Snugpak Enhanced Patrol Poncho - Black

The poncho is very good, comfortable, and solidly made. It’s not one of the cheapest, but as soon as you take it out of the packaging, you can see what you’re paying for. The quality makes a very good impression — there are no loose threads or uneven seams. I can recommend it with complete confidence.

I’ve already used it on three multi-day trips outdoors, and so far it has performed quite well — it doesn’t leak and it’s comfortable to wear. The chest pocket turned out to be more useful than I expected, and the biggest advantage is the thumb holes in the sleeves. Overall, I can recommend this poncho without hesitation.

I’m giving three stars for the cut and thoughtful design. The model is simple, roomy, and free of unnecessary gimmicks. An urban backpack with a capacity of around 30 litres will fit underneath it without any problem, and possibly even a slightly larger one, without reducing carrying comfort or rain protection. The short sleeves and thumb loops are an interesting idea, but they have their limitations. The loops can be used comfortably by people up to around 175 cm tall, possibly up to 180 cm, although at that point they already start to pull and press on the thumb. At a height of 185 cm and above, they are practically unusable because you can’t freely straighten your arms. The sleeves themselves also turn out to be too short then. Unfortunately, I had to return this “little coat” because of very poorly executed seam taping. Along almost the entire length of the hood seam, air bubbles were visible under the sealing tape, and the situation looked similar on the other seams. It gave the impression that the material was old or had been stored improperly. I’ve seen a similar effect in an old waterproof jacket when the membrane started to delaminate and the seam tapes began to peel away. This kind of finishing will not provide lasting waterproofness and will start leaking over time. So it seems that the product either lay folded in its packaging for too long, or quality control failed. With gear at this price point, something like this should not happen. This is the first time I’ve been disappointed by the brand with the shell logo. I hope the long storage of this particular item before it was shipped to the retailer was to blame, and not the quality standards, because I own several of their jackets and have been very satisfied with them so far, but here I got an unpleasant surprise.