As it was raining this morning for the dog walk, I thought I’d give the Montane Quickfire/Macpac Matrix combo a whirl to see how they worked together. Now, a gentle half hour dog walk hardly constitutes a serious test, but they felt comfortable together and I didn’t over heat. I used a short-sleeved Icebreaker merino base layer. The Matrix has a luxurious but thin velour-type fleece, which was comfortable against my bare arms. The Quickfire is quite roomy with nice long sleeves so I can hide my hands from the wind and rain. The hood is OK rather than great. It is odd to have crackly material (not as bad as paclite) rather than the quiet of Paramo.
However, I am thinking of using my Haglofs Dual fleece jacket or the Montane Oryx in combination with my Montane Lightspeed jacket instead of the Matrix as there’s not a great deal of difference in weight. It seems strange to go back to a hardshell after Paramo, but my experience of the Exos/Paramo combo in the summer suggests that Paramo is not necessarily the best for all situations.
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The Montane Quickfire is my first choice for Summer walking.It always lives at the bottom of my rucksack during the Summer months.I have a Marmot Mica Jacket for when I want to go Ultralight but in my opinion the hood is not as good as on the Montane.I think that Montane may have stopped producing the Quickfire and I was lucky enough to get one from Go Outdoors for the bargain price of £89.
I have a Mica as well and I’m really disappointed with the hood. My Berghaus Paclite Smock has the best hood, closely followed by my various Paramo jackets.