7mesh

Congratulations on the achievement Sean! It's been amazing to follow along in your journey and play a small part. This is what adventure on two wheels is all about 👊

@owl-X: No, same room though :) We're a small business and repairs are done by our product team. We have an automated warranty submission link at the bottom of our home page, and also have live chat on the site with our service team (BC business hours).

@scottlakesmtb: Thank you! That's a very accurate summary. It's very hard to differentiate apparel online, we know that, and chase as many opportunities as we can to let people see/touch/feel/wear our gear. I hope we'll get a chance for you to demo one down the road. All the best

@HB208: Yes of course. That's not the same as destroying the jacket.

@scottlakesmtb: Great question. On Gore-tex: they don't all perform the same, they just all perform above that standard. There will be variation between laminates, but we're likely talking about differences that end users can't reliably feel. (Shakedry was the exception.) The waterproof & breathability variation comes from the combo of the membrane used (Gore is not just one membrane), the external fabric, the internal fabric, glue, and any treatments applied. Those fabrics and treatments aren't all made by Gore, they're buying from multiple mills, with different constructions and costs. Like most things you can buy cheaper Gore that tends not to perform quite as well, or more expensive. Brands like 7mesh and Arc'teryx might choose similar materials from Gore's portfolio, for performance reasons. Brands that want to hit lower price points will choose differently to get the right price/performance ratio to provide value to their customers. Montane's a quality brand. On the materials side I'd expect we're using materials with similar waterproof and breathability stats. If you want to consider where we might be different on those stats, they'll both be waterproof, differences would come from how the design impacts breathability. We maximize breathable surface area. This is very real. Everywhere something is glued or taped in a jacket breathability is reduced to Zero. Tape, velcro, zipper installs, glued pocket surfaces, logo backings. Some brands honestly appear unaware of this and glue stuff all over the place. We don't think you'll find a higher surface breathability ratio than ours on a high quality jacket. For example we believe we're using narrower seam tape than anyone, including Arc'teryx who pioneered that work in the past. A 2mm reduction in seam width adds up fast over 8-10 metres of tape. Beyond the stats, we think we shine on fit and features. For these jackets we focused on weight, packability, and versatility. The Air is in a class of its own, the Apex is one that is more easily compared to other jackets. Most alpine-origin jackets have challenges on the bike, but yours is working for you. Since you're happy with the fit and feature set, stick with it.

@HB208: I'm not arguing with you, just sharing info. Formerly the Pro membrane was different so thought that might be helpful. On the pricing & denier conversation, we don't know the exact fabrics the Alpha SV uses, but this might be informative: the 70d Pro we use on our Thunderpant, costs only 4.5% more than the 40d, Non-Pro used in the Guardian Apex.

@geephlow: I checked with our service team and this doesn’t sound familiar to them, but could have been handled by a prior employee. It’s not in line with our policy. Our service manager is happy to review what happened if you’d like to share your info with them. service @ 7mesh.com

We had a temporary closure to open a new warehouse, we're back up to full speed.

@slmslvn: You're right, the zippers on the pants are different. Guardians are built to be waterproof and use a Watertight YKK zipper. The Grit pant is not waterproof and does not have a Watertight zip, it's built to blend water resistance and air permeability for mixed conditions. It's been a successful product for us but your experience doesn't sound pleasant! I haven't seen that feedback before so I'll share this with our service and product team.

All Gore-Tex fabrics perform over 28K for waterproofness and breathability. They don’t like to provide details beyond that because it’s not really a great proxy for real world performance.