Knapsack Treks
  • Trip Reports
    • Australia
      • Aussie Odyssey Part 1, Uluru, Kata Tjuta
      • Aussie Odyssey Part 2 Kings Canyon
      • Aussie Odyssey Part 3 Kangaroo Island
      • Dunes Downunder Part 1
      • Dunes Downunder Part 2
      • Dunes Downunder Part 3
    • Climbing Tianyou Peak 天游峰 @ Wuyi Shan 武夷山
    • Europe
      • My Greek Odyssey (Athens & Acropolis)
      • My Greek Odyssey (Delphi)
      • My Greek Odyssey (Meteora)
      • My Greek Odyssey (Mt Olympus)
      • My Greek Odyssey (Pella – birthplace of Alexander the Great)
      • My Greek Odyssey (Thessaloniki)
    • Gedung Songo
    • India
      • A Tale of Two Jahans
      • Akbar The Great
      • Dungeshwari – where mistakes are made and corrected
      • Horriday In India – Trains
      • Sarnath – first lesson
      • Shimla – legacy of British India
      • Taj Mahal
      • The Mahabodi Temple, Bodhgaya
      • Varanasi, a city as old as time
    • Nepal
      • Tilicho Lake
      • Annapurna On Wheels With Two Kids In Tow
      • Gosainkund Winter Trek
      • Lost In Lumbini
    • The Water Curtain Cave
    • Back In Mt Bromo With A Kid In Tow 1
    • Back In Mt Bromo With A Kid In Tow 2
    • Kunming, Dali With A Kid In Tow
  • About The Author
  • Knapsack Books
  • Fighting Fit
    • Alternatives For Prevention of AMS?
    • Buffering Your Blood
    • Carbo-loading: The Real Thing
    • Climb Stairs
    • Fluid Replacement
    • Food For Hikes – Sweet Potatoes
    • Great Body Weight Exercise
    • Healthy Coffee?
    • High Altitude Diarrhoea
    • Jumpstart Cream
    • L-Carnitine
    • Low Carb Myths & Risks
    • MacRitchie To Bukit Timah Hike
    • Preventing Blisters
    • Push Up Variations
    • Sandfly Bites
    • Working With Elastics
    • Cheating AMS
  • Gear & Stuff
    • Choosing Footwear
    • Dressing Right For The Himalayas
    • High Fashion (Frogg Toggs)
    • Hiking Footwear Cheap & Good
    • How To Clean Mouldy Slides
    • My Neat Knapsack
    • The Humble SAF Combat Boot
  • The Aging Adventurer
    • Bye Bye Bunions
      • Day 1
      • Day 2
      • Day 7
      • Week 3
    • Clogged Arteries: everyone has them!
    • Don’t Lose That Muscle
    • Foot On Ice
    • How Exercise Affects Blood Pressure
    • Secret To Burning Fat
    • Stairs Workout
    • Strength Training
    • The Best Doctors In The World
    • Toes & Poles
    • Too Old To Run?
    • Training For Seniors
  • Legends
    • Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922)
      • The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
    • Gigi The Bikini Hiker
    • Khoo Swee Chiow – K2, the ultimate peak
    • Xiao Peng 小鹏
    • Yu Chun Shun 余纯顺
    • Lei Dian Sheng 雷殿生
      • Horsehair & Blisters
      • Trust & Kindness
  • Other Sites by Chan Joon Yee
    • Chan Joon Yee On Homecooking
    • Chan Joon Yee On Social Issues

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High Fashion (Frogg Toggs)

DSC04502
At Daocheng, Sichuan, China in a Mountain Hardware shell jacket

Frogg Toggs Men’s Firebelly 2-Tone Jacket

Mention outdoor adventure apparel and names like The North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Marmot and Arcteryx come to mind. Other names like REI are often cheap and well, cheap. Those of you who have seen pictures of me taken on my trips must be aware that I’ve always been a North Face fan. It’s not surprising as North Face often combines style with function. I simply have to hand it to their designers. They make great-looking jackets and not even Arcteryx can boast of a consistent fashion and aesthetic sense.

But as some of you may know by now, not every North Face jacket is functionally good – and I’m not talking about knock-offs made in Kathmandu. Very often, you’re just paying for the name and the design. That’s why I’m constantly on the lookout for cheap and good brands. Then, I came across Frogg Toggs when I was searching for a good shell jacket. I have one by Mountain Hardwear, but it’s thin and offers little thermal protection. Yes, Frogg Toggs doesn’t sound like anything exquisite, but the photo of it I saw at Amazon persuaded me to give it a try. The name of the jacket is “Frogg Toggs Men’s Firebelly 2-Tone Jacket”. I took a chance with size S and bought it for only USD55.

Chan Joon Yee

Size S turned out to be just nice for me. There is space for a layer of thick fleece or even a down vest. The shell material looks and feels tough – like the nylon in really pricey Goretex jackets. The problem with this material is its lack of compressibility.

Chan Joon Yee

One unique feature which blends into the overall design, are two large front pockets (Velcro taped) located in front of the smaller side pockets. I find them very useful for devices like phones, tablets and compass. The small side pockets are just nice for you to warm your bare hands.

The jacket ends way below the waist with an elastic band. This is an important feature. There are many jackets that will leave your back exposed when you sit down.

IMG_0021

Does this look cool or what? Even if it doesn’t work well on mountains, it’s still a nice piece of outfit for cold weather. There is a hood that stows nicely behind the collar. The label says that it’s guaranteed waterproof and breathable. Well, the seams are taped all right, but I’ll need to test that out in the wilderness to confirm that. On closer inspection, I do have some concerns with the inner lining.

Frogg Toggs

It looks and feels like recycled paper!

3 years later …

I’ve had this jacket for a couple of years now. Wearing it feels like wearing paper, but otherwise, it’s windproof, breathable and extremely strong. It even offers good insulation, so it comes in quite handy under extreme conditions. The inner lining frays a little, but you probably won’t get more bits and pieces falling out from it than a leaky down jacket. The main problem is that it’s rather bulky, taking up a lot of space in the backpack. Below is a picture of me putting this jacket to good use.

Chan Joon Yee approaching Tilicho Lake 4950m in Nepal

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