Anyone got the Arcteryx Stinger or Haglofs Couloir jackets?

Have decided to throw out the knackered Nike ACG jacket and pants and upgrade.

found a local place who had the Arcteryx Stingray (Soft shell) which was very nice. Preferred the pro shell though (they had a Theta ascent jacket on the rack). Have seen bad comments aout the chin on the sidewinder so thinking about the Stinger - not available to try here so wondering if anyone has got this and can give some feedback. It is $550 from Altrec.com which is still much cheaper than UK or Swiss price.

http://www.arcteryx.com/mens.aspx?ty...cat=Snowsports

My bro also recomended Haglofs stuff and the Couloir Jacket looks the business. Can't try that here though.

http://haglofs.se/prd/visaprod.asp?I...w=&ak=&nid2=67

Not that comfortable about buying without trying but at least know I'm a medium in Arcteryx. Tempted to just get the Singer jacket and pants in black but would appreciate comments from anyone who's tried / bought.

Thanks,
Bob

I'd say go for what you know fits. Hard to go wrong with Arcteryx. I have the Sidewinder & love it.

HAGLÖFS is very much a form follows function brand. Their gear is of the highest quality and very functional. Can't get it in the USA though. With the weak USD against the Euro, if you are A USA citizen, you are better off getting HAGLÖFS gear from Japan if you know someone there who can pick it up for you. Otherwise, you are going to have better luck finding Arc'teryx in North America. Arc'teryx was acquired by Adidas-Salomon. a few years back. They certainly made great stuff when they were Canadian owned. There are a lot of other good brands around so you may not want to narrow your search just yet.

In Switzerland so Haglofs is available although noone seems to stock it. What other brands would you suggest in this category?

In Alpha order Fjällräven, Halti, Mover are some of the other functional, durable brands that may be worth looking at. Combining style with performance more along the along the lines of Arc'teryx are Cross, Kjus, Peak Performance and SOS. I know that there are a lot more. I'm just not qualified to identify them all.

When it comes to ski wear I have a confessed bias toward Nordic brands. They know a lot about cold weather and have populations that are very outdoors oriented. Moreover, their respective populations are small enough that word-of-mouth reputation rather than just marketing plays a key role in the success of those outdoor wear companies.

I have HAGLÖFS, Fjällräven and SOS gear. They are all high quality, very well made and have proved very durable. The others mentioned, I've heard about but have no experience with.

Some other brands (non-Nordic) worth investigating include Obermeyer, Phenix and Spyder. And Arc'teryx may be perfectly fine.

Anyway, good luck with your search. I know that there must be many other excellent choices out there beyond what I'm familiar with or have heard about.