The Argali series has gained a good reputation as practical hunting clothing in recent years. It is full of useful little things and practical equipment features that show that real practitioners have contributed to the development. The new Argali series is also generously equipped with pockets, almost all secured with zippers.
The jacket has a high handbag on the right chest area, and the pants have a knife pocket on the right leg. A waterproof hood is housed in the jacket’s collar; the buttons are rubberized to prevent noise.
The dark olive-colored outer fabric (100 percent polyester, Blaser calls this Ramtex) is windproof, and a Teflon reinforcement keeps rain out.
Even without the inner workings, the jacket and trousers have a light fleece lining that provides sufficient thermal insulation – this is completely sufficient for sitting in autumn or on mild winter days and ideal for stalking.
If it is only moderately cold, it is enough to put on a fleece jacket. The material also dissipates enough heat to avoid the notorious sauna effect when exerting yourself.
The new Argali clothing makes the zip-in inner jacket and pants with down filling universal. The outer material of the inner clothing consists of 100 percent polyamide, the filling of 90 percent goose down, and 10 percent feathers.
The inner clothing is quilted and also provided with pockets so that it can also be worn separately. As with warming underwear, it can, of course, also be combined with any other outerwear. Then it is not zipped in but used as normal underwear.
Feather-light and super warm
down is heat-insulating feathers that grow below the visible plumage of most birds in the undergarment. Due to its three-dimensional structure, down can trap a lot of air and is superior to synthetic fibers in terms of thermal insulation. In addition to excellent insulation, down is light as a feather and has a high degree of elasticity. Even after a lot of use, they still return to their original form.
Blaser-down clothing is quilted so that the down is in individual chambers. This ensures that the down stayed in place even when the machine washed.
Freshly washed down clothing comes out of the washing machine incredibly thin, but if you dry it with a few tennis balls on a gentle drying program in the tumble dryer, it quickly regains its original shape.
The wearing comfort of the new Argali hunting clothing with zipped down inner jacket and trousers is impressive. The jacket and pants fit perfectly and allow the wearer enough freedom of movement. There were full marks here.
Even at minus temperatures of -8 degrees, it remains cozy and warm for over three hours, and the clothing is wonderfully light. You could still bear it in strong winds.
The JP testers gave the Argali jacket and trousers 18 out of 20 possible points for thermal insulation. The clothing makes very light, barely perceptible noises at sub-zero temperatures, which was rewarded with 9 out of 10 possible points. The clothing is sufficiently quiet for the hide and excellent for driven hunts.
The outer fabric proved to be sufficiently tear-resistant in the blackberry bite. Only a few pulling threads could be found afterward. For this, three points were deducted from the jacket and five points from the trousers by the more stringent evaluation criteria.
The jacket withstood the water test for around 40 minutes – a good value for hunting clothing without a membrane, earning 6 out of 10 points. Dirt and dried-on sweat can be easily brushed out. In the evenings in the hunting lodge, the inner clothing can be worn as a warm house suit.
You had to sleep in a sleeping bag in the open air; the light-down clothing served as warming pajamas.
Without the zipped-down inner clothing, the suit was worn on various mountain hunts and has proven itself very well. The down clothing was carried in the rucksack and only put on after a long observation period – due to its low weight, good combination clothing for mountain hunting that can do everything.
Breathability was tested without down inner clothing. This is practical because, on further marches, the down clothing would be carried in the rucksack – as is the case with mountain hunting – and only put on at the destination.
The breathability is very good, which was to be expected since there is no membrane.
The jacket and pants got full marks
Points were deducted for the color that was too dark. It was only enough to score 3 out of 5 (trousers) and 6 out of 10 possible points (jacket). The dark brown emphasizes the human contour very much and does not have very good camouflaging properties.
The suit was last used on the driven hunts in 2021. It is particularly important to stay warm enough to avoid unnecessary movements. However, too thick clothing is not good either, because otherwise, fast attacks are hardly possible.
The freedom of movement of the jacket is very good and allows it to be attached quickly. At -5 degrees, thermal underwear and a hunting shirt under a down suit were enough to stay on the driven hunt for over three hours without chattering your teeth. This again underlined the 18 points awarded for thermal insulation.
However, it was noticeable that the upper side pockets of the jacket are a bit too tight, the hands should be able to be pushed up to the joints, a few centimeters are missing.
When it comes to the trousers’ supplies, there isn’t anything to complain about, only the missing back pocket on the trousers resulted in a deduction of two points for the trousers – the jacket scored 13 out of 15 points. There was a deduction for the small pockets.
Conclusion
With the new Argali down hunting suit, Blaser offers a universal combination that can be used almost all year round –
this combination can be used from sitting on cool summer days to mountain hunting; bolt hunts to winter hunting in freezing temperatures.
The low weight with very high thermal output is fascinating. Everything can be machine washed and tumble dried.
The jacket costs $ 369, the trousers $ 260, each complete with down inner clothing. The artistry and the material used are very good, and the equipment is downright luxurious. The practical use of this combination is very high, as all parts can be worn separately and combined with other clothing.
Both items of clothing received the rating very good and thus 3 magnifying glasses.
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