Ken 275

For anybody who is interested in fieldsports…

I’ve just taken receipt of my first Musto outdoor jacket. The “Advantage” camouflage looks fantastic!

After several Barbour waxproofs (which were good enough for their time, but were a bit heavy and noisy, relative to today’s garments) and a recently acquired Ron Thompson job (which is nice and light, but the zipper failed on its second day of use!), this thing looks and feels the mutt’s.

It is well designed, quiet and can be machine washed.

If anyone’s bothered, I’ll let you know how it performs over the Christmas period.

Quiet clothing and a Scoobysport exhaust?

Horses for courses.

K.

hedgehog

I have one of their Highlands jackets and it is a great jacket that has seen hard service over about 5 years now. It is starting to approach the end of its life probably, but certainly recommended.

It is hard to beat some aspects of the old Barbours, specially they way they seemed to grow around you and their big brass zips, but I will probably be looking at another Musto for my cold/bad weather wear. I wish they would fit big brass zips. Any sign of this on your new one?

If you are looking for cammo gear then it is worth taking a look over at Cabelas as they do some great gear. They used to do waterproof cammo trousers that are just the best waterproof trousers i've ever had, they are cut just like a pair of jeans and so are dead comfy. Unfortunately they are no longer made, their ranges seems to stay current only for a few months, but there are lots of great alternatives.

Where I find them great is for lightweight gear that just isn't really available in the UK but is ideal for the sort of mixed days out that you often get. Postage is expensive but with the dollar so weak at present it is probably still a good deal, especially as you just can't get similar stuff here.

http://www.cabelas.com/

Gutmann pug

peter storm is the way forward in this area

IWatkins

http://www.deerhunter.dk/

Got the Montana jacket (but not cammo) and love it. Warm, practical, waterproof and quiet. Perfect.

Used to use Musto stuff all the time when I sailed (many moons ago). Hadn't realised they had moved in country sports type stuff.

Cheers

Ian

ajm

Yeah keep us up up to date on how it fairs. What sort of "exposure" is it going to get?

I've always been a big fan of barber clothing. You are right about it being a bit heavy, and then there is always the post-rain "cardboard" effect but there is no other clothing that allows you to walk through thorn bushes all day without being shredded, and can get covered in blood, mud, feathers and fishguts and can then be cleaned with the garden hose!

Wouldn't mind giving some modern fabrics a go though!

Franx

I've got a Musto as well. It's the HPX Offshore jacket, but if that's anything to go by, I think the shootin' n' fishin' ones'll be spot on

They do make some nice stuff. Costs a sh1tload though - at least it did when I bought mine

hedgehog

I replaced my Barbours with the Musto and some lightweight Cabelas stuff ajm and haven't ever had any serious problems. I would say that the Musto is perhaps a little more prone to damage on barbed wire but it appears fairly thorn proof. However, mine mostly lives on open moorland and so it isn't an expert on thorns.

To be honest I don't get much of a weight saving as I still fill the pockets with junk and so the coat still weighs 12 pounds no matter who makes it :-)

I looked at some of the lightweight "plastic" coats from Barbour some time back and wasn't impressed but they do a very many more these days and seem to have an extensive range so perhaps I will go back and revist their range. However, after about 5 years with Musto I can recommend their Highlands jacket if you need a heavy coat. The one big minus is that it has a plastic zip, or at least mine does.

What I will say is that there is a lot of talk about "breathable" fabrics that doesn't really apply so much in the real world. There is no doubt that the Musto is somewhat better than the Barbour waxed cotton in this area but if you tramp across a bog for 8 hours you are still going to be wet inside no matter what you wear.

Ken 275

Resurrection time.

The jacket is well sound and at £150 is great value for money.

The "Plain" one comes in at about £300!

I'm going to sound like an advert now but I've spent some time in this thing now as my only protection from the elements.

It's brilliant.

Zipp-able "Poachers' Pockets" too

Just don't forget the inner layers to insulate.