Ski Gear Review – Spyder Men’s Trigger GTX Jacket, Sun colorReviewer: Dale Dow, Engineer, Age 61, 5’-6”, 160 lb.Skill Level: Advanced on-piste, Occasional powder / off-piste treks, ex-ski instructorStates Skied: California, Utah, Colorado, NevadaWelcome to my review of the Spyder Trigger GTX Jacket. I hope you enjoy!I have owned several ski jackets over the years. I started skiing when I was 12, and that was 1972. I’ve skied every year, many days per year, and have used many, many ski clothing brands in my skiing career: Columbia, North Face, Mother Karen’s (dating myself again), Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Hot Chillys, just to name a few. I have always leaned towards GoreTex, primarily because California snow can be quite wet, and Gore-Tex has always kept me the driest. Dry is good, right?As I start this review, I am awaiting delivery of the jacket from Amazon, and I will continue the review as it arrives, is unboxed, and tried at home. Finally, I will field test the jacket’s performance and summarize my full assessment at the end of this review. I will review packaging, fit, feel, quality, appearance, portability, warmth, dryness, maintenance, and overall on-hill performance.I lean towards shell garments, layering softer, breathable undergarments to insulate. Goretex works very well for this. I have insulated jackets as well, but I prefer the portability of hard shell top layers the most. With that said, I opted for insulated this time, and honestly, it’s because the price was excellent. At $195 on Amazon in early January, 2022, this is a great deal. Also, I try to find deals on 3L GoreTex, but seldom do. The Spyder Trigger is a 2L GoreTex that is stretchable, so this is a new material for me. I’m excited to use it, abuse it, and let y’all know the results.I received an email from Amazon today saying the jacket will arrive earlier than planned. I’m sure this is due to the downturn of activity there, since I ordered the jacket the week after Christmas.Arrival:The jacket just showed up via USPS. It was soft-packed in a large shipping bag, with an inner bag as well. The tags are attached, and everything seems to be in order. Tags included a Gore-Tex info booklet, Spyder price tag ($349), a couple of feature tags, and a 3M Thinsulate tag. One pocket had a silica gel pack for moisture prevention. There are no flaws, and the Sun color is stunning. I’m a big fan of yellow, and this sucker is as bright as its namesake, the SUN! Very nice.First Impressions:Quality and design is good to very good, maybe even excellent. Certainly, this is way more jacket than the Amazon sale price of $195 indicates. The fit is excellent for my build, which is 40” chest, but a relatively smaller guy of 5’6”. It feels tailored to my breadth, but a little longer than I am used to. This will likely be great for deeper powder and sloppy falls. The thinsulate is fluffed well and is evenly and properly distributed and anchored. I love the contrasting black Spyder logo on the shoulder against the bright yellow. This jacket presents very well. Quality is excellent.Features:The jacket has a nice helmet-sized hood that fits my helmet well, detachable with a 5” zipper and Velcro ends. Once removed, the zipper and Velcro attachments are nicely concealed by fitted flaps. The hood has an adjustable cinch cord to tighten it around your helmet, or face, whichever you prefer.The sleeves are smooth polyester with stretchy thumb-cuffs to assist in donning your mittens or gloves. I like this feature very much. The left sleeve sports a cash / credit card / keys pocket down low near the wrist. This is another feature that was obviously designed by a skier. The outer cuffs have large openings with 4” of adjustability with contrasting Velcro strips sewn cleanly into the materials. Finally, there is a contrasting Gore-Tex logo on the left cuff.The collar with the hood off is quite comfortable, but the opening needs to be just a tad looser, for when you zip up all the way and don’t want the material binding on your chin and mouth. It fits mine, but my nose does touch when it’s zipped all the way up. The collar interior is lined with soft microfiber material and is cozy, to be sure. There is a 2” material loop for hanging the jacket on a hook as well. The interior shoulders have a mesh covering, both for wear and breathability.Inside, there are two large mesh pockets placed strategically for holding your mittens or gloves while you’re warming your hands by the fire at the Mid-Lodge, or holding a cold beer and a burger; another skier-inspired feature. Just below these interior mesh pockets is the powder skirt, which is sewn in and has snapping flaps in the front to pull it around your mid-section, keeping the nasty cold stuff out of your chonies. At the bottom of the jacket, there are two draw-cords for tightening the jacket around your hips in severe weather and deep pow.Outside, there is a black Spyder text logo on the shoulder, and spider figure on the right breast area. On the Next to this, there is a phone pocket with a contrasting black waterproof zipper. The material is slightly stretchy, expanding maybe 3/8” with a firm tug. For warmer afternoons, two pit-vents with waterproof zippers are located in the arm pits under the sleeves. These zip down to allow air to flow through the interior mesh cover of the vent. The large exterior hand pockets are roomy and lined with soft, stretchy material. The zippers are waterproof type with rubber tipped tug-strings, and when zipped up, they tuck nicely into a flap.Pre-Use Overall ImpressionsThe quality of the stitching is superb, the materials are unflawed and well constructed, and the design is obviously skier-inspired and well tested. I already see great value, certainly at the price point I was able to snag this jacket. I am excited about the performance testing of this jacket; one, because it will allow me to wrap up this novel of a review, and two, it means I get to ski!Performance TestingNothing scientific here; just my personal feelings about how well the jacket is performing. Walking from the 4Runner to the ticket line, it is 15 degrees F., and I’m more than toasty. Walking in cold temperature test is COMPLETE. It’s plenty warm.The dripping ice sickle over my head as I stand in line for my China Peak lift ticket offers a steady flow of water for my bead test. Granted, this is a new jacket, but the water beads off like it’s scared of the color. It leaves behind nary a wet stain, or even trace of water on the material. Test #2, Encountering Light Rainfall (or ancillary water), COMPLETE. It’s doing well so far.Tucking my mittens into the mesh pockets just inside the jacket holds them safely from loss. Reaching for my credit card is a joy, being that it is in a pocket near my left wrist. Very convenient. Test #3, Storing of Commonly Accessed Items is COMPELTE. Good good.Sitting onto the chairlift with snow on the seat reveals that the length of the jacket is substantial, completely covering and protecting my sensitive butt cheeks from the cold stuff. My hamstrings feel the snow, but my old fanny is toasty and dry. Test #4, Butt Cheek Coverage is COMPLETE.Light snowfall sets the stage for test #5, and while the flakes readily melt, the jacket hasn’t absorbed any of the moisture yet. The Gore-Tex breathes well, like most 2L Gore products, and this jacket is no exception. After three runs, there is beading water from the melted snow on the shell, but I’m dry as a proverbial bone. Test #5, Light Snowfall is COMPLETE. Dandy job so far, Spyder.Towards the end of the day, I realized I had no heavy snowfall, but I am guessing the Spyder Trigger GTX will do fine. Also, I haven’t test heavy rain yet, but I’m probably going to just go stand in the sprinklers later to test that.SummarySo, with hindsight, I actually do have some suggestions for Spyder. First, possibly loosen the face area when the zipper is fully up. It’s a tad confining. Second, use fleece in the main body pockets, that way, when I tuck my bare hands in, they warm a bit quicker and feel snugglier (if that’s a word). Maybe consider fleece in the sleeves, but I’m not sure that wouldn’t make this jacket too warm. It’s already very toasty.I must say, that BY A MILE, this jacket beats my other go-to jacket, whose brand name will remain anon (a well-known compass direction coupled with the front of your head), and that jacket cost me over $500. Spyder is rapidly becoming my critical equipment manufacturer, if this is an example of their budget stuff. Great job on this one, guys.