Ucsdryder
WKR
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2015
- Messages
- 6,648
I got lucky and won a kifaru wind river jacket in the cold bore challenge. As a way to give back to rokslide, the sponsor, and members that might be considering the jacket, I decided to do a quick review (good idea @sndmn11).
This is a piece of equipment I’d have never considered buying on my own. It’s not cost prohibitive, at 100 dollars, but it just seems a little “nichey”.
Here’s an in depth review by @mtwarden.
rokslide.com
First impressions…
It’s tiny. When the package arrived it felt empty. It folds into its own pocket, and could compress significantly more if the pocket was smaller. It has one front pocket which is annoying, I wish it had 2…for 2 hands!
Waterproof…
I had high hopes for this jacket to be at least water resistant. It is…for about 30 seconds. Then the water starts to seep through. In a pinch it would work better than no raincoat.
Windproof…
Yep, as advertised!
Scouting….
Due to its small size and weight I decided to throw it in my pack as an emergency jacket. I also had my packable down puffy, but I use that if the shit hits the fan. Otherwise it’s too warm.
On this scouting trip the clouds moved in, the wind picked up and the 55 degree temperatures got chilly in a hurry. I decided to give the wind river a try, having only a merino T-shirt on.
I must say I was impressed. It stopped the wind and retained enough body heat to keep me comfortable. Not only does it work as a wind breaker, being an ultra light, ultra packable jacket it fills the voids between light layers and a puffy when extra clothes are scarce.
Final impressions…
Is it worth $100? That’s for someone else to decide. Is it going to be a staple in my pack? Absolutely. While it seemed “nichey” at first, I think it’ll get used a lot more than I previously thought because it will always be with me. It’s hard to use something that gets left in the truck because of size and weight!
And no review is complete without pictures! For all you out of staters that will be convinced there are no elk in Colorado after your September hunts, here’s proof that they do exist.
@robby denning and @Justin Crossley, what do you think about requiring any challenge winner (cold bore, cold bow) to include a short review of the product they win as a way to give back to the sponsor for donating and roksliders who might be interested in the product?
This is a piece of equipment I’d have never considered buying on my own. It’s not cost prohibitive, at 100 dollars, but it just seems a little “nichey”.
Here’s an in depth review by @mtwarden.
Kifaru Wind River jacket review ***Updated 5/21/23***
Gents -the good folks at Rokslide (and Kifaru) have supplied me with a Wind River jacket. This is a wind jacket, what I've always referred to a windshirt. I'm a big proponent of windshirts- for the weight they are far and away the most versatile piece of clothing made imho. What I'm looking...
rokslide.com
First impressions…
It’s tiny. When the package arrived it felt empty. It folds into its own pocket, and could compress significantly more if the pocket was smaller. It has one front pocket which is annoying, I wish it had 2…for 2 hands!
Waterproof…
I had high hopes for this jacket to be at least water resistant. It is…for about 30 seconds. Then the water starts to seep through. In a pinch it would work better than no raincoat.
Windproof…
Yep, as advertised!
Scouting….
Due to its small size and weight I decided to throw it in my pack as an emergency jacket. I also had my packable down puffy, but I use that if the shit hits the fan. Otherwise it’s too warm.
On this scouting trip the clouds moved in, the wind picked up and the 55 degree temperatures got chilly in a hurry. I decided to give the wind river a try, having only a merino T-shirt on.
I must say I was impressed. It stopped the wind and retained enough body heat to keep me comfortable. Not only does it work as a wind breaker, being an ultra light, ultra packable jacket it fills the voids between light layers and a puffy when extra clothes are scarce.
Final impressions…
Is it worth $100? That’s for someone else to decide. Is it going to be a staple in my pack? Absolutely. While it seemed “nichey” at first, I think it’ll get used a lot more than I previously thought because it will always be with me. It’s hard to use something that gets left in the truck because of size and weight!
And no review is complete without pictures! For all you out of staters that will be convinced there are no elk in Colorado after your September hunts, here’s proof that they do exist.
@robby denning and @Justin Crossley, what do you think about requiring any challenge winner (cold bore, cold bow) to include a short review of the product they win as a way to give back to the sponsor for donating and roksliders who might be interested in the product?
