Let me start by saying I really like SG as a company. I have one of their packs and it is incredible. I've talked with them on the phone and they seem like a cool crowd. With that being said, I just returned my Grumman to Scheels (so glad I could buy it there as this return was mandatory for me).
Let me start with the pros.
I thought the fit was great. I am 6'2" about 220 and the XL fit perfectly. It was an extremely comfortable jacket and very lightweight as expected. I think my Xl came in around 13 oz. The jacket's features were minimal but nice. I thought the pockets, zippers and hood were all great. I had heard of people annoyed with the elastic band in the hood messing with their ears but I had no issues there. Everything from a fit and feature perspective were excellent for me.
The cons.
I had read of people having durability issues with this jacket but I thought if I was just a little weary I could still get a lot of life out of it. I currently own a Montbell Alpine light down parka and that thing uses a 20D "ballistic" nylon. The face fabric on the Grumman is 15D so I figured it would be just a little more fragile than my Montbell. This was way wrong. While I do try to be cautious in my Montbell with snags, I have owned it since 2017 and have beat the crap out of it. I do a lot of hunting in thick timber and am not afraid to wear it as an outer layer on morning hikes (cold downhill hikes I won't overheat in down). Obviously in these cases I sometimes brush up against stuff and the Montbell's ballistic nylon is crazy tough. I have NEVER had a feather come out of my Montbell as long as I've owned it.
The Grumman, on the other hand, is a different story. I had only had it for less than two weeks and EVERY time I took it on and off I would notice feathers coming out of this thing. Giant, full length feathers too. This was extremely concerning. Keep in mind, with the price of this thing, I babied it like I had never babied a jacket in my life. I had not done any hiking or bush busting or anything either. Just regular walking around in open country. It was if the act of simply wearing it was enough to push feathers from the face fabric. To me, this is unacceptable: feathers coming out of down jackets make me cringe!
Maybe I have been spoiled by the Montbell's crazy durability but the Grumman will not cut it for me. While I know you can't expect a down jacket to be a brush buster I would at least like to be able to carefully lean back against a tree or rock or something without fear of destruction. I don't think this jacket could even handle that.
In addition, while the Montbell only has 4.8 oz of 800 fill (Grumman has 5.3 @ 850) it felt basically just as warm (too negligible of a difference to really quantify). Also the Montbell is only about an oz heavier!
FInally, the shine on this jacket is pretty significant. It is a beautiful looking jacket but when the sun lights it up I would worry game could see the glare from a looong ways away. Especially something like turkey hunting in a sit. However, if this was my only complaint I would certainly not have returned it.
At the end of the day I wanted to support SG and I was super excited about their product. I wish they would basically just copy their design but incorporate a 30D fabric or something and then it would still be super light but with so much more practicality.
As always, the caveat is that I only tried this one jacket. Maybe I got a bad one but I didn't even bother reaching out to SG as I could just tell this things fabric would never cut it for me. Still love SG, if they come out with something tougher I will be excited to check it out. I just can't afford to buy a new jacket every year and seeing feathers is to painful for me to except.
Good fit and features
Bad Durability
Glare is quite significant and concerning depending on hunt
Warmth is nothing to write home about in its class IMHO - but it's good
p.s. I wish I took a bunch of pictures to show what I'm talking about but I already returned it and when Scheels excepted my return it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders!! Glad to be free of that thing.
Let me start with the pros.
I thought the fit was great. I am 6'2" about 220 and the XL fit perfectly. It was an extremely comfortable jacket and very lightweight as expected. I think my Xl came in around 13 oz. The jacket's features were minimal but nice. I thought the pockets, zippers and hood were all great. I had heard of people annoyed with the elastic band in the hood messing with their ears but I had no issues there. Everything from a fit and feature perspective were excellent for me.
The cons.
I had read of people having durability issues with this jacket but I thought if I was just a little weary I could still get a lot of life out of it. I currently own a Montbell Alpine light down parka and that thing uses a 20D "ballistic" nylon. The face fabric on the Grumman is 15D so I figured it would be just a little more fragile than my Montbell. This was way wrong. While I do try to be cautious in my Montbell with snags, I have owned it since 2017 and have beat the crap out of it. I do a lot of hunting in thick timber and am not afraid to wear it as an outer layer on morning hikes (cold downhill hikes I won't overheat in down). Obviously in these cases I sometimes brush up against stuff and the Montbell's ballistic nylon is crazy tough. I have NEVER had a feather come out of my Montbell as long as I've owned it.
The Grumman, on the other hand, is a different story. I had only had it for less than two weeks and EVERY time I took it on and off I would notice feathers coming out of this thing. Giant, full length feathers too. This was extremely concerning. Keep in mind, with the price of this thing, I babied it like I had never babied a jacket in my life. I had not done any hiking or bush busting or anything either. Just regular walking around in open country. It was if the act of simply wearing it was enough to push feathers from the face fabric. To me, this is unacceptable: feathers coming out of down jackets make me cringe!
Maybe I have been spoiled by the Montbell's crazy durability but the Grumman will not cut it for me. While I know you can't expect a down jacket to be a brush buster I would at least like to be able to carefully lean back against a tree or rock or something without fear of destruction. I don't think this jacket could even handle that.
In addition, while the Montbell only has 4.8 oz of 800 fill (Grumman has 5.3 @ 850) it felt basically just as warm (too negligible of a difference to really quantify). Also the Montbell is only about an oz heavier!
FInally, the shine on this jacket is pretty significant. It is a beautiful looking jacket but when the sun lights it up I would worry game could see the glare from a looong ways away. Especially something like turkey hunting in a sit. However, if this was my only complaint I would certainly not have returned it.
At the end of the day I wanted to support SG and I was super excited about their product. I wish they would basically just copy their design but incorporate a 30D fabric or something and then it would still be super light but with so much more practicality.
As always, the caveat is that I only tried this one jacket. Maybe I got a bad one but I didn't even bother reaching out to SG as I could just tell this things fabric would never cut it for me. Still love SG, if they come out with something tougher I will be excited to check it out. I just can't afford to buy a new jacket every year and seeing feathers is to painful for me to except.
Good fit and features
Bad Durability
Glare is quite significant and concerning depending on hunt
Warmth is nothing to write home about in its class IMHO - but it's good
p.s. I wish I took a bunch of pictures to show what I'm talking about but I already returned it and when Scheels excepted my return it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders!! Glad to be free of that thing.
