Lusso Aqua Extreme Repel V2 Jacket

Curly wrote:

I have the Orange version of the Lusso  Aqua Extreme Jacket and its been a god send this terrible winter weather we have been having, Good breathability and plenty thermal for me just with one base layer underneath.  Well done Lusso and keep up the brillant work

Hi Curly,

its not clear from Lusso's website if the orange version has the same reflective back panel and cuffs. 

Richard D wrote:

Like the retroreflectives.  But black?  I refuse to wear anything that gives any opportunity to the blind driver to say "sorry mate, I didn't see you".

I've got a similar jacket that I use a lot in winter when it's dark. The black just lights up like a Christmas tree, it's way more visible than a "hi-viz".

Also - just use lights. I refuse to dress up like an accident in a paint factory, I just use a daybright light which stand out far more than coloured jackets.

crazy-legs wrote:

Richard D wrote:

Like the retroreflectives.  But black?  I refuse to wear anything that gives any opportunity to the blind driver to say "sorry mate, I didn't see you".

I've got a similar jacket that I use a lot in winter when it's dark. The black just lights up like a Christmas tree, it's way more visible than a "hi-viz".

Also - just use lights. I refuse to dress up like an accident in a paint factory, I just use a daybright light which stand out far more than coloured jackets.

Agreed. A lot of my stuff is black, however I don't cheap out on lights, and have spent good money on bright, top quality lights that are far more effective in letting drivers know where I am. The amount of commuters around dusk I see in fluro vests and bright jackets, yet have the weakest little lights and are actually harder to see than the rider in dark colours/black but who have bright lights are astounding. More education on lights and less lairy colours I say. 

@Richard D,crazy-legs and sammutd88 - my experience does not mirror your comments. I have been observing the effect of clothing for a long time now and find fluro colours stand out particularly well in low light and dusk; orange is best, followed by yellow and red. Bright lights are good, of course, but even the best light can easily be obscured if a another vehicle gets between a driver and the rider or when other vehicles' lights are bright enough to prevent the driver noticing yours.

Pedestrians often wear black without getting run over every time they leave the house. I'm not a fan of black or muted tones that blend in with the surroundings but the argument that you need bright clothing and/or dazzling lights is being talked up too much as if it's some kind of necessity.

For every poster saying you should do it there are invariably responses saying that they're dressed in hi-viz and use more lights than a Christmas tree but they still got SMIDSY'd so don't get complacent thinking that your big-lumen lights mean you're safe.

By all means dress and use lights as you feel appropriate but it won't help to hector everyone else into doing the same. 

So after all that, what about the qualities of this jacket?

Simon E wrote:

@Richard D,crazy-legs and sammutd88 - my experience does not mirror your comments. I have been observing the effect of clothing for a long time now and find fluro colours stand out particularly well in low light and dusk; orange is best, followed by yellow and red. Bright lights are good, of course, but even the best light can easily be obscured if a another vehicle gets between a driver and the rider or when other vehicles' lights are bright enough to prevent the driver noticing yours.

Pedestrians often wear black without getting run over every time they leave the house. I'm not a fan of black or muted tones that blend in with the surroundings but the argument that you need bright clothing and/or dazzling lights is being talked up too much as if it's some kind of necessity.

For every poster saying you should do it there are invariably responses saying that they're dressed in hi-viz and use more lights than a Christmas tree but they still got SMIDSY'd so don't get complacent thinking that your big-lumen lights mean you're safe.

By all means dress and use lights as you feel appropriate but it won't help to hector everyone else into doing the same. 

So after all that, what about the qualities of this jacket?

Each to their own - I live in a CBD, and drive at dawn and dusk amongst many commuters, and can say as a "driver" that good lights catch my eye more than high viz clothing. Hence I choose to have good lights on my bike when I ride. However as I said - it's just an opinion, everyone has a different one and thats fine.

Simon E wrote:

@Richard D,crazy-legs and sammutd88 - my experience does not mirror your comments. I have been observing the effect of clothing for a long time now and find fluro colours stand out particularly well in low light and dusk; orange is best, followed by yellow and red. Bright lights are good, of course, but even the best light can easily be obscured if a another vehicle gets between a driver and the rider or when other vehicles' lights are bright enough to prevent the driver noticing yours.

Pedestrians often wear black without getting run over every time they leave the house. I'm not a fan of black or muted tones that blend in with the surroundings but the argument that you need bright clothing and/or dazzling lights is being talked up too much as if it's some kind of necessity.

For every poster saying you should do it there are invariably responses saying that they're dressed in hi-viz and use more lights than a Christmas tree but they still got SMIDSY'd so don't get complacent thinking that your big-lumen lights mean you're safe.

By all means dress and use lights as you feel appropriate but it won't help to hector everyone else into doing the same. 

So after all that, what about the qualities of this jacket?

Observing but not really thinking clearly. 

Reflectives are only passive but Lights are proactive. 

If I was a driver at a T junction and pitch back you can wear any colour high vis without light and I wouldnt be able to see you coming perpedicular at me. 

Want to be seen? Lights period. 

nopants wrote:

Hi Stu,

Sounds like you had a great experience with the jacket, but there's one thing I can get my head around: you say that 'water doesn't bead off the Lusso... The fabric quickly looks sodden and I was waiting for that feeling of the rain starting to seep though but it never came. The membrane clearly does its job very well indeed.' Then you say 'For such a waterproof jacket, the Aqua Extreme is surprisingly breathable. That ride home, even with the full-on effort into the wind, left me barely more than moist when I removed the jacket indoors.'

This just does not make sense - moisture vapour cannot escape through the material if there is a layer of water in the way. If the water repellant treatment does not work, the jacket cannot breathe when wet.

Perhaps it was sufficiently cold you weren't sweating much?

I can see how it can be very breathable in dry weather, and very waterproof in the wet, but it needs to repel water to be breathable in really wet weather (which is what most of us are looking for in a waterproof jacket).

Am I missing something? Sounds like a great jacket and I'd love to be corrected...

 

Depending what fabric you are using the membrane is normally sandwiched between 2 or 3 layers of fabric. It may just be that the outer fabric doesn't have a DWR coating which is normally the thing meaning the water beads off the fabric and this is what the fabric is soaking into.

This will make the jacket slightly less breathable than if it was DWR coated but the coating does normally make a jacket less breathable as well.

Paramo are keen users of this in the walking/mountaneering scene where the fabric will get soaked but you should stay dry