Kifaru goodness

I swear to Crom, the mail is so slow these days I could literally walk most of it to its destination before those idiots could get it delivered….

It shouldnt take 15 days to get a parcel from Colorado to Montana, but apparently it does. But that vote by mail thing? That’ll work just fine….

Anyway….

I have a collection of Filson outer wear. About six years ago I got a Filson Double Mackinaw Cruiser, which had been on my wish list for a long time.

A year or two ago Filson ran off a  limited run of a wool anorak. I desperately wanted this limited-run and very expensive item. By the time I got the money put together…*boom* they were out of stock with no resupply date. I was bummed. But the webpage for the anorak stayed up. I checked it, literally every day, for a year until a ‘coming soon’ banner appeared on it. When they finally had them available, I ordered one. And…it was everything I hoped for. Still wildly expensive, but it’ll last forever and I really, really like it. (Yeah, it’s spendy..and other companies do make a similar wool product. But this was a case of ‘I had the money’ and, honestly, a bit of brand preference. Once in a while, I’m a brand-name junkie. Not often, but in this case….yeah.)

And while I liked the wool product a lot for its ability to repel cold, evil, and shoddy workmanship, it was a bit bulky. It doesn’t compress very well. And although I like the Filson product, and have worn it pretty much every day this winter, I wanted something that would be just as nice but more compact for packing around when I didn’t need it at that moment. Ideally, I wanted something that would crunch down into a tight little package that would sit in my scout pack when I was out in the woods. And, sadly, the Filson wouldn’t do that.

Turns out Kifaru makes the same product, basically, but using the same materials as they use in their highly-recommended Woobie and Doobie products. It was on sale back in November for $200 and I ordered one up. Finally got it today. TPIWWP, so….

This is the Filson wool anorak/pullover which I cannot say enough nice things about. If you amortize it over the rest of your life it becomes more economical than first imagined. It is not cheap, but it literally will last you a lifetime. Problem is – bulky to pack. Enter the Kifaru product:

Heavy-duty (really heavy-duty) cordura on the wear points, detachable hood, drawstring waist…pretty nice. The color, which was advertised as coyote, is more gold than coyote. But…the elk won’t notice. More importantly, how does it compress? Well, Kifaru makes some equally nice and equally expensive compression sacks but for now I’ll just pick one up at REI.

This will be one of those pieces of gear that gets tossed in a bag ‘just in case’ when I’m off in the boonies because…a lot can happen in a hurry, and none of it good, if you aren’t careful. So..new piece of gear, Zero approves.

10 thoughts on “Kifaru goodness

  1. Buy once, cry once. QED

    Value for money is money well-spent.
    It’ll keep you warm when you wear it, and warm again when you think about what you scored for your troubles.

    Well-played, sir.

  2. I have had a similar Woolrich hooded anorak for some years now and it is fantastic for standing outside in deer camp when a fire shouldn’t be lit. But as you said – bulky and requires some care when cleaning it.

    • Doggone it – forgot to add above. Order these at least two sizes larger to increase empty trapped air. inside the garment. Adds a few degrees of cold warmth and definitely more comfortable to wear.

  3. I have a double Makinaw cruiser and matching vest. They are the best. I’ve had both now for 20 years. I wouldn’t take a million bucks for either. My love affair with wool began when I was a civil war reenactor. Nothing better than wool. Filson makes some of the best outer wear there is. Their tin cloth shirts and pants are really great as well.

  4. As far as the USPS. It isn’t for excrement. I sent my auto insurance payment in to my agents office. That took 27 days to go 6 miles. Ben Franklin did better then that with horses and coaches. But then he didn’t have the Postal Workers Goonion to contend with.

  5. I dunno about those Filson (or Carhart) lasting “forever” business. I worked the woods for quite a few years logging and thought Filson was a great buy (yah, it was spendy even then). In two years it was a rag, torn on every seam and cracked in the elbow bends.

    So I decided to try a Carhart “lasts forever” canvas coat. Same story but with an even shorter life-span. Ended up using the Carhart as a dog house wind cover.

    Now, when I see “lasts forever”, it has a whole new meaning since I’m now so old I can count the remaining years on two hands, at most.

  6. One thing my dad always said was that you get what you pay for.

    If you like Kifaru, you may want to look at the Mountain Serape from Hill People Gear. It has the same insulation that Kifaru uses in their Woobie but it’s far more versatile. I’ve had one for eight years and every year it has gone hunting with me and since I bought it.

    As for the mail being slow… There is a pandemic going on. In the local major distributing postal node there have already been deaths caused by COVID-19 and I’m in Ontario. Considering that the (not so) United States has 25,604,635 cases on the go and 429,322 deaths, the slowdown in postal service is to be expected.

    BTW, with the new UK strain, AKA B117, being 56% more transmissible than the earlier COVID-19 strains, you can expect the infection/death rates to clime.

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