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Backpacker Magazine – November 2010
Time-Tested Gear: Essentials
Apparel, cookware, stoves...swimsuits?
Main: Arctery'x Beta (Courtesy Photo) Inset: Theta (W.L. Gore & Associates)
Arc’teryx Beta AR | MSR XGK EX Stove | Swimsuit Models? | Minimalist pioneer Ray Jardine | Field Notes | Editors’ Choice Hall of Fame
| Expert Wisdom | All Time-Tested Gear
| Expert Wisdom | All Time-Tested Gear
Tried and True
Arc’teryx Beta AR
It was love at first sight in 1997 when testers tried on the Beta’s predecessor, the Theta (inset). Until then, we had never called a rainshell “sexy.” The Theta was sleek and clean and precise-fitting, to be sure, but the construction was all business: rugged three-layer Gore-Tex, waterproof zippers (the first ever), and dialed features, like a skull-hugging, one-hand-adjustable hood. The jacket worked so well in the field that we gave it an Editors’ Choice Award in 1998. The latest version, the Beta AR, is even more impressive. Made of Gore-Tex Pro Shell (W.L.’s most durable and breathable waterproof fabric yet), the Beta is a 14-ounce torso-fortress that kept testers dry in Colorado storms above 11,000 feet, with drenching rain and 30-mph winds. And yes, it’s still drop-dead gorgeous. $450; 14 oz. (men’s M); m’s XS-XXL, w’s XS-XL; arcteryx.com.
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READERS COMMENTS
...by the way,
I can fly from Tennessee to Montana ROUND TRIP for less than that.
And I will. (With my Columbia jacket at 1/6 the price that has never failed, but has neither been reviewed.)
$450. "You've got to be kidding" is right.
Backpacker staff,
Can we please get recommendations for real people. Historically, you have very good, descriptive reviews. But many of these reviews are practically worthless. We, your most loyal fans, are on average, in the average income bracket. Imagine that. Heads up.
The beta is expensive but well worth the money a few of my friends used them in Wyoming this summer and they didn't get wet at all while I was using an unnamed jacket and it took me three hours by the fire to dry of. Huge amount of money but you will probably never have to replace it.
Come on Kristin. I'll renew too.
$450. You've got to be kidding.
How about it, Kristin? I'll renew my subscription for modeling a swimsuit.
Take a second and help a fellow BP reader win a trip to Glacier NP: http://stinkatnothing.com/?p=619
Let me know when Kristin signs on to be the model for the next swimsuit issue ... ;-)
I just want to renew
3216 meghan dr
Bellevue NE 68123
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