22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A serious winter coat for severe conditions. Superb., January 16, 2009
This review is from: Canada Goose Men's Chilliwack Parka (Apparel)
A serious winter coat, beautifully finished construction.
This is the real deal, not some department store coat with a catchy name. Go outside on a bitterly cold day and you will be practically unaware of the cold outside. While other pedestrians rush around you walk serenly in a cocoon of warmth. My area straddles a temperate zone so we rarely see single digit or below zero conditions though tomorrow morning it will hit 4. Those are the rare conditions I take it out and then with just a long sleeve shirt underneath. Above 20 and it is almost uncomfortably warm, I would guess the sweet spot is 0 to -40.
The fit feels very much airtight and the hood is fashioned from real coyote fur. While synthetic fur may be more fashionable it becomes useless (freezes solid) in really cold conditions.
While the price may be steep in the eyes of some it is more than worth the expense. It is a real pleasure in this age of cheap products to own something of quality without compromise (underline that, even luxury houses cut corners today) that is of enduring value.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
canada goose is a scam, December 4, 2011
This review is from: Canada Goose Men's Chilliwack Parka (Apparel)
I bought this jacket 5 years ago when the price wasn't hiddeously expensive yet (I paid it 300 dollars), now it's over 500. After 5 winters, there is holes in the sleeves, the down is not so lofty anymore though I took great care of my garments. More over :
-the fill power of the down is only 625 (US standard), which is ok but not exceptionnal,
-it's a stitch through construction instead of a baffled construction. This means that it is cheaper to produce and less effective than a baffled construction. Baffled construction eliminate coldspot.
-The outer shell is super heavy and not really durable,
-it is very expensive to clean : about 30 dollars.
Conclusion : Canada Goose down jackets are good but not worth the price.
For such prices, their garments should have 800FP down + a fully baffled constructions+ a more durable outershell.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not your typical Canada Goose Jacket, October 31, 2011
This review is from: Canada Goose Men's Chilliwack Parka (Apparel)
Don't get me wrong, this Jacket is built with all of the same excellence of quality and construction Canada Goose (CG) is known for. However, there are some things specific to this Jacket that you should be aware of prior to ordering. Most importantly, this is a "Bomber" Jacket and therefore several design trade-offs between absolute warmth and enhanced mobility have been made.
Length - Being a "Bomber" cut, this jacket is shorter than a Parka, thus naturally less coverage.
Pockets - a bit on the small side, probably keeping in proportion to the shorter cut.
Fill - a few spots, most notably on the front inside elbow areas have reduced down fill. While this no doubt helps enhance mobility, it does produce noticeably colder spots in these areas when the temp gets into the teens and below.
Also, as seems common to all CG jackets, sizing is a bit off (for me at least). 99% of the time I can order clothes in a "Large" size sight unseen from other manufacturers and be just fine. Not the case with CG however. I have a CG Resolute Parka that runs very big. While parkas are naturally supposed be large, when trying on this Parka at the store the "Large" was bigger than a Circus Tent on me, so I ended up with a "Medium", which is still plenty large enough to cover multiple layers of undergarments. The Chilliwack however is the exact opposite. Even the "Large" felt unusually tight on me, so I ended up buying an "Extra Large", though honestly I could have probably even bought a 2XL and been happy. Bottom line is I would not recommend purchasing a CG Jacket or Parka without being able to physically try one on for size first.
Finally, the only other nit pick I could see is that it would have been nice if this jacket had a zippered, removable fur ruff like the Parkas. Oh, and like all CG jackets this one has the funky left handed zipper. I can never get completely used to it, but I can manage. Probably like tying a shoelace, it would have been easier if I started wearing these as a kid! (btw, are most Canadians left handed?) But these are minor points.
Overall, this is an excellent Jacket. But while it's not necessarily a "light weight" jacket, it's not really designed for "extreme cold weather" conditions like the other CG Jackets and Parkas either. Since I already own a big CG Parka, I bought the Chilliwack for this very reason - something I could just wear around town when a big Parka is just too much. But this is something to be aware of if the Chilliwack will be your first CG jacket.
Update 12/10/11: I ended up returning this jacket partially for the cold spot issue described previously, and also for a couple other reasons: First, I bought this Bomber Style jacket because I thought the short length would allow me to keep it on while driving. Unfortunately, the hood on this jacket is very bulky so while seated in the car it felt like I had a pillow behind my neck, with the fur sticking out to the sides and actually interfering with my view. If the hood on this jacket were removable, or even if the fur ruff was removable I bet this would have solved this issue. Also, because of the bomber cut not only are the pockets small, but the hand warmers are so far up on the chest area that it felt like I was walking around doing the "chicken strut" thing all of the time. It was even hard to find the hand warmers without looking because they were so high.
Fortunately I have a good brick and mortar retailer that accepted the return. I exchanged it for a Constable Parka that I like much better. Also, about the price issue mentioned in the other review. Yes, the list prices of Canada Goose are quite high. But if anyone ever pays list prices, they aren't shopping around enough. I've never paid more than 80% of list for these jackets, and my last one I paid only around 60%. Buy late in the season when they are on clearance, and watch for specials that lower the price even more. At least here in Alaska, it really helps to have reliable, local stores one can go to.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No