Holy Grail of UL active, synthetic Vest? Apex Vest version 3.0

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wow! 2.3 ounces

It is pretty amazing how light, and how small it packs. I'm wondering if it will provide adequate insulation on the side though.

If you're backpacking, you don't need a lot of warmth

True enough. Plus, if you keep your windjacket partially closed at the bottom, should help to retain a bit more of the heat, but when you need to, easier to dump same by fully opening the windjacket.

Sorry to criticize, but when active, I don't need insulation. And when I'm cold, I start to layer up for the evening (when I'm not hiking). When I am hiking I usually get cold over passes or when it's windy, that's when I put on a wind jacket that weighs about 3-5 oz. I just don't see how your vest would replace or be better than anything, plus, it looks like it's too tight and the insulation gets compressed making it useless. How about taking a raw piece of Apex 2.5 and poking a hole in it, put it over your head under a shirt?, that makes more sense.

Depends on the temps you are hiking at.

Recently i've been out in some less than 10 degree for the high days, not even factoring in the windchill.

In these kind of more extreme temps, some people like to use fleece. But fleece is heavy, not that warm for the weight but your back still gets sweaty a lot, and it's bulky. This is very little weight, very little bulk, solves the problem of back sweat, and is much more weight to warmth efficient.

The good thing about fleece is that it dries relatively fast and breathes very well. However, using such breathable lining/shell and using Apex, it should dry significantly faster than most other puffy type garments.

This kind of my really cheap, DIY answer to Polartec's really expensive and new "Alpha" material, which ironically it seems companies are facing it with not very breathable fabric which defeats the purpose (or so i noticed "Woubeir" mentioning).

Btw, the insulation is not that compressed. 2.5 oz Apex isn't all that thick to begin with.

Granted, hiking at 25 and above, especially if doing a lot of steep elevation gains and loss, this would not be a good garment to use.
Unfortunately, i live in VA, and most hike near SNP which has a lot of gentle hills, etc, and often i get cold going down or flat when hiking at temps less than 20/15 F.

I could bring my heavier fleeces, or i could bring this 2.3 oz garment that takes up no space in my pack…

Think you're going someplace cool. However you can't call that a vest. It's an insulated apron! Get "kiss the cook" screen printed on there;)

I really do think there is something there just gotta bust some balls sometimes.

-Tim

Well i did just clean the house the other day…but i would have over heated wearing my Apex apron, methinks. Dang it, back to the drawing board…again…! :/

The concept makes sense to me.

I have a bicycling vest with a similar concept (minus the insulation). Silnylon front, large-hole mesh back. Designed to block wind from the front/sides only.

http://tinyurl.com/kgn4cmb

Thanks Delmar. Admittedly it is more of a niche piece of gear, sort of like that cycling vest you linked to.

Nice Justin, 2.3 oz. is nothing and it seems like it would vent really well when you are active in cold weather like you mention. I for one don't see a windshirt filling the same niche… this thing is lighter, provides insulation only where needed, and has tons of venting potential in the under-arm area the way you cut it. My one concern is the shoulder area. I get putting less there because you've got straps on and things tend to get pretty hot directly under the straps, but personally I get cold fast if the tops of my shoulders are exposed like you have it now. Is there a reason why you didn't go for coverage on the upper shoulder area? I would be inclined to make a deeper neck slit for even more venting potential in the upper chest in case things heat up. Do you think the velcro will stay open with a pack on if you did want to vent there? I'm thinking it might close-up when you want it to be open just do to the nature of velcro and where that slit is. The vest paired with arm warmers would give you a very modular winter active set-up. I love modular systems myself. Good work!

Great out of the box approach to torso insulation!

"Sorry to criticize, but when active, I don't need insulation. And when I'm cold, I start to layer up for the evening (when I'm not hiking). When I am hiking I usually get cold over passes or when it's windy, that's when I put on a wind jacket that weighs about 3-5 oz."

That's probably because you live in the south west.

"Sorry to criticize, but when active, I don't need insulation. And when I'm cold, I start to layer up for the evening (when I'm not hiking). When I am hiking I usually get cold over passes or when it's windy, that's when I put on a wind jacket that weighs about 3-5 oz."

"That's probably because you live in the south west."

RE:

Did you know they have Airports here in San Diego?

Hi William,

Thank you for the reply and feedback. Re: the shoulders, you can pull the shirt back up so that it covers a bit more of same. I pulled the front down far to show the length, but as you can tell from the side pic it's over long on me. It still won't completely cover the shoulder when pulled up some, but a little more.

Good point about the velcro. I meant to put a little bit of velcro on the front, to hold open one side of the flap, but i completely forgot about it. Unfortunately, i sent it off to a tester with this over sight. Doh.

I think if i stick with this concept at all, i'm going to stick with a full length zipper to give maximum venting options. Due to feedback from the tester on the previous version, i think i also want to use a different fabric for the inner liner, a more breathable and wicking fabric–probably a polyester, or poly blend of some sort. I think Dri-Release might work really well in this capacity, or possibly Pertex equilibrium. Unfortunately using non thin nylon's and/or thicker fabrics will raise the weight some.

I also think that if i do start selling these, i will stick with the 2.2 oz Apex over the 2.5 oz Apex, which i've used so far (because i had some left over). There probably isn't much noticeable difference between the two though in terms of weight or warmth, but even a very slight decrease in both is better than nothing.

Thank you Thayne.

Good points for thinking outside the box.

I have a Showers Pass cycling vest built with a light stretch panel on the back and windproof fleece up front. Something thin and wicking would be good on the back I think