First, this raincoat was sent to me courtesy of Shoplet for a review. However, the opinions are my own -- what I state does not reflect any influences from Shoplet.
The Ash City Jacket is sold in a multitude of colors (red, blue, black, white, navy) -- I ended up asking for a red or black one because I was planning on wearing the jacket on a dragon boat and my team colors are black and red. So it was easy for me to just use the jacket for paddling or for this past weekend at the DC dragon boat festival-- as a drummer. In case people dont know, I paddling on a dragon boat team. The sport is an ancient chinese tradition that involves 20 paddlers a steerer and a drummer. This past weekend (May 18/19) there was a dragon boat festival in DC. Typically during the race, i am a paddler and thus no wind/rain protection is needed since I'll be getting wet anyway paddling, but as a steerer and/or drummer its nice to have some wind/water protection because you are not dipping any part of yourself into the water (well unless your boat capsizes anyway). Since I do not have any rain coats that are not blue, this was the perfect addition to my gear for a predicted rainy and gloomy day down by the Georgetown waterfront.
The raincoat is 100% waterproof (which is good since its a rain coat.. :p) , i noticed it has vents in the back and under the armpits which is always nice to prevent me from getting really warm inside a non-breathable type jacket (rain coats are pretty much non-breathable because they are waterproof). As you can see below interior is lined with mesh, again to prevent you from overheating.
What is also nice about the jacket is that it has a velcro'ed storm flap (this allows the water to not sit on the zipper area and seep into your inner layer), so that even on heavier downpours -- or constant splashing your inner clothing does not get wet at all.
What my favorite part of this jacket happens to be is the reflector strips. It has 2 chest reflector strips and again 2 on your backside towards the bottom. It allows for people to see you even in dimmer (rainy) days. Its a nice touch and thought to the rain coat. Not even my LL Bean rain coat, Marmot rain coat has this feature. Its the small things that count i suppose? Below is a picture of me holding down the back of the jacket and the reflector strip being shown on the shoulder area.
The cuffs are elasticized, while I like the elasticized cuffs for coats because there is no adjustment needed, i feel that the water tends to bead at places like this, and wish this was slightly different -- i wish this were like the LL Bean coat, Marmot Coat and have the velcro'ed area for this -- velcro tends to not bunch up and thus, less beading would happen at the wrist area.
Similar to other rain coats that I own, there is a adjustable shock cord at the hood area and the bottom hem area-- so as to keep you dry. This also allows for you to keep the jacket close to you, and/or able to keep your heat in because there is no draft -- I can attest that this part works really well since it was rather cold and damp on Saturday and this jacket was on me for the entire day because I was freezing (silly me wore a tank top).
This is a rain coat, so one would hope for a hood and this jacket does not disappoint. While it is not a detachable hood, the hood does roll up behind the collar for easy storage. The hood is pretty easy to roll out, and once it is rolled out its quite easy stow away under the velcro pocket behind the collar bone. This hood as i stated previously has a shock cord that allows for the hood to be adjusted to fit your head's width/height.
Where are the pictures of me in the jacket? Sadly, I was captaining the boat and was running around trying to figure out where the boats were and when we were loading and all that fun stuff so I didn't get a chance to get a picture of myself in the jacket. There may be a picture somewhere but definitely not on my camera.. and all the videos i have are from the race itself and since i was drumming the video camera was attached to me. I know there are pictures of me somewhere with the jacket on and sitting on a boat -- i know this because some random guy came up to me as i was sitting in the drummers chair and stuck a camera in my face... but no amount of googling has produced such a picture as of yet.
My feelings about the jacket. Overall I liked the jacket -- this comes in my dragon boat team colors so it was fairly easy to use this on the boat. It comes in a bright red color, as well as some not so bright colors but the reflector strips allows for someone to see you in dim or low light conditions (ie if you are running or biking in the rain or in my case paddling in the water). It kept me pretty dry for the most part -- I kept taking it off so then i would get wet and then the inside of the coat would get wet because i would put it back on to get on the boat.
While drumming, the boat was going against the wind and waves from the Potomac River so i was getting all that wind to my back and I never felt cold sitting on the drummers chair because the shock cords allowed for me to cinch the bottom of the jacket.
What my favorite part of this jacket happens to be is the reflector strips. It has 2 chest reflector strips and again 2 on your backside towards the bottom. It allows for people to see you even in dimmer (rainy) days. Its a nice touch and thought to the rain coat. Not even my LL Bean rain coat, Marmot rain coat has this feature. Its the small things that count i suppose? Below is a picture of me holding down the back of the jacket and the reflector strip being shown on the shoulder area.
The cuffs are elasticized, while I like the elasticized cuffs for coats because there is no adjustment needed, i feel that the water tends to bead at places like this, and wish this was slightly different -- i wish this were like the LL Bean coat, Marmot Coat and have the velcro'ed area for this -- velcro tends to not bunch up and thus, less beading would happen at the wrist area.
Similar to other rain coats that I own, there is a adjustable shock cord at the hood area and the bottom hem area-- so as to keep you dry. This also allows for you to keep the jacket close to you, and/or able to keep your heat in because there is no draft -- I can attest that this part works really well since it was rather cold and damp on Saturday and this jacket was on me for the entire day because I was freezing (silly me wore a tank top).
This is a rain coat, so one would hope for a hood and this jacket does not disappoint. While it is not a detachable hood, the hood does roll up behind the collar for easy storage. The hood is pretty easy to roll out, and once it is rolled out its quite easy stow away under the velcro pocket behind the collar bone. This hood as i stated previously has a shock cord that allows for the hood to be adjusted to fit your head's width/height.
Where are the pictures of me in the jacket? Sadly, I was captaining the boat and was running around trying to figure out where the boats were and when we were loading and all that fun stuff so I didn't get a chance to get a picture of myself in the jacket. There may be a picture somewhere but definitely not on my camera.. and all the videos i have are from the race itself and since i was drumming the video camera was attached to me. I know there are pictures of me somewhere with the jacket on and sitting on a boat -- i know this because some random guy came up to me as i was sitting in the drummers chair and stuck a camera in my face... but no amount of googling has produced such a picture as of yet.
My feelings about the jacket. Overall I liked the jacket -- this comes in my dragon boat team colors so it was fairly easy to use this on the boat. It comes in a bright red color, as well as some not so bright colors but the reflector strips allows for someone to see you in dim or low light conditions (ie if you are running or biking in the rain or in my case paddling in the water). It kept me pretty dry for the most part -- I kept taking it off so then i would get wet and then the inside of the coat would get wet because i would put it back on to get on the boat.
While drumming, the boat was going against the wind and waves from the Potomac River so i was getting all that wind to my back and I never felt cold sitting on the drummers chair because the shock cords allowed for me to cinch the bottom of the jacket.
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