Just back from a 4km bimble in the local country park, which is nearly all coniferous forest. Temperature was 1.5 - 2°, started off light rain trying to be snow and then stopped after 20 minutes or so, and came back on a bit for the last 15 minutes. Temperature had risen to 2.5° at the end (Lidl temperature thingy in Land Rover).
I was wearing...
Cotton scants.
Helikon Level 2 thermals (top and bottoms).
Bridgedale 4-season socks inside Altberg combat boots.
5.11 Tactical shirt.
Ridgeline trousers and Monsoon jacket.
Fleece hat.
Webtex Cadet 33L rucksack weighing 6kg.
Set off at a reasonable pace with the zip/flap done up and the waist cinched, but didn't tighten the cuffs on the sleeves. Trouser bottoms were wrapped in around the boot legs. Soon (0.5km) felt the need to vent so uncinched the waist and adjusted the zip as needed. In general, my torso felt a bit cool, as if there was some perspiration and I was getting a light breeze on it. Temperature of legs felt neutral throughout. I took gloves but didn't wear them - the handwarmer pockets were pretty good. Most of the walk was an easyish pace with some stopping mid-way through to mooch around in the woods, and try out my old cheapo binocs to see if they are bad enough to give me an excuse to buy better ones. Never felt too warm, and adjusting the chest zip seemed to be all that was needed to keep the slight chill on the torso under control.
When I got back to the Land Rover, I took the smock off and had a feel around the inside. There was slight moisture at the armpits, and some at the upper back. No droplets or running water were visible, but the dampness could be felt on the fingers after touching. The rest felt dry. Armpits on the shirt were dry. When I got home, I took the kit off and had a closer look - on the shirt, the top of the back, and the small of the back (inside the trousers) were damp, and the rest was fine. The thermals felt dry all over, as did the inside of the trousers.
I should mention that I'm pretty unfit, and it's likely that I would perspire more than normal given the ambient conditions and amount of effort I was expending. As I get fitter, I would expect to perspire less. (I didn't perspire much - just noticed it a bit at the start.)
Overall, so far, I think the kit matches my expectations regarding breathability - it's not that great. (This is from someone who very rarely wears anything that's at all waterproof.) Considering it was cold, moderate exertion for an hour or so, and the fact that there was still some condensation inside, leaves me feeling that the Ridgeline stuff is indeed suited to bimbles and general messing about camp rather than serious walking. I can't imagine wearing this stuff in summer. Remains to be seen how it is in spring and autumn. On the other hand, for sitting about in the evening, general mooching in the woods, and skulking about spotting wildlife, I think it could be pretty good.
Further comments/observations...
The fabric is indeed very quiet. I would say it's on a par with various army jackets that I've worn over the years. In other words, there's a slight swish, but it's very subdued. The fuzzy outer tends to absorb water when a big drop lands on it - I had dark spots in various places. In a heavy downpour, I dare say it could get rather wet on the outside, and become heavier. I don't know what the outer layer is made from, but I assume it dries pretty quickly.
The trouser pockets are quite deep, and stuff in them tends to rest on the fronts of the upper thighs. My big SAK bounced a bit, but I stopped noticing this after a while, and there was no annoyance or anything like that. I'm still surprised at the fit of the trousers. Aside from the waist feeling much smaller than I expected from the size guide, I also found that they were a close fit at the crotch - getting close to marginal for comfort. They are marked XL, but I honestly find it hard to believe that that's what they are.
The handwarmer pockets on the smock are bigger than I expected with just my hands in them - was able to stuff my fleece hat right inside one and had no concern about it falling out if the zip wasn't done up. The insides of the pockets have some friction and the hat fabric had a good level of grip with this - felt like it was in and was going to stay in.
The chest pockets were better than expected. Contrary to my thoughts in another thread (about the Swazi garment of similar style), I liked the non-symmetrical layout. I had map (park leaflet in poly bag), 2oz baccy pouch, lighter, choccy bar, keys, in the zip pocket on the right, and compass and binocs and empty binoc pouch in the patch pocket on the left. The patch pocket isn't zipped - just a couple of poppers - and was great for the binocs (lanyard around the neck, binocs in the pocket when not using them to keep the rain off the oculars). Generally, just doing the outer (leftmost) popper was enough to keep the flap over the binocs to protect them from the rain. The zipped pocket felt very secure - no concerns about losing stuff.
All of the pocket zips are waterproof (or waterproof style - not enough wet to test that), and all of them ran very smoothly. Chest zip and flap also worked very well.
At one point, I put the hood up when I was in a more exposed area and there was a bit of a breeze. I would say it seemed a little noisy around the ears, but no more than was expected. I find that my head tends to turn inside the hood rather than the hood turning with it.
