybe a hair long, and the mid section is very loose. I would not describe this as an athletic cut, definitely more square with the waist measurement close to the chest measurement. The sleeves are not cut well in my opinion. Way too baggy at the wrist with no taper from the elbow. It is better with a puffy under, but would have been more comfortable and less bulky with some taper to the wrist. It does have velcro closures at the wrist but they are not well designed. More on this later. I understand it is hard to have a jacket that works both with and without multiple layers but there is a good middle ground that this jacket missed, at least for me.
This jacket has some nice features but is fairly minimal. It has two zippered hand pockets, backpack height, one external left chest pocket that is angled for some reason, and a left bicep pocket. It does have pit zips and some Suede like elbow pads. All zippers are YKK Aquaguard, thumbs up here. It has a waist cinch, and a cinch either side of the hood, but no rear hood adjustment, more on this later as well. All seems are sealed and taped and the material is of the 3 Layer waterproof breathable type.
Material:
I really like the material this jacket is made from. It is a 100% polyester 3 layer. The outside fabic is soft and smooth. It is quieter than any 3 L rain jacket I have ever seen and most normal soft shells, but not fleece quiet. The membrane has less crinkle than Gore windstopper. I have no qualms using this still hunting deer. I am not into Archery so this may not be quiet enough for that but I'd say its close. The interior is a microfiber type, similar in feel to the outside of a Kuiu peloton 97, but not fleece like at all. It is all bonded together and there is not a secondary lining, just one homogenous material throughout the jacket, except where it is doubled to make the pockets. The material is not super stretchy, but does have some give to it. The seems, being taped, have no stretch. It has enough overall stretch to be comfortable and not come tight when fully articulating my arms. Overall, excellent material.
Pockets:
The hand pockets are definitely high enough to be above pack straps. Slightly awkward in everyday use but doesn't really bother me. There is no lining in the pockets, just the outer material on one side and the inner material on the other. They could be bigger but I can get my whole hand in just fine. There is good coverage over the zippers to prevent water from running in and compromising the zipper. The chest pocket is a little strange. The opening is angled, I'm guessing just for style reasons, but the pocket is open all the way to the center main zip seam. This makes it feel smaller and shallower than it is. It does have a zipper garage at the top to keep water from running in where the zipper ends (never fully sealed at that location). This is a nice detail to prevent a common leak point. The bicep pocket is fine. It doesn't affect the function of the sleeve, but I've always thought bicep pockets were pretty pointless. It is maybe 4"x 3" with the opening only about 3". I have been keeping my hunting license/ duck stamp there just because its there. There are no interior pockets.
Continued next post...
