Get yourself a military parka (think Liam Gallagher Style) they were designed for soldiers who were outside in arctic temperatures..... plus you would look cooler than if you were wearing any other coat!

The Parka was cool, but it isnt windproof nor water proof, however the liner inside is a great bit of kit!

I would like to own a coat ... but when would I wear it ...

The thing is, the vast majority of your time you wont be out in arctic temperatures, so you will be way too hot in it in normal circumstances....

I must be odd because I quite like the smell of damp wool...

but then I grew up on a sheep farm, and it reminds me of home.

Not really puffa style, just thick. The 3-in-1s have the advantages of suiting three types of weather. The padded/thicker jackets are just a bit cheaper.

iaink makes many good points about what you're actually doing outside and for how long; out to the car, from the parking lot to the store and back again etc.

We don't drive and it's me cycling, so I have a warm 3-in-1 jacket. I do the bulk of the snow clearing too. The kids just need to be warm for the short times they are outside and that's much less than me. The cheaper jacket is adequate for that - especially when they'll outgrow anything soon enough.

i live in Edmonton mate

What Iaink said still applies.

In a tent?

My point was that unless you plan spending hours outside in extreme conditions, you dont need extreme gear. Come to think of it, most of the the Hydro linesmen who do spend hours outside working in extreme conditions seem to get all their stuff from Marks Work Wearhouse anyway...

yeah your right, i find the cold isnt actually that bad to be honest, its more important to wear gloves and cover your ears than have a huge coat. But the oasis parka is still cool as, and i want one!!!!

Apply liberal quantities of goose fat, and then roll about in straw, before wrapping yourself up in clingfilm. This way you can still wear your stylish lightweight summer jacket all winter without the need for cumbersome fleeces or Oasis-style parkas.

The local indigenous population prefer to achieve the same effect through the liberal consumption of double doubles and timbits...

Observers are divided over which is the more evil smelling approach...

I've spent 3 winters working outdoors and find a Carhartt coat (like this: http://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/s...tegoryId=10927) perfectly adequate to keep warm - just increase/decrease layers underneath according to weather. The coat's stood up to countless washings, dries quickly and hasn't torn or shown any undue wear. I expect to get at least another couple of winters out of it.

We're not really planning on spending much time outside in winter (how silly would that be ) but then again I can't stand the thought of being cooped up for several months, you can only do so many jigsaws and sooner or later the batteries in the guitar (for Guitar Hero obviously) will need replacing, so we'll eventually have to venture outside.

But someone told me that even if you're only nipping from house-car, car-mall, etc. you should always carry warm clothes, flask of coffee etc. incase you break down cos you may freeze to death in the car. So it may be that these super-super jackets we get will be more for adorning the back seat of the car!

The flask of coffee is probably overkill, but you should definitely have a plan B in the car in the winter. However, once its there its not like you then need to plan specifically for each trip.

Honestly, most of the time by the time the car is warmed up, I'm trying to get my jacket off If I'm driving more than 20 mins. Canada is not totally wilderness


As an asside I think you really need to embrace the winter and get out there and enjoy it on the nice days, other wise you will end up resenting it and end up back in the UK before too long.