Parkaphobia
When I was a kid, all the cool older guys had brown camo Columbia parkas. 25 years ago, there weren't many other options, and the price tag kept most of us young fellas in cheaper less effective outerwear. I remember how proud I was to bring home my first Omni parka when I was 21 years old. Finally, I was ready to take on the elements and dress like a real waterfowler.
Plenty has changed since then. Especially with the explosion of high tech-high dollar performance fabrics designed to make the roughest days more tolerable. It's a cheap shot really, in much the same was those Extend-a-man-products are. Bordering irresistible, who doesn't want to wear a force field to the elements, particularly the hardcore duck hunter that seeks out the harshest weather conditions?
The market is flooded with the "next greatest" waterproof parkas, to the point that even a textile engineer would struggle to choose likely the only such jacket in his closet. Price doesn't help with that decision either, since even the cheapest spray laminated fabrics are often $150 or more. So how do you know if you're getting what you paid for?
That's a great question. You don't. The top outfitters offer dozens of options all claiming warmth and protection from the worst that mother nature can throw at you. You don't have to dig very deep to find scores of customer complaints ranging from insulation to actual waterproofing. It could drive a needy hunter on a budget insane if you let it.
That first Columbia parka served me well for 8 years of tough hunting. Misuse and abuse caused it to leak about four years in, but even crippled it was far superior to anything on the market at the time. When it came time to upgrade, I sent it back and a new one showed up in the mail a few weeks later. Now that was something worth investing in.
The new parka has been in service for six years now, and again I'm standing at an uncomfortable crossroads. You start to get hypnotized by all the newer, sexier choices out there. I know full well that my Columbias have proven themselves in some incredible conditions. They haven't been bulletproof, but they've never left me upset with their performance when it mattered most.
The bulk of the liner has always been an issue for me, even causing me to go without it most times in favor of better flexibility and comfort. I have always felt the waterproof fabric could be a little better, or maybe the design and how it manages draining hard rain water off. I'm well aware that in the hardest rains, there's not much you can do to stay completely dry, but every little bit helps when a long day in the field starts in a driving rain.
Drake seems to have drawn the lion's share of the market these days, or at least they dominate displays in stores that I frequent. Admittedly their products present themselves as good candidates to be your only parka. I try them on about ten thousand times a year, but the siren's call of something better wails in my ears.
I don't hate the Drake products at all, but sexier (and more expensive) options like Sitka and Rivers West intrigue me. I came dangerously close to a Rivers West purchase last year. I pulled back on the stick as I heard mixed grumblings about the short comings of the innovative H2P fabric and the overall waterproofness of the jackets. I'm not 100% satisfied with the Columbia to be sure, but I'd be pretty upset with a $250 downgrade in performance and satisfaction. I keep fluttering back to Rivers West, though. I do these random internet drivebys. I stare at the simple descriptions as though the ghost of Filson's past will divine the true path to duck blind happiness on me. It doesn't happen though, and to make it worse, a new Rivers West catalog showed up in the mail. Their wording and marketing-speak works. I'll give them that much. Even their guarantee seems to draw you in closer, almost against your will.
At the end of the day, we all get excited about new products and gear to make our adventures more enjoyable. All I really want is something that does what it's supposed to when it matters the most. You'd think that wasn't so much to ask, but in a "made-in-china new product every :20 seconds" market, economy-spooked customers are more wary and savvy than ever before.
