In the last article,
Life-saving mandatory equipment storm suit Do you really understand? (Part I)
We mainly introduced the function, fabric, production process and process of storm jackets, and knew how a high-quality storm jacket is made. I believe that after reading the article, even an outdoor white can turn into a half-storm suit expert. Today I will continue the topic of the previous issue to share with you more practical knowledge about the classification, purchase and maintenance of storm jackets.
01
How are storm suits classified?
Let’s start with a little interesting fact about storm suits. A person who claimed to be a senior donkey friend went to buy a storm jacket online, and as soon as she received the goods, she went to customer service to complain: I bought a three-in-one storm jacket, why did I receive only two storm jackets? After listening to it, the customer service had an unloveable expression.
According to the function and the environment of use, the storm jacket is divided into three types: three-in-one storm suit, hard shell storm jacket, and soft shell storm suit.
Three-in-one storm jacket, also known as two-piece storm jacket, it is composed of a jacket that can be taken off and a warm inner tank, because there are three ways to wear a single jacket, a single inner tank, and two pieces wearing together, so it is called “three-in-one”. It can be seen that the three-in-one is not three pieces, but refers to three ways of wearing, so the person mentioned in the anecdote who is known as a senior donkey friend is not senior.
Hardshell, English name Hardshell, it refers to the clothing material is multi-layer composite material, with super windproof, waterproof and breathable performance of the storm jacket. Suitable for outdoor adventures, heavy hiking, but less worn in life due to poor comfort.
Softshell storm jacket, English name Softshell, it is between fleece jacket and storm jacket clothing, waterproof worse than hard shell, can only prevent light rain, but the advantage is convenient activities, suitable for urban life and work.
In addition to the above classification, if divided according to weight and function, storm jackets can be divided into ultra-light functional outerwear, middleweight functional outerwear, and expeditionary adventure function coats, it can be said that there are still many categories of storm jackets. When shopping in the mall, when faced with different functions and many styles of storm jackets, how do we choose a genuine and cost-effective storm jacket?
02
How to choose a high-cost storm jacket?
Look at flowers in the fog to identify authenticity
The first trick, the first thing we need to know is that although the storm jacket can be translated into a jacket, but the jacket is definitely not the same as the storm jacket, after reading this article, if someone uses the rhetoric that the jacket is a storm jacket to fool you, you can directly go to the consumer association to complain about him.
The second trick: when buying a storm jacket, we must pay attention to the product tag and product description, “Water resistence” is waterproof, “Waterproof” is waterproof, we buy a waterproof storm jacket, not just clothing with water-repellent function.
The third trick: In addition to the above identification methods, the overall appearance, fabric, and details of the storm jacket are also easier to identify authenticity. When touched, the GORE-TEX fabric feels different from the ordinary clothing fabric, and can be distinguished by the touch; Second, big brands of storm jackets have their own complete VI design system, if you carefully look at the LOGO, collar, zipper, thread routing these details, it will be easy to find that compared with the original, the imitation trademark three-dimensional sense is not strong, and there will be wrinkles, jumpers and other problems when routing.
If you want to buy a storm jacket but don’t want to spend too much energy, then choosing a big brand or choosing equipment with authoritative recommendations is a time-saving and safe way.
In the near future, the China Adventure Association will invite outdoor sports enthusiasts, professional outdoor personnel and well-known explorers (cow people) to evaluate China’s top ten outdoor equipment brands, select brand outdoor equipment with good reputation and performance, and recommend it to the majority of outdoor players, the results will be released authoritatively on Wild Play, CCTV, Central Radio, Xinhua News Agency and other platforms, please pay attention to the majority of outdoor players, and also welcome well-known brands who have confidence in their own products to sign up for the evaluation.
Choose from a thousand to find the best products
If you want to buy a cost-effective storm jacket, you must grasp a purchase principle: do not seek the most expensive, only seek the best. When buying a storm jacket, you must not listen to the fooling of the shopping guide, the most expensive storm jacket may be the best, but it is not necessarily the most suitable for you.
Different types of storm jackets have different application scenarios, choose the most suitable for yourself. If you are mainly about city living, then a softshell storm suit can meet your needs; If you live in a city but often travel to cold areas, it is recommended that you buy a three-in-one storm jacket with good wind protection; If you often do mountaineering and skiing, cross-country hiking, outdoor adventures in extremely cold environments, a hard-shell storm suit with good waterproof, windproof and perspiration is the first choice.
Water resistance, now we know the meaning of the waterproof index. For example, 10000mm means that 10 meters of water column hit the clothes, 24 hours penetration does not exceed 3 drops, although choose to know this specific data, but in the specific weather environment, choose how large the waterproof index value of the storm jacket is appropriate?
Rainfall and waterproof index of storm jacket correspondence table
The above is the corresponding table of rainfall and waterproof index of storm jacket. If your storm suit application scenario is mostly heavy rain, you can buy a storm jacket with a higher waterproof index, if you use a storm jacket environment with little rainfall, a low index storm suit can meet the demand, without spending a lot of money to buy a more expensive storm jacket.
Fabric and weight, the fabric of the storm jacket largely determines the price of the product, and the price of the storm jacket with high-quality fabric is not cheap. What kind of storm jacket to choose, depending on your own use environment and the silver in your pocket, I will not repeat it here. In addition, the weight of the storm jacket, too light and thin storm jacket weather resistance and wear resistance will be relatively poor, usually only used for emergencies. If the problem in the harsh environment will have serious consequences, it is recommended to choose a moderate weight of 300g-500g when buying a storm jacket.
Color, here is a little joke about the color of the stormtrooper. Someone bought a very brightly colored storm jacket, and wore it to work the next day, and when passing by the duty office of the building, he heard the security guard shouting: “The one who delivered the courier, come and register!” ”。 Due to the particularity of outdoor activities, even if it is possible to be recognized as a courier, you should choose a storm jacket with bright colors, which is convenient for outdoor identification of personnel.
Image source: Wang Xuefeng Photographed
In the details part, there is a saying that details determine success or failure, and a high-quality storm jacket must be very detail-oriented.
1. Brim design – good storm jacket, even under strong wind and rain, there will be no hat being blown off, and there will be no brim sliding back and forth to block the line of sight, which solves the safety hazard while improving comfort.
2. Waterproof zipper – the fabric of the storm jacket can be waterproof, but if the splicing gap is not tight, water seepage will occur, so whether the storm jacket adopts seamless splicing or full lamination technology, whether there is a waterproof zipper like YKK, etc., must be paid attention to when purchasing.
3. Fluorescent paint – fluorescent paint has a night reflective effect, if you like night running, you should also pay attention to this detail.
03
How should a storm jacket be maintained?
Usually the price of a high-quality storm jacket is about 1,000 yuan, and the top storm jacket will be as high as tens of thousands of yuan, if you use the right maintenance method, your storm jacket can extend the service life of at least one year.
Proper washing of storm jackets
1. Choose to use brand cleaning solutions and avoid fragrances, colorants, fluorescent brighteners and fabric softeners, as acidic washing liquids can damage the coating and film.
2. Prioritize hand washing. When washing by hand, use a soft brush to clean the neck and collar and other local dirt, after cleaning, zip up, velcro tight, then rinse with plenty of water.
3. If machine washing is used, it is recommended to use a drum washing machine, wash separately, use warm water and neutral detergent at 40 ° C, set the speed to be low, the dehydration speed is 0, and the storm jacket is washed.
Drying and preservation of storm jackets
1. Use clean water to rinse the detergent thoroughly, dry the jacket naturally, do not wring out, try to avoid sun exposure.
2. When hanging after washing, it is best to hang on objects with a large force area such as rods and frames. If it is hooked on the drying rack at will, the local fibers of the hanging part are easily deformed under the action of greater gravity, which will shorten the service life of the storm jacket.
3. If the water droplets do not roll off quickly after splashing water on the surface of the storm jacket, it means that the water repellent function is damaged, and before the clothing is dry, spray the water repellent spray on the surface fabric of the clothing so that the damaged part of the damaged storm jacket can be repaired.
4. Do not use an iron to iron the storm jacket at high temperature, otherwise it will destroy the waterproof function of the storm jacket.
5. Storage of storm jackets, should not be stored in a high humidity environment, should not be folded for a long time, to avoid irreversible wrinkles due to long-term folding.
We have spent two issues to popularize the knowledge of outdoor equipment storm jackets, including the function, fabric, classification, purchase and maintenance of storm jackets. I hope that these outdoor knowledge popularization can help everyone choose the products they want, and can be correctly applied in suitable outdoor scenes, and hope that the life-saving storm jacket will play its role at critical moments, and may the tragedy like the 5.22 Gansu Silver Mountain Cross Country Race not be repeated!
Image source: Wang Xuefeng Photographed
