Vigilanti Gokarna Lighweight Rainjacket – Rambler Review

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I’m sometimes accused of slightly misconstruing, even embellishing, what actually happened in this blog.

But today, I’m going to try and be 100% truthful because this is a story that is so bad it doesn’t need me to embellish it one bit … it’s the story of what must be one of the worst articles of clothing I’ve ever bought … the Vigilanti Gokarna Lightweight Rainjacket

Source: http://www.vigilante.com.au

Now things started well when I bought this $129.95 jacket for half price ($65.00) back in March because (not surprisingly) I wanted a lightweight rain jacket for our (then) upcoming trip to New Zealand …

Fast forward to our walk on the Milford Track and we’re heading up Mackinnon Pass on a cold and wet day, I want to stay dry … and so not surprisingly enter stage left my brand spanking new Vigilante Rainjacket

Despite the smiles above, this is where things started going wrong.

As it was a cold, windy day, I went to cinch the waist strap as soon as I put it on, and instead of cinching tight … the whole waist strap just detached from the jacket, See exhibit A below …

On closer examination it was only held in place by a flimsy piece of cloth …

But that was just a minor annoyance and so I forgot it, we had a good trip, I wore the jacket another couple of times in New Zealand, then I got home and the jacket got put up on a hook and forgotten until I grabbed it to wear to work the other day (first time it’s been used since New Zealand).

I got into work and went to take it off, pulled at the wrist cinch strap to loosen it and …

… It just pulled straight off the jacket.

One jacket malfunction is an “OK, things happen, moment“.  Twice is a “This product is crap, moment” and I started thinking about returning it.

Except … I got distracted with life, forgot about it, and instead decided the other day to take it on the trip that never was …

So I’m riding along with my nice Vigilante jacket on, I look down a few minutes into the ride … and what do I see … the f*#king zip had broken from the bottom and was half undone … (sorry no photo).  What followed was that fun game of trying to get the zip back down to the bottom of the jacket on a broken zip so I could rezip it … in the snow, with cold hands.  I love that game.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back … this was meant to be a $130 jacket … what it was, was the biggest piece of crap I’d ever bought … and it was while I was thinking about how I hate companies that produce crap and sell it at premium prices that I brushed a branch that was jutting out a bit … and ripped a huge hole in the jacket sleeve …

Seriously Vigilante – check the definition …  A vigilante is meant to be someone who takes law enforcement or protection into their own hands … they’re meant to be cool, they’re not meant to be outright thieves.

You get zero out of ten from the rambler.

One comment

  1. Oh, my… You really didn't have luck with that jacket! I got ghoosebumps when you talked about the zipper and the snow and frozen hands 🙂 That is the worst thing that can happen to you when out in the cold! This is exactly why you have to do some serious research before buying a jacket, or anything else for that matter. Personally, I triple check all the reviews about a certain product before ordering it. For example, when it comes to hiking clothes, I always read the reviews of this one site I found a year ago, and they never let me down. You can check an article about rain jackets if you are looking for a new one: http://hikingmastery.com/top-pick/best-packable-rain-jacket.html

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