Is locally made really better quality? My buffalo S6 opinion.

[Paul_B]

I've had my buffalo s6 for about 3 years now and I'm 50:50 in my views on it. My biggest issue is that I don't think the quality is that good.

There's really nothing physically wrong with the construction or sewing it's the design niggles and quality of the materials used. For a start the cuffs curling out is really peeing me off right now. Hate it with a passion. The back of it feels very thin despite most of its use is without a rucksack being used so shouldn't have compressed by now. Thirdly colour of the hood bought later is completely different shade of green. I got it when the smock was a year old with very little use so it couldn't have faded. No other outdoor clothing brand has that issue that I've seen.

Then there's the hood-collar attachment/ design. Without the hood the neck is closed with a zip and a velcro strap young from left and attaching to the collar velcro on the right of your neck. The hood attached to that velcro that means there's nowhere that I can see to attach the neck velcro strap to. What's with this poor design.

Basically I think it's got very poor finishing touches that is almost breaking it for me. I love a lot but there's a lot that's simply annoying me. What's your view?

I'm wondering if the overseas made montane would have been a better option. It seems to me that with most good outdoor clothing of a similar level as buffalo being made overseas without the issues of buffalo. What's your view on this?

 

[richy3333]

I ended up going the Montane route after having several Buffalo tops over a few decades of wear. Like many you get introduced to them in the forces. I much prefer my Montane top and wear it most days. My only gripe with it is I have several holes in the outer from either fire damage or snagging the fabric whilst working the croft - cant blame Montane for that though. I just patch them up and carry on.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Anything without an INTEGRAL hood is carp IMHO.

K

 

[Erbswurst]

It probably depends on where exactly it is made locally.
An Austrian made Mercedes G is of course far better than a current Land Rover. And Carinthia products seem to work very well too.

But even Brits are able to make good products if they really want to, as we can see if we look at British made Snugpak products.

 

[MrEd]

I like mine. Albeit I have only had it 6months ish.

I don’t have the issue with the rolling cuffs, I am not sure what would be causing that?

I wear mine nearly every weekend and twice a day in the week at the moment walking the dog. It’s fine. There is no noticeable wear but it isn’t as fluffy as it was when brand new but then I have tech washed it once - don’t get me wrong it’s still fluffy, just less soft? Still comfy to wear though.

Yes the good arrangement is irritating a bit, I fold the large strip from the hood inside and it sort of stays out the way sticking to the lining. I was tempted to sew a small square of Velcro there to hold it properly.

When you have the hood strap done up across your face I fold the flap on the shirt backwards on itself to keep it out of the way, it’s. ‘90% there’ design. I also periodically catch the chest zip on the storm flap if trying to do the zip one handed. I dont understand why the hood isn’t integral (or atleast offer a version with an integral hood?)

However I still like it a lot as a garment, it’s been harder wearing that I was expecting (in terms of the outer shell not ripping etc) and it’s been brilliant on the rain, but where it has really excelled IMO is in cold biting wind, a couple of times I have been a bit mind boggled that’s the only layer I have on!

That said if lower levels of activity or sedentary it defo needs a baselayer under it - I wear a HH lifa, normal one if not so cold and merino if more cold.

So a couple of niggles, but overall I like it for the warmth and wind proofing and comfort.

 

[MrEd]

Oh other things I did - that are very minor

The shirt has 4 zips,
- one central neck zip with one slider with a string zip pull on it.

- 2 side zips with 2 sliders so you can open it wide to slip it on and off, and also have the zip open and closed but the bottom portion staying together by sliding the other slider up and down. The zip for doing it up doesn’t have a zip pull, but the zip slider for the venting function does have a zip pull
One chest pocket with one slider and no zip pull

I found I kept inadvertently pulling down the venting zip when putting it on (which also pulls down the complete opening zip) so I swapped the zip pull from the venting zip to the closure zip

The neck zip has a zip pull on it but it often flips inside the neck when the neck zip is open as the ‘pocket’ the zip goes down into isn’t quite big enough for the slider _and_ pull a so I moved the neck zip pull to the chest pocket. The neck zip now lays flat in the pocket at the end of the zip when the neck is open.

Junior changes but for me altered the ‘usability’ to better suit me.

Also here are some photos of the hood arrangement and what Paul_B Abs I are referring to.

Large Velcro tab that closes the front of the hood around the chin area, when the hood is open it just flaps around loose and there isn’t anywhere to ‘stow’ it


Mildly awkward neck zip flap - works really well without the hood but with the hood on it either needs to go under the Velcro of the hood attachment or be folded back out the way (which then makes a small bulky bit around you chin when the hood is done up) IMO. A small strip of Velcro on the _outside_ top of the neck zip storm flap would make the hood fit much more naturally. You can see in the pictures below which bit would benefit from extra Velcro.




And finally how the whole hood does up at the front. It works and some fiddling initially gets it comfy but it feels fussy and like the hood is an afterthought


I have also found I need to have the hood attached about 3mm low on the Velcro around the neck because if you _exactly_ line up the Velcro there is a slim gap on the inside between the fluffy lining of the coat stopping and the fluffy lining of the hood starting - not an issue unless it rains and then I can feel a band of wet/cold around my neck. My solution was to align the hood lower than designed to overlap the fluffy stuff.

Amazing shirt that’s 9/10 and does what it advertises - I still can’t believe I have been out in the wet and cold walking hard and this is the only top layer I have had on, but the hood could be better designed imo and it would take much to improve it drastically.
The zip pull things I understand their thinking as once it’s on, the neck and side zips would be being constantly adjusted to vent heat (or not) and the zip pulls do make that easier (especially if wearing gloves) but for me they were in the wrong places, only took ten seconds to change them though.