Cold Weather Suits

[ksbuckshot]

Been looking at cold weather suits web sites for Ice Armor & Arctic Armor. Both appear to be warm, windproof & rainproof. The Arctic Armor site says their suit has enough buoyancy to float the weight of three men.
Their site IDIGEAR.COM has several video's of the buoyancy in action. Pretty impressive. Wondering if anyone has any experience with either of these or any other brands of cold weather suits.
Thanks for any input on cold weather ware you can provide.
ksbuckshot

[KAG]

I used a Mustang for several years......

If you are going to go the expense and effort of actually getting and wearing one start by understanding Immersion Clo values and the corresponding survival times/temp.

Then you will be able to see what you actually need for kansas.

The only one I have personal experience with is a Mustang

[Crappiewhipped]

I purchased the Artic Armor suit and have used it alot this winter. It is really warm and it is light weight and very comfortable.It is very easy to put on and take off because of the way it is made. Luckily I have not tested the floatation qualities but I watched the videos like you did and I was impressed as well. I feel this suit will make a huge difference if I ever fell in the water. So far I am very pleased with it and happy I got it.

[DroptineJoe]

I have had the Artic Armor for the last 2 Winters, wear it all of the time when its cold out(it is very warm), and absolutely love it!! I did have the zipper stop on the parka fall off last year?

[LBM]

I've had the Ice Armour since January 2008 without any durability issues whatsoever and absolutely love it for the warmth factor. If I ever go in the water with this suit I'll sink like a rock if the inflatable doesn't work. Doug has Arctic Armour and really likes his suit. After seeing he had some issues with some seams on his suit I now think the outer fabric on my Ice Armour is somewhat a more durable fabric than what is on the Arctic Armour. As for me I think that if I would ever be immersed in icy water, floating or sinking, with either suit it would be very very quickly lights out for me.

[laltec]

I went with the striker ice suit... floats... striker doesnt have the issues with customer service you read about with artic armor. And there are vents under the arms and legs to solve some of the over heating problems people have reported with artic armor. I bought the light and have never been cold in it to date

[ksbuckshot]

Thanks to all for your input. Just the kind of information I was looking for. I appreciate it.

[dkv]

I went with the striker ice suit... floats... striker doesnt have the issues with customer service you read about with artic armor. And there are vents under the arms and legs to solve some of the over heating problems people have reported with artic armor. I bought the light and have never been cold in it to date[/QUOTE]

Thank u for this post, now I have found my winter wear for next year.

[SCOTTY1094]

I have the frabil insulated suit very warm it even has a zipper so you can pee without getting undressed alot of them dont you dont realize how important that is till it is 10 degrees 30mph wind and it hits you. You will wish you had a zipper. I HAD ICEARMOUR AND I LIKE THE FRABILL ALOT BETTER.

[slabby joe]

Like Lee said I have the Artic Armour, it's very light and easy to move in. The only issue I had was the lining inside on the bottom of the coat wore off in about a 3in.x2in. spot....I called the company and they said they would send me some fabric to cover the worn spot but I'd have sew it myself....not great customer service but having coldweather gear that will float was my main reason for buying this product....I hadn't heard about the Striker gear when I ordered mine and if it's just as buoyant as the Artic Armour I'd definetly check them out. Good luck.