Me: I'm 6'2" 240lbs.
Suit: XL Durtschi Diary suit (aka Hybrid jacket and Varcity pants)
Location: PNW (Snoqualmie WA)
Outerwear fit:
I like my outerwear to fit baggy. Almost outrageously baggy. But there is a method to my madness. The older I get, the more I realize that I need to wear impact gear under my outerwear because I don't recover as fast as much of you young'uns, so I like my outerwear to be baggy enough to allow me to wear impact shorts and knee gaskets that will soften the impacts from the park.
I think it goes without saying that SAGA's fit is baggy... the key here is that it's "technically" baggy. The fit of the jacket is long but not overly "fat" in other words, you get the tall fit, without any of the excess material that causes the bulkiness we all hate. What I really noticed about the pants is that despite having an extremely long inseam, the diameter of the leg is not too wide. Once again, this comes in handy as a skier because you don't have the extra material impeding your mobility in the park... or wherever you ride.
Technicality
Waterproofing: 20k/20k, need I say more? The suit kept me dry, even in the wet environment that is the PNW. It's impressive to see the difference between my older 10k suit compared to the SAGA suit. The water just beads off effortlessly. In my 10k suit, the water beads off, but if it remains on the material it eventually is absorbed by the material. This, simply did not happen with SAGA. Waterproofing a scam? I think not.
Warmth: It's a shell, it's not going to be too warm. However, I found that wearing a hoodie under the jacket helped. In fact, in 25-30F it was almost too warm to ski in a hoodie... I was comfortable simply wearing a t-shirt over a thermal. So, despite the lack of insulation, it's still pretty warm.
Versatility:
The jacket has plenty of pockets to store your stuff in. There was one pocket on the left sleeve that was not sewn and so when I put some change in there, the coins actually got lost up the sleeve, but it's probably just a manufacturer defect that didn't impede the product from what it was meant to do, so I chalked it up to chance.
I have two complaints with the jacket. First, no wrist gaiters. This might just be personal opinion, but I hate getting snow up my sleeves and gaiters really help in this department. My solution, I just cut out holes in my thermal... but still, just a suggestion. Second, I like the jacket/pants interface thing they got going on. When you connect the two interlocking straps it scrunches up the pants and keeps them up , but this is only on the back. Also, the middle velcro closure is placed right where the middle belt-loop is and so you have to put it off to the side causing the pants to twist up top. This strap should be split into two and placed on either side of the belt loop to prevent the problem. One thing I would like to see, but probably would be to expensive is an interface system like what I had in my Holden suit, where the jacket powder skirt zips onto the pant. That thing was awesome and it kept both the back and the front of the pant up, not just the back. With this type of system, you wouldn't need suspenders to keep your pants up (sorry sagstraps).
Durability
Here's another concern for me, but one that is so far unfounded. When i felt the material, I grew a bit concerned with how thin it felt. Granted, in looking over the pants, I noticed how areas that are prone to abrasion where double layered, so if you were to rip through the first layer, you still had a second layer protecting you. Everything seems reinforced well. However, while skiing, despite not falling on boxes or rails (claim!), the simple banging of my boots on the material caused small tears that went through both layers. Granted, this happens to ALL outerwear, but I was just bit disconcerted with the ease the material tears. Oh and to add context, I had not done jumps that day and had not fallen (yet) but decided to sit with my feet staggered and rested one leg on top of the other ski, and just from that pressure on the ski edge, the pants got sliced. I just ended up putting duct tape over the tears and problem solved, however, it is something that will probably be a problem for people who are pretty aggressive in the park (which, I'm really not). One of the things I heard First Drop Outerwear was doing was stitching around the leg area to prevent the tears from enlarging, which seems like a good solution to the problem, because eventually those tears just keep getting longer and longer from the stress imparted on that area of the pant. Other than this minor problem, the outerwear seems pretty resilient.
Overall impression
I'm very impressed with the suit. To be honest, I don't think I would buy another suit from another company for as long as I ski. I'm impressed with the variety of colorways available, the fit of the outerwear and the overall design.
My overall rating is probably an 8.5/10, and that is me being completely practical. I'll even venture as far as saying it would have been a 9/10 if the wrist gaiters and jacket interface system were better, but that's just me being anal.
One thing for sure, for the price I paid ($400) and the suit I got, you just can't argue that the suit is not worth.
So go buy SAGA... their colors run deep!
