Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The decision on whether to choose an ORIGINAL cloth
or a HYBRID cloth is a very personal and it's one I'd
like you to make as easily as possible.
Therefore our price for the cloths is the same in their original and
hybrid versions, so you'll be able to make a decision based on your needs
rather than the price. The only difference
in the price when you are considering a HYBRID vs. the ORIGINAL is shipping costs
and that's not something I control. I am dealt the hand that
I'm playing with in terms of what the shipping companies charge me
so sometimes the HYBRID is slightly more expensive
than the ORIGINAL to ship. Now...
aside from that, the difference between the ORIGINAL and the
hybrid is the ORIGINAL cloths are favored by those people are watching
every single ounce. They're typically hiking miles into the wilderness and they're
worried about keeping... not only the size of the cloths
small, but the weight at an absolute minimum, and
they're not really worried about discomfort of any sort. So those are the
folks who
order the ORIGINAL cloth. Those individuals
who order the hybrid cloth are typically working indoors in a studio
environment or close to their vehicles, or they're not concerned about
weight at all... or, more importantly,
they're also worried about comfort when working under the cloth for prolonged
periods
the HYBRID fabrics breathe versus
the coated fabric of the ORIGINAL, which doesn't.
So, those are all considerations...I want you to be able to make a decision based on what your needs are,
not the price.
When I talk about the breathability of the the fabrics I construct my cloths of,
I'm talking about something slightly different
than what the common understanding of breathability is.
There is a whole outdoor recreation industry out there that's marketing clothing that's
quote en quote breathable. And often those fabrics are a coated
fabric... something coated with a rubberized coating
that is... what I would describe as "permeable." ie...
moisture passes through, but, it's not something you can hold up to your face
and easily draw breath through. That is very similar to the first fabric
I used to construct the
ORIGINAL BLACKJACKET™ that is a black and silver fabric...
and the silver is actually
a coating on the black fabric and that coating
fills in all those gaps in the woven fabric so if I try to breathe through it,
I can't draw a breath through it. It's great for waterproofness
but... in a hot environment or humid environment
I had users who complained that the
non-breathability of this fabric amplified the hot humid conditions
when they were under the cloth. So they asked me to develop
a cloth that used breathable
fabrics... and so I looked long and hard
founds these fabrics... this black and white sandwich
of microfibers and
this fabric is breathable. It's a woven fabric that's not coated
and if I put it up to my face I can draw a breath through it
and exhale through it. It's not something I'd take to the gym to work out while wearing it
over my face, but it is a breathable fabric much like cotton.
The weave is much tighter on this than it is in cotton typically but,
it is also really nice
against the skin. It has a really wonderful feel
so, if you are working in hot and humid conditions
this would be a much better choice than the silver and
black fabric which amplifies the humidity rather
than keeps you comfortable
Let's look at the water resistant characteristics of the two fabrics
The ORIGINAL fabric is actually waterproof
see that water is not going to get through that It is a
coated fabric, the coating, a rubberized paint
that fills in all the pores of a very tightly woven fabric.
I will say though that the seams of the BLACKJACKET™ are not sealed
like tents and waterproof clothing, but the fabric itself
is waterproof.
In comparison
the HYBRID
fabric is what they call
a "water-resistant" fabric. You can see the water beads up
and runs off on this fabric
as well, they often make lightweight rain
shells out of this fabric. But, the big difference between
the HYBRID and the ORIGINAL is that the HYBRID
fabric breathes. Air can actually pass through this very easily
If I put it up to my face, I can breath through it. But, you can see the water
tends to bead up and run away but it is not
"waterproof" and eventually
enough time spent outside, especially in a really light rain
you may find that the fabric takes in some of the moisture
To put these cloths into their storage sacks is really simple.
I just usually fold it into thirds and roll it up
and...
the BLACKBAGs are oversize on purpose
not only to block the light when you are using them for that purpose, but to make it easy to put the cloths inside.
So loosely stored, this is about the size of a HYBRID 4x5, 5x7.
Now I can get the cloths much smaller than that, in fact when they
are shipped to you, the HYBRID 4x5, 5x7 ships in a SMALL FLAT RATE BOX.
So, that's about
the minimum size you'll get a HYBRID 4x5, 5x7
The ORIGINAL cloth, though...
you can get to a much smaller size.
I'd say about size of a softball if you're really compact it
So very packable... uh... I
like to talk about them... as they would be used. Typically you are not going to spend
every minute getting every last bit of air out of them
So, the average size of the two cloths looks
something like this.