Great jacket! It's comfortable, well designed and protects you from the weather. I wear it year round from backpacking in summer (+30C), through rain in spring and fall, to alpine skiing in winter (-30C) and love it.

The design allows unrestricted movement (for all the sports I tried). The adjustable hood, the double storm flap, and well taped seams all kept water out perfectly. It took almost 2 years of constant use for the DWR coating to wear off.

I particularly love the hood, chest pocket (under storm flap), and the ventilation. One drawback: the thin nylon at the wrist (the first place to wear)

All around, a great buy!

The Lowe Alpine Foraker jacket is a top class shell. it has all the features it should-tripoint ceramic 1600 fabric, double strom flap, articulated 'reach high' arms, and it also has an I/A feature. all the drawcords are tucked away so there is nothing to flap in your face. the hood has an extremly stiff peak. it is quite heavy, but well worth it. the only downside is that to get the hood oud, you need to take the jacket off. otherwise, no problems.

Excellent coat, well designed and engineered. I am very small framed (145 lbs) and I take the small size. Have been walking in all weathers, never deterred from a walk yet after looking at the weather forecast. No experience of gore-tex to compare DWR, but raindrops just sit on the surface and drop off like a waxed car, seems good to me even in torrential rain.

Coat fits well, good venting features for when the sun comes out, takes zip-in fleeces easily. Great hood system, easy to get out and put away. Nice special soft material around the facial area means zipping up close to face is not a pain.

Pocket arrangement is good (deep/handy/soft lining), water bottle pocket on front is ideal for phone, bottle + lots extra.

Overall, very impressed with this coat + the other Lowe products I have, would recommend to all.