We'll have a full, proper, first look at the new Paramo Pasco Nikwax Analogy men's jacket early in the New Year - gawd knows it's the season for waterproof jackets - but here are some very early, digitally scrawled first impressions of the new Paramo waterproof along with some slightly wet images...
It's designed, by the way, as a hiking and all-round outdoors
Black White Varsity Baseball Jackets For Men , a slicker, shorter alternative to the more traditional Alta with fewer pockets and jazzier aesthetics.
Lighter...
First it weighs just 650 grammes - that's 'just' in Paramo terms, beat in mind that tradition full-weight Paramo jackets have usually been a fair bit weightier, the Alta 2, for example, is around 200 grammes. Why is it lighter? It's cut shorter with a drop-tail and has only one external pocket.
Second, it has colour contrast zips. Okay, everyone else had those years ago, but this is a bit of a revolution in Paramo terms, even if it's taken a while to arrive. They're red against blue and they do look a bit more contemporary.
Shorter Cut
But what about the cut? Well, as we said it's short, a little too short if you like a traditional, medium-cut hill-walking jacket, though that will make it useable for maybe running and cycling in cold conditions if you choose. What it isn't, and this is a bit of a disappointment after the new, fitted, women's styles like the Andina and Mirada, is sleeker.
For us, it's a bit boxy with no taper to the waist and just too much volume all round. In an ideal world, we would have made it a couple of inches longer and a bit sleeker.
What else? The hood with wired peak, seems good at first try and there are huge venting zips under the arms which also allow you to access internal hand-warming pockets in the lining. We're not sure about those, they save weight and complication but mean that you'll have to at least partly open the vents in the sort of cold conditions where you might want to warm your hands, which seems a bit Catch 22.
There's also a sort of mesh/gridded Pump Liner reinforcement under the shoulders and in the middle of the back, Paramo says it 'gives extra protection when load carrying or in heavy rain'. Interesting...
Slightly Frustrating...
We really like Paramo's Analogy fabrics for their breathability and longevity, but the over-sized cut on the standard weight versions still doesn't work for us. Maybe that means we're just not 'Paramo-shaped' and need to eat more, but we can't help thinking that for all the good points about the Pasco - the weight, simplicity and fresher look - it's crying out for a sleeker cut like the women's equivalents we've just looked at.
We honestly, really wanted this to be the
varsity jackets sale that combined Paramo's excellent fabric performance with a new, sleeker cut, but first impressions are that while it's got some good points, in some areas - for us at least - it looks like it may fall frustratingly, slightly short.
