Not to pimp this piece too much but I do like it and hadn’t paid it much attention because I don’t own anything in the Sitka whitetail line.
The bean outdoors video on this is great.
This is one of those products where I think the sitka website doesn’t quite do it justice.
- hoody fleece
- deep zip for venting with offset opening at top.
- Grid mapped fleece is heavier in the front back and shoulders and lighter on the - flanks and down the inside of the arms.
- kangaroo pocket doubles the fleece on the front abdomen.
- Built in face mask of light material
- the cuffs are interesting. They have thumb holes but also built in mitten type covers too.
- In terms of weight and feel it is thicker than a core heavy weight hoody, maybe a bit more than a traverse zip t, same as a Patagonia r1 or a first lite halstead. Not as thick as a traverse hoody.
- warmth is still tbd but I expect this to be in line with a halstead or R1 and function as mostly a midlayer.
Pics below highlight some of these features. After a few exercise sessions, I like this piece a lot. The mittens are a nice add. I like the kangaroo pocket but feel like it is going to be underneath a hip belt or an outer layer more often than not so not clear how much it will be used while hunting. As a casual garment it is a welcome touch.
As I mentioned above, I Ike the black but would buy another In subalpine if they could do the grid fleece. I would probably settle for something in dirt too.
