Jacket that's a Tent - Opinions

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Would I buy it?
Well, that depends on price (see below). But assuming it fell within what I considered to an acceptable price range, here's why I would consider buying:
1/ Small and lightweight
2/ Fills two roles - coat and shelter.
3/ Well priced (assuming it is)

What Would I Pay?
Hmm...much more difficult. It would all depend on quality of product. Problem with these kinds of things (trying to be more than one thing at a time) is that they are often a compromise between both roles and often do neither very well, just satisfactory. Therefore, what I would be willing to pay is relevant to the fact that I am buying a satisfactory coat and a satisfactory bivvi shelter. I think any more than £30 and I wouldn't be interested. Personally. I am sure it's worth much more, but not to me. I'd sooner carry a separate quality jacket and a separate quality shelter. For me to make a compromise the price would have to reflect that. That is, it's cheap enough to take a gamble on.

Colours?
Much easier. 'Earth' tones - browns and muted greens - that kind of thing. Not interested in bright oranges, blues and yellows myself.
 
i wouldn't buy it no.

1 very cramped, posably not enough room for your other gear.

2 ok its raining real hard, im in the tent and badly need a pee, i'll just grab my coat... oh lol

3 if you rip it on the way to your campsite your tent will leak!

it would be woodland colours, green and brown


hard to say what i would pay for it without wanting it so sorry i cant answer.


hope this helps
pete
 
I have to say I was ready to slag it off, but found myself saying "Thats not a bad idea" However, I tend to echo a couple of the above comments. Things that are made to be multi function generally do an okay job at them, but not a great job at them. Of course this can change if they are extremely well designed and made with high quality materials, but as this area goes up so does price which would lower the "me wanna one now" factor.

To me for that to be any good, I'd look at each of the fuctions seperatly and ask myself:

  • Does it do what it says on the tin?
  • Is it of a sufficiently high quaility?
  • Is it something that I would actually use?
  • do I have anything just now that I would use instead?

The Jacket.

Can't say if it will work, as I don't know what it's made of, how it feels etc. However it looks a bit boring to me. The blue side is at best okay, the brown side is hideous. The folds at the back make it look very very odd. Would I use this jacket? No, it's not my sort of thing.

The Bag.

Again, without actually getting my mitts on it, very hard to say, but would depend on how much room it has, and how useful it could be. As it is, if I'm wearing the jacket and have things to carry, they'd be in a bag already, and if not, what do I do with them if it starts to rain? As you can see, a bit of a problem.


The Bivi.

As an emergency shelter this has merit. If it's wind proof and water proof it could be a potential life saver. As long as it can stand up to the wind and rain of course. Time / how easy in getting the bag or Jacket into bivi mode would have to be the biggest deciding factors in this though


In conclusion, I would not buy this jacket, the bag function seems slightly redundant to me, however the bivi aspect has great potential. The brown side is ugly, blue side far too plain. However I do like the idea behind it, I think with some more thinking and tweeking of design you should have something there (Assuming it's your design ;) )

Cheers,
 
Would you buy it ?

probably not.

3 reasons why or why not.

Things work much better for me when they are modular. Its easier to fix stuff that way and replace parts (for example thats the main reason I prefer PC to Mac.)

I'm really tall. I can't see it working for people my height.

The three uses don't work well together. On a wet day I'd like to wear a jacket and carry my tent or bivi in a rucksack. I would like to do all three not one or the other.

How much would you pay for it ?

£10 - £15 because if it was cheap enough (almost disposable) It would maybe work as an extreme survival item. You know - the kind of thing handed out in disaster areas where folk could use it for many practical purposes and packaging/ freight would be reduced for easy deployment. So your materials and manufacturing would have to be comprimised to cut costs.

What colours would you buy ?

Irrelevent
 
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Probably No because:

1. A good jacket is essential in cold weather and I am not convinced one can be made when other functions are incorporated,
2. An ordinary jacket easily converts to a carry sack and water container.
3. A poncho or bivy bag fits in a jacket pocket easily so I can lie under/in the poncho / bag snug in my warm jacket

instead of having it above me flapping in the wind and of uncertain effectivness
 
Thanks, keep them coming.

So far we have -

- a diverse range of opinion (which I expected)
- a a range of functional and aesthetic opinions
- some objective and subjective opinions
- anthropometric comments, value for money, safety, obsolescene

This is what I wanted so great folks.

The kids will be reading these on the digital projectors - just a set of User 1 - opinions User 2 etc.
They will then have 3 choices of item for reaserching, modelling with card/plastic/string etc 1/8 scale
and then they will model using Inventor 3D Modellling software.

The Higher (15-18yrolds) Product Design Task was a 'Survival Shelter' that fits in a small box for disaster zones. If anyone is interested
I'll post pics of some of the kids work.

Thanks all and keep posting !
 
That would be great.

I dont think we can form a real opnion about this product. No ones tried it yet
 
That would be great.

I dont think we can form a real opnion about this product. No ones tried it yet

It's okay, I don't own it either. It's just a realworld opinion of a wide a variety of users I wanted to 'trigger' the kids thinking. If you get kids to do a 'product evaluation' of their own phone it tends to be very subjective rather than objective.

I'm thinking about getting them to make this if it's hot next week, in the playground.
http://www.cowfiles.com/how-to-make-a-tip-tap

Nick
 
Just phone camera photos, will post better ones tomorrow.

deek2.jpg


deek1.jpg
 
I think the bag/bivi is a better idea without the jacket option

it reminds be of the old civil war blanket bedroll system brought up todate
 
I personally would not have a use for one, so would not buy it.

my main concerns would be:

its weight
would be too specific an item for me
the design seems too mechanical and complicated, i would probably break it.

i think a similar item would be very useful if aimed at the carp fishing or shore fishing markets.
would be great to have a jacket that transforms into a tent at short notice, rather than packing a seperate shelter.

colour wise, i think realtree patterns are popluar fishing wise, but greens and browns with an option of a large removeable velcro panel that exposes a "day glo" panel for shore fishermen if they get into trouble.

also adding other distress features, quick release mech if washed in, or a gas operated life jacket system in case of submersion.
whistles, water tight pouches for radios etc.
and a flashing light beacon to attract help.


if something like this became available i know a few people who would buy it, price wise i think £70-£100 would be a good price range for such a product.

good luck mate

all the best

Dai
 

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