Originally Posted by
supremeone77
hmm just realized it's kind of hard to find someone who has tried both polartec, under armor and duofold. So really all I can do is guesstimate how warm each one wlil be.
I'm sure either would work out for you. To me it would come down to which is better priced. When it comes to baselayers I'm not too picky. That's why I went with the polarfleece. But the outer layer, I made sure I was getting a good quality product that wasn't going to fail when I needed it to perform.
One tip that I learned here was to keep a clothing log of what worked and what didn't. Every year you're going to learn more and more of how to handle the cold comfortably. Eventually you'll make better decisions from what you've learned. For example: That's how I learned that Primaloft insulation has twice the R value than Thinsulate. That helped me purchase a good winter boot that is going on its fifth winter.
Originally Posted by
triumph.1
I imagine budget is the number one concern and will determine what quality you get. I learned a long time ago that buying nice stuff the first time usually saves double the money trying to be cheap and get by.
I agree. Buying good stuff will last longer and perform better. Everything I learned about dressing for winter I learned here on BF and surfing the web. Reading reviews. And then googling for the cheapest price. I probably saved over 50% doing that.
I was going over my stuff and I've probably spent $600 on clothing. But most of it is going on its fifth winter. The XC pants I've had for 4 and 5 years now. They should last another 10 or 15 years unless I wipe-out and rip them up.
The first Showers Pass jacket lasted me almost 4 years before I wore it out and replaced it with another one.