Ok, I am trying to decide what i should carry for the approaching bad weather and i wanted to ask for the thoughts of all of you wonderful people. I am debating carrying a 3-in-1 jacket (fleece liner in a rain shell outside) instead of a rain shell and then one or two sweaters to layer. Has anyone here ever used such a jacket? In specific, I am looking at the L.L. Bean Stormchaser...

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=42674&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&from=SR&feat=sr

Or, going with two sweaters and a Marmot Precip rain shell.

I know OBOW gave the Precip a great review, but the Bean jacket is only a little more then the Precip by itself.

I would very appreciate hearing everyone's thoughts....thanks!
Skip

Skip - I wouldn't pay full price for a Precip - got mine off eBay from a store that was blowing out salesan's samples.

The best thing about the Precip is that it's incrediblly light and takes up no packing space. I used it in London in the winter with a wool shirt underneath. I don't do fleece

Just got back from a week and a half in Orlando, with home being in Buffalo, NY....snow flurries at both ends in Buffalo, temps between 35-75 in Orlando (they had a couple of cold days), along with one day of total downpour at Disney.

Took a fleece jacket and my Precip and had no problems...the fleece jacket gave better temp options than a pullover, since I could zip or unzip as needed. Precip is great for rain (obviously), but doubles as a windbreaker, with the same zip open/closed options.

Wool vs. fleece is obviously a personal choice, but in either case I'd suggest something that opens down the front as a more flexible outerwear choice than a pullover.

Skip, I'd give Bean a call and get the precise length measurements for the jacket before deciding. There's a comment about it being too short for someone male - if that jacket's too short for your torso you'll curse it endlessly. I was blessed with a very long torso, and I have tried on many, many jackets until I found ones which were long enough. There's not much worse than a jacket which exposes your pockets (and perhaps, a money belt). Or your back, when you bend over in the rain to toss a bag into your rental car.

As far as the wool/fleece debate, wool may keep you warmer in the rain, but it takes forever to dry in cold damp air, can smell if not dried properly, doesn't take well to commercial laundromats, and in many cases must be dried flat. Although I'm an inveterate knitter and can make myself any wool sweater I'd like, I travel with fleece. With a silk liner (or two) underneath, I'm warm, dry, and can depend on my wash drying overnight in any hotel/hostel/campground I may be in! Silk liners and fleece both dry in a flash. Wool does NOT.

Also, softer wools (like 100% Merino) do not wear as well. If you go with tougher wools you might not like the 'feel' of the wool. The sturdiest do itch. You might want an undershirt to spare your skin; factor in the cost and the weight before deciding on wool over the fleece. I haven't heard of anyone with a fleece allergy yet. Don't like the fleece fabric content, as in man-made fiber? You could go with Patagonia's recycled fleece and keep plastic bottles out of the landfill while you keep warm. It's green, even if it's not a 'natural' fiber.

Microfleece is very thin and light, but gives good warmth. Get it from a good outdoor retailer, and not from a discount marketer (no Wally World fleece). I second the full-zip recommendation; half-zips are annoying and hard to remove in close quarters. If you're really not into fleece, two thinner wool sweaters which can be layered are better than one thick one. With a silk (or a technical fiber) undershirt, they can be very comfortable.

I've always bought separate jackets and liners for one reason: most jacket/liner sets are made to go together with only that one other piece. If you wear one or the other alone most of the time, only one will wear out, but the other piece is often useless without it. When you call Bean ask specific questions about the liner and the jacket. Are they zipped together? The zipper can be a real annoyance in the jacket if you wear the lining out and replacement ones are no longer sold by the maker. It can trash other clothes worn under it. Ask if the jacket's liner zipper is covered. Also ask if the liner's own zippers are covered. Nothing's worse than losing the outer jacket and being down to the fleece, which looks dorky because there's a zip around it where the rain shell attaches. Ask if replacement liners or shells are available if they're a zip-together style. If not, think twice before buying such a system.

If you do go with the Bean, make very sure the liner doesn't have a zip where it will annoy you. Some zip-in liners have teeth around the neck area, where it will rub you raw if it's combined with many carry-on bags' shoulder straps if it's not zipped into its outer shell. I speak from experience here. I still have the scar on the right of my neck, from such an encounter two years ago. That jacket went to the landfill; I didn't have the heart to donate it to charity and torture someone else with it.

I've traveled both ways - with a 3-in-1 jacket and a fleece/shell combination. I've found the fleece/shell combo to be just as warm while packing much smaller and lighter. This was the main reason I abandoned the heavier (though beefier) combo. The key is to have some sort of liner/longjohn to wear underneath - I prefer a t-zip base layer that I can wear as a shirt too. I agree that full zip on a jacket is the way to go for greatest versatility.

For more formal travel I'll go with a cashmere sweater and a black shell jacket. That also works very well when combined with a base layer. I just got back from Michigan where I was stringing up Christmas lights in the snow (along with shoveling my Dad's drive). I had on a poly camisole, a knit tank, a silk liner, a long sleeved shirt topped by the sweater and the shell. I added a light scarf (one of those light cheap fuzzy things so popular now). This was plenty warm even with the very wet snow. If it were to warm up I would have had loads of options with all those layers.

I think the big question is how much time do you plan to spend outdoors? If you are going to be outside most of the time (wearing the jacket) then the 3-in-1 might be the way to go. Otherwise they are too bulky and heavy.

The absolute best light jacket I have ever used, whether traveling or up on the high peaks or on a sailboat is the Marmot Dri-Clime.

I've got two of them, one for the peaks and one strictly for traveling and what goes along with that.

The design has been changed a couple of times over the years but for my dollar and comfort, this Dri-Clime cannot be beat!

Packs very well, lightweight, oblivious to wrinkles, comfortable in both warm and cool temps.

http://marmot.com/spring_2008/mens/outerwear/wind/original_driclime_windshirt

I used to live in Michigan, and if I still lived there I would go with the lined jacket. But since now I only travel there, and I happen to have a precip, that is the way to go for me. The things I layer with I own anyway, and I like to wear them. The precip keeps out all but the ugliest weather and packs up small.

Can anyone recommend a shell parka that is long enough to completely cover the bottom of a sport coat? I wear a 42 long sport coat and an XL sized parka and everything I've looked at shows at least a flash of the sport coat underneath.

Thanks!

Sounds like you're out of the realm of "standard" parkas and into a trenchcoat or commuter coat, such as:

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=56530&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&from=SR&feat=sr

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=56549&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&feat=56530-ppxs&dds=y

Thanks Scott. It looks like both of these are insulated. I had looked at the uninsulated version of the stowaway parka but really want something shorter - cut more like a standard shell parka but about an inch or so longer. This one looks like it might be long enough but I was hoping to get some suggestions before ordering something blind

http://www.travelsmith.com/jump.jsp?itemID=9486&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C251%2C315&iProductID=9486&sortBy=0

Frank

Here's a trench on sale at an incredible price...

http://www.magellans.com/store/Sale___End_of_Year_SaleRG207?Args=

I have an LL Bean Goretex jacket which is great for rainy days (and warm with a separate fleece jacket underneath) but I found even better jackets at www.landsend.com - they sell tall sizes.
I purchased a 3-in-1 Landsend jacket, waterproof shell with fleece jacket zip in, perfect for December's trip up north in England (it had snowed the week before) and Spain's mountain regions.
I bought this one in a man's tall size, firstly women's sleeve lengths never fit my long arms and the length of the jacket body was perfect coverage over my clothing and kept my body and upper legs dry during downpours. Fold away hood (I hate using umbrellas on trips), nice deep zippered pockets and perfect without the fleece when in and out of warm city buildings.
It has the added bonus of folding up into its hood and packs nice and small when not in use.

Btw, Thermacheck or Polartec fleece is used by mountain climbers and Arctic visitors, if it gets wet, it wrings out and dries very quickly, a lifesaver for them, perfect for travellers like us.

A Precip and a fleece vest are all I ever pack. Both are easy to pack and both kept me warm on the little Matterhorn.

I've used a heavy Barbour coat for many years but have replaced it with a Eddie Bauer WeatherEdge raincoat. It is substantial, has more zippers than a w---e's dress, pockets for everything, and is long enough to reach mid-thigh. It comes with a detachable hood, a feature that I like. We spend a lot of time outdorrs in Scotland and Europe, and this coat works just fine. I can't use it for a blanket as I did with the old Barbour, but then you can't have everything.

"I've used a heavy Barbour coat for many years but have replaced it with a Eddie Bauer WeatherEdge raincoat."

How can people talk about such when it's MID-SUMMER!? But, if anyone is interested in the WeatherEdge, for the moment all they have available is a "Port Townsend" unlined jacket, hip-length, clearly not to mid-thigh, but on sale at the moment, good buy at $80 to $90 Regular and Tall. This is the niche for which I bought the Rohan Hilltop Jacket, alas much more expensive, reaches to distal thigh, not quite the knee.

Mid-summer, oh wait, maybe someone is about to leave for New Zealand, where it is winter. Just keep in mind that the Kiwis have a company that makes Barbour under license, usefully less expensive than the UK versios, so you're headed for Auckland, you might want to wait to buy such a jacket.

I bought an A220 Westmorland Barbour waistcoat from the lecensed company in NZ. The Barbour company in England had discontinued it. I ordered it online and it was at my house FIVE days later!
And, as you say, Alan, it was less expenive than it would have been in GB or US.

We just returned from a car trip from here, across Montana, through Wyoming and into central South Dakota. This was not a one-bagger by any stretch of the imagination. The plug-in cooler went along with two bags each, the wine box, water, paper towls, etc. We visited the Little Big Horn Battlefield for the fourth time. The other singular happening was driving through an infestation of grasshoppers. The front of the car looked like grasshopper pizza.

For a number of years I considered getting the Barbour Border Jacket, but, having acquired the Rohan Hilltop Jacket, I am hard-pressed to see when I might want the former instead of the latter, especially for travel. The benefit of the Border is that it's the longest of the Barbour jackets; the Hilltop is if anything a bit longer.

If anyone is so smitten by Barbour clothing there is a store in Edinburgh that has everything Barbour sells. Dickson & MacNaughton: http://www.john-dickson.com/locations/edinburgh:aspx will get you there. The shorter search will be Google: John Dickson & Son.

This is an old Scottish gunmaker that has been sold and purchased by a US company. The shop used to have all the accoutrements of Scottish outdoor life, and everything was of exceptionally fine quality. Now the only vestige of its former life is the gun room which is impressive. All the rest of the store is given over to Barbour clothing. If you visit you may see someone put on a Barbour coat and go into the gun room to mount a shotgun, just to see how everything fits.

So, if you are so smitten, and have the need to surround yourself with Barbour clothing this is just the place to go.

Jcrew.com -- has some Barbour jackets .

I got my fleece and shell combo from a local retailer that mostly supplies branded gear to roadworking crews, tradies, sports clubs etc. It is moderate in weight, incredibly hard-wearing, comfortable and nicely finished. The shell will fit in one of the fleece's pockets.It's warm, waterproof, dries in a flash and long enough to come down over my bum. Best of all - the two pieces cost only $80 - and came in great colours. I got cobalt blue, and for the past four years have been waiting for it to get a bit tatty, so I can justify buying another colour...