Review by Arnie P
ready for New England winter weather
I received the Sandstone Peak Parka from Hi-Tec for review purposes. This is not my grandfather’s fur lined parka which probably would have been made from caribou or seal for protection from wind and freezing temperatures. Here we are over a hundred years later with a parka that is a lot lighter, and a lot more versatile as you will read from my review. To read more.
I have the large size in Malta/Black colors. Other colors available are Roma/Charcoal, and Petrol/Charcoal. The Sandstone is comprised of three parts: a detachable hood, a detachable long sleeve down vest, and an outer shell. I will discuss the common parts which I find interesting and important to me. The zippers on all three parts have large teeth. I love the idea of large teeth on zippers because they have less tendency to get caught in the material and if they do get caught they are easier to untangle and tend to cause less damage. They also are less likely to break. The down side is they do have spaces which let in air. This has been compensated for with a flap that is attached with a hook and loop system. Hook and loop is used to adjust the cuffs on the sleeves of both the shell and the down jacket and also is used to attach the sides of the hood. A cinch system is used to adjust the tension at the bottom of the jackets and the perimeter of the hood. The cinch system consists of a press down device that allows an elastic cord to be adjusted to the right tension.
The detachable hood
The hood is constructed of a double layer of material and is attached to the shell with a zipper across the back of the neck with a hook and loop “sandwich” at each end of the zipper. The attaching material is about an inch and a half making for a secure connection. The teeth on the hood zipper are a lot smaller but this zipper will probably have a lot less use. There appears to be a generous amount of overlap of the hood over the outer shell to minimize penetration by winds. The hood, combined with sunglasses, leaves only a small amount of my face unprotected from the elements. The two cinches on the hood are very easy to adjust.
inside view of detachable hood
The stand-alone long sleeve down jacket
The down jacket is Charcoal and very attractive. It is attached to the main shell with a zipper on each side and three loops on the down jacket. There is a loop at the end of each sleeve and one at the neck. The shell has a fabric loop with snaps to secure the loops to the outer shell. The ends of the sleeves have a hook and loop system to secure the ends of the sleeve to my wrists. The same one-way zipper that attaches the down jacket to the shell also serves to close the jacket when it is used as a stand-alone. The down jacket has 4 pockets — 2 inner and 2 outer, located near the waist and near the front center of the jacket. The side opening outer pockets are large enough for my hands and a light weight glove or mitten and have flap concealed zippers with the tab at the top when closed. With this arrangement I have less trouble with items falling out. The teeth on these zippers are small, but again pockets don’t get as much use as the main zipper. The inner pockets are open at the top and are rectangular in shape and larger than the outside pockets. (see specifications for details). There are 2 cinches at the bottom of the jacket.. When I had the jacket on, I had trouble getting both hands to the location of the cinches. I could, with some difficulty, adjust the cinches single handed, but not easily. Maybe if I was younger this would be a lot easier. I would have preferred the cinches placed closer to the main zipper where I could make easier use of both hands. I can see this down jacket, along with a hat, used on cold days that are not windy, raining or snowing.
inside pocket of down jacket
hang loop for down jacket
loop to attach down sleeve to shell
The stand-alone Sandstone Peak parka
The Sandstone shell has 5 side opening zippered pockets, 4 on the outside and on the inside one at chest level on the left side near the zipper. This pocket has a port for ear buds for an electronic device. There is also a loop to hold the wires in place for the ear phone bud. Two of the outside pockets are located near the waist and the other two are at chest level. The zippers are vertical and closed in the up position. The outside zippers are covered by a flap. The upper outside pockets have a rubberized substance over the flaps. The pockets are all about the size of my hand and I could wear a thin glove or liner glove and still have room. The inside of the Sandstone is lined with a mesh fabric which provides a way to ventilate the parka. The Sandstone has cinches located at the bottom jacket about where my hips are located. I find them difficult to adjust with one hand and just as difficult using both hands. The main zipper has snaps at the top and bottom of the zipper. The flap which covers the main zipper has 4 evenly spaced narrow strips of hook and loop material to secure it to the parka and cover the zipper.
outside zippered pocket
cuff adjustmen
loop to attach down jacket sleeve
typical cinch
zipper for outer shell and zipper to attach down jacket
hang loop and loop for attaching down jacket
shell mesh liner
inside zippered shell pocket
Specifications
The following is from the hang tags on items not already covered
Features
Dri-Tec that is waterproof, breathable, and fully seamed sealed
Fabric
Shell: two-layer 75D X 150D Polyester ripstop
Insulation: Removable down jacket insert with 550 fill power
Waterproof: 10,000 MM
Breathable: 10,000 G/M
Measurements
These are measurements that I took that I thought might be interesting.
Parka weight: 1 lb 9.3 oz
Down jacket: 1 lb 0.3 oz
The pockets measurements are based on inserting my hand in the pocket and measuring the outline
Parks pockets
Lower outside waist pockets: 5 in w x 6 in l
Upper outside pockets: 3 in w x 5 in l
Upper inside pocket: 3 in w x 6.5 in l
Down jacket
Lower waist pockets: 7 in x 8.5 in
Inside waist pockets: 6.5 in x 8 in
Overall impression
I find the Sandstone Peak Parka has a lot of possibilities. You really have three ways to wear this parka, the removable down jacket insert, the shell and the combination of both. Using the hood with the shell or not gives other possibilities. I am looking forward to trying out all possibilities in the upcoming weeks. I have tried the Sandstone and the fit is very good, especially when I wear my favorite first layer of silk. I really like the lightness, versatility, a loop for hanging, and a well designed product. The only downside is some difficulty adjusting the cinches at the bottom of either jacket. Please check back in about a month when I will have more to say about Sandstone Peak parka.
Update
1-30-2012
I has been an exciting month, mainly because of the variety of weather I experienced wearing the Sandstone parka. We had a low of near 0 F to a high of over 50 F for temperature. To accompany this there was snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain, and winds up to 25 mph.
OOPS
In my last report there were a few items I should have mentioned. One was that I was using the Sandstone with the hood. I like hoods but sometimes I get frustrated in that the hood does interfere with my vision. The Sandstone’s hood was coming down too far on my forehead. When I put my hand on the hood to adjust it, I felt the hook and loop strap to adjust the hood. I made an adjustment and this improved things a lot. This adjustment does a lot to maximize visibility. Another item was that when I first looked over the down jacket, I did notice a loose thread on each side of the jacket. I was going to wait till I wore the vest a few times before commenting The threads were about 2 inches long and probably were part of the manufacturing process. I did cut off each thread and will check occasionally for other anomalies. My experience with down products is that the down quills always manage to escape from their place of captivity. That issue will be taken up in my last look at the Sandstone parka.
The adjustable cuff
What I like about the cuff is I am able to easily cinch down the cuff with one hand and then I can easily fit a glove/mitten over the cuff. A lot of parkas are bulky where the sleeves end and gloves cannot go over the outside but, because the glove’s bulkiness, they can’t be squeezed under the sleeve. I was easily able to fit my gloves over the end of the Sandstone parka. I will note that the loop on the right sleeve of the down jacket which attaches to the parka did break loose. I would have thought this would have happened on my left sleeve where I wear my watch. When removing my jacket there tends to be more force required sometimes to get that sleeve off. It does not look like there are many threads attaching the loop to the jacket. It is impossible to tell for sure since it is attached by a hidden seam.
Weather conditions in this report
Temperatures were down to almost 0 F, and winds up to over 20 mph. I was out in sunny, rainy, and various types of snowy weather. I will now go into the various ways I used the Sandstone parka.
The down jacket as a standalone
I used a silk long sleeve undershirt as my first layer then the down jacket. I was hiking in 18 F with winds slightly over 20 mph. I felt a little coolness in a few spots, but nothing that really made me uncomfortable. I would say this speaks well of the down jacket being windproof. I did feel some wind at the bottom of the jacket. The cooling was not spread equally along the bottom of the jacket, so I did not try cinching the jacket. On some of my hikes, I stopped by my daughter’s house and stayed in her kitchen which has a modern type wood stove. I kept my jacket on to see what would happen. It took about 15 minutes before I could feel myself getting warmer than I wanted to be. I did not visit to warm up. Essentially the jacket did a good job keeping the heat out at least for a short time. I have tried the jacket with a cotton t-shirt and this was not as warm as the silk undershirt as a first layer. In colder weather I could add a second layer of thin wool to the silk first layer. I do not plan to wear the down jacket alone in rain, snow, or in places where the outside of the jacket would wet or get abused.
Pockets and zippers of the down jacket
The outside pockets of the down jacket are large and can be easily used to warm my hands, something I do more frequently these days. The inside pockets are not easily accessible with the jacket zippered. If the main zipper were a two-way zipper it might be easier to access the inside pockets. I know they were meant to be used when the jacket is inserted into the parka, and the outside pockets of the insert are not accessible. All the zippers are working very well.
Parka and hood
I have tried a number of combinations, some have worked better than others. These combinations are cotton or silk as the only layer under the jacket, or with a thin wool sweater as a second layer. The use of cotton for my first layer is the least favorable for me. I think trying a vest would be interesting especially for activities where my arms are in motion a lot like cross country skiing. The hood provides excellent protection from the wind. It feels very cold when there is a wind coming off the frozen lake especially without a hood. The air is laden with moisture and the coldness seems to go to the bone. The parka keeps a lot of this cold away. The only place I felt cold was my nose, cheeks and parts of my face not covered by sunglasses or the hood. Now that I have more practice adjusting the hood, I am having less problems with the hood interfering with my vision. There is some obstruction but only minor. I have been in rain and strong winds and feel very well protected from both. In light rain the water forms very small beads and in heavier rain the beads turn into larger accumulations of water, which fall off when they become too large. I have not seen any evidence of water soaking into the material.
Pockets and zippers of the parka
The three outside pockets are easily accessible but are on the small side. I found it difficult to warm my hands with the pockets of the parka. These pockets are large enough to carry a cell phone, p&s digital camera, or a GPS device. Other items could be a knife, compass, or a snack. I would like to see a zippered chest pocket on the right side to match the one on the left side. Although I am ambidextrous, I do use my left hand more than my right. There are many times when I carry a camera and a cell phone and chest pockets are in the best location for convenience and keep the devices warmer. All the zippers functioned flawlessly.
Putting parks and jacket together
In this combination my preference is to wear a first layer of silk, but could wear a layer of cotton when silk is not available. If I were in really cold sub 0 F conditions with high winds, up to 40 mph, I would have a second thin layer of wool. The limitation on layers is having enough space between layers to allow for adequate air flow and easy movement of arms. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not have any restriction in the movement of my arms. It may because I don’t have large arms. I have short arms so the sleeves are a little long for me. I was out in near 0 F weather with winds slightly over 20 mph and was very comfortable. I felt a little coolness in a few places but this was not a concern for me. I have more concern for getting overheated which did not happen.
Summary
I usually like to summarize with the things I like and those that could be improved. It was not easy for me to arrive at a first choice but I decided on versatility. I think using the shell and having the down jacket in my pack compactly stored and being able to retrieve it quickly if needed is awesome. Windproof and waterproof would be second. Lastly would be the comfort I experienced wearing the Sandstone parka. On the improvement side, a stronger way to attach the loop on the down sleeve. The addition of a right chest pocket on the parka, and lastly slightly larger pockets on the parka if possible.
The combination of shell with hood and a down jacket make for a triple combination that is difficult to beat. I will be wearing the Sandstone parka daily and I should have more to say in about a month. Please check back then for a last update.
Last update
2-29-2012
I have been using the Hi-Tec Sandstone parka almost everyday. I have hiked in a local forest and also further from home on three other hikes that have lasted up to 5.5 hours. Temperatures have ranged from freezing to about 50 F, with winds gusting to 50 mph.
Boxford State Forest
On my longest hike of the period, I joined 10 other hikers for a 5.5 hour hike that covered 6-7 miles. We had a late start because we waited for an unknown number of hikers to arrive. The day was sunny with a temperature of about freezing, and a slight wind that increased as the day progressed. I decided to wear the parka with the down insert and not attach the down insert with either the hooks or the zippers. This was because my first layer was a thin silk long sleeve undershirt and I did not want to stand in the cold while I detached the parka from the down jacket. This was a good choice because, after about an hour, I started to overheat and had to remove the parka. I stayed warm in the down jacket even when we waited about 10 minutes for the slower hikers to catch up. Hiking with a group this size tends to be a more leisurely hike because there are frequent stops for everyone to catch up. Looking for lost hikers is never fun. I usually hike in this forest about once a year and like the location very much. We stopped for lunch at the site of a very old cemetery. A waist high stone wall surrounding the cemetery provided some shelter from the wind which was getting stronger. I sat on the ground and noticed I was protected from the wind and the black color of the jacket help keep the me warm.
Middlesex Fells via the Sheepfold parking lot
This was a 2.5 hour hike with temperatures about 40 F, sunny and a slight wind. For this hike I wore a heavy wool sweater with the Sandstone parks as my outer layer. I had my camera in my left chest pocket and my cell phone in my right chest pocket. Both these pockets are easy to store items in. When I felt too warm, I opened the front of the parka. This provided all the cooling I needed. Near the end of the hike it started to rain and I pulled up the hood which I have left attached to the parka.
Middlesex Fells with Sandstone Parka slightly open
Middlesex Fells near large oak tree
Middlesex Fells via Falon Road or Marjam
Originally this trail-head was referred to as Falon because it was on Falon Road, but when a company called Marjam located near the trail entrance, hikers starting using the company name for this location. This was a sunny day, temperature about 40 F, but winds gusting to 50 mph. I had checked the weather before leaving for this hike. The parking is in the open and the wind was pushing me around easily. I again wore a heavy wool sweater and the Sandstone parka. I did not feel any wind at all. I did use the hood and my wool cap for this hike. Other than the pressure of the wind on me I did not detect any wind leaks.
A rocky hill in Middlesex Fells
Suburban use
I attended an all day technical seminar and placed the jacket on my chair during the seminar. This works well since I can use the jacket to store some items like my cell phone, the keys to my car, or a small container of business cards. I did find that my sweater did catch on the hook and loop near the main zipper for the parka. I was not expecting this but when it did happen I quickly identified the cause.
Shedding
Shedding is when some of the feathers find a way out of the down jacket. I have experienced this with down sleeping bags and down pillows. The down jacket seems to be shedding a little more than I have experienced with sleeping bags. Sometimes, if I notice it when the feather is just starting to come out, I can pull the feather back into the jacket, but for the most part the feather just comes out.
A last summary
I am really amazed at the versatility of this jacket. I am pleased that I have been well protected from winds gusting to 50 mph, temperatures down to almost 0 F, and rain. When I zip the parka, the flap with the hook and loop closures seems to seal automatically. Because the attaching patches are not continuous, it is easy to open this flap when I want to open the zipper of the jacket. The hook and loop material tends to pick up small pieces of debris, but this is to be expected. Other than the small problem with the broken loop on the down jacket and the slight amount of shedding, I have had no problems. I expect to find the jacket useful for most of the year. I wish to thank Hi-Tec and 4alloutdoors.org for the opportunity to test this parka.
