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I have been riding when possible here in Oregon with this jacket the last 4 months. My opinion of it is that it is a good jacket, surprisingly warm compared to the one I rode with a decade ago. I was drawn to it because it's not flashy like most of the Astars stuff and waterproof. I've been out in light rain 3 or 4 times, no issues to report, and got caught in heavy rain once. The issues I encountered in heavy rain are (1) - didn't have any pants on (well I did, but not for rain) which caused me to get wet underneath, but that wasn't a failure of the jacket, and the other issue is outlined below.
I wouldn't give this jacket an excellent rating based on 2 things.
1 - The outter pockets are not waterproof. The jacket description from Astars highlights how waterproof the jacket is and makes a point to note the front flat front pockets, so I assumed (like a jackass) that they would be waterproof also. Turns out that anything in the front outter pockets will become wet, which leads into #2
2 - Customer Service. I discovered the lack of waterproofness of the pockets to the tune of needing to replace my smartphone. I sent an email to Astars and requested that they update the jacket description to make the buyer aware before they suffer the same fate I did. No response from Astars 1 month later. I also sent an email to revzilla (where I purchases) requesting they update their description also. They gave me a $25 credit for my trouble, which I didn't ask for, and said they would update the description, which hasn't happened yet, but my gear review is up and has this info.
I wouldn't give this jacket an excellent rating based on 2 things.
1 - The outter pockets are not waterproof. The jacket description from Astars highlights how waterproof the jacket is and makes a point to note the front flat front pockets, so I assumed (like a jackass) that they would be waterproof also. Turns out that anything in the front outter pockets will become wet, which leads into #2
2 - Customer Service. I discovered the lack of waterproofness of the pockets to the tune of needing to replace my smartphone. I sent an email to Astars and requested that they update the jacket description to make the buyer aware before they suffer the same fate I did. No response from Astars 1 month later. I also sent an email to revzilla (where I purchases) requesting they update their description also. They gave me a $25 credit for my trouble, which I didn't ask for, and said they would update the description, which hasn't happened yet, but my gear review is up and has this info.