Arcteryx, Patagonia

I just bought a jacket from a UK based climbing company called Rab. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they seem to be the UK equivalent of Patagonia, but very climbing focused vs general outdoors. It looks like they have a similar return and repair policy to Patagonia.

Patagonia is better than Arc these days, unfortunately

Patagonia is tops and it isn’t very close.

Agree with Arcteryx and Patagonia

That's so sad to hear about arc.

Yeah…they sold the parent company in 2019 and it hasn’t been the same since. Sad times.

Patagonia is wonderful and extremely environmentally conscious! They would get my #1 rank!

LL Bean used to have a lifetime warranty but I believe they changed it to 1 year with proof of purchase. That being said, I’ve had an LL Bean jacket that I’ve had for about 12 years and it’s still in really good condition and keeps me plenty warm.

The answer you seek will fail you as there is no answer. The simple answer is to find the manufacturer with the longest warranty. The real issue is people who think they can use their LL Bean jacket as a backstop at the archery range and get SuperMAD when they don't get it replaced for $0. The reason for fine print is for dickbutts and as long as you take care of your jacket and don't place unrealistic expectations on it, the warranty should be fine.

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I ski a lot, and I’ve been really happy with Patagonia and Arcteryx, as others have mentioned. My husband and I have both had Arcteryx warranty replacements for items (hard shell jacket and ski pants) and were reasonably happy with the process. The problem is the warranty process takes a long time. In my case, the waterproofing on the seam of the seat of my snow pants failed. But it takes them like 6 weeks to process it, and since it was my only pair of snow pants I basically just dealt with a wet seat until the season ended to send them in. Not ideal, but they did send me a new pair.

While it might not be “warranty”, I’ve also had excellent luck getting stuff repaired with Arcteryx and North Face. Repair jobs were <$100 and saved the item (one item was accidentally too close to a stove and caught on fire, another was a big puncture hole).

I just want to throw out there too that taking good care of your stuff really extends the life. Gear is meant to used so don’t treat it precious, but stuff like gortex is meant to be washed more frequently than you’d think, and this often refreshes the waterproof membrane and helps seams from delaminating. There’s lots of great videos on caring for your outerwear out there.

Patagonia for our house! They’ve replaced many things - my husband got 3 underwear from goodwill and the waistbands were shot and they gave him credit for new pairs, we sent in a fleece he got on eBay from the 80s that ended up being way small and shrunken and we were fine with their recycle program but they gave us like an $80 credit, I sent in a jacket to repair the snow skirt that got torn but it was also ragged after years of use (dirty, tons of holes from a sparky fire pit, etc) and they gave us a few hundred dollar credit to just replace it. We’ve had other items they’ve fixed (like a broken zipper) with no issues. I still have the same jacket I bough 8 years ago and it still feels brand new, it just has stains because I’m messy. The key is making sure you get the right wash, clean it appropriately, and dry things with dryer balls to get the right fluff back.

I haven’t had to use any warranties for Rab, but the items I do have from them are excellent quality.

Arcteryx, Mamut

Is Mamut the Euro version of Marmot?

Patagonia hands down.

Again, you have a valid concern. But you can't ask the internet about it. If you do, you will receive a response from Carl who wore a Columbia jacket for 10 years, had a zipper failure and his zipper was replaced for $0. And you will receive a response from Sally who wore the same Columbia jacket for 5 years and her warranty was denied after sliding 200 feet due to a 45MPH motorcycle collision. Carl is happy and tells you to have no fear. Sally is Big Mad and says Columbia is literal Satan.

Ignorant consumers always blame the fine print for their being a fuck head. Now there are companies that are also fuck heads, but you will find that its more consumers than companies.

Arcteryx is waaaaay down. Much worse customer service than in the past.

Patagonia is the best by a country mile. It used to be that Arcteryx were good too, but now they are very bad.

You are the type of person who ruins things for other people. You claimed a warranty on a multiple pairs of used underwear you bought from goodwill? So basically you purposefully buy cheap, near garbage stuff knowing you are going to do a warranty claim? That is how your entire post reads. Poor form.

No different brand, it’s like the Swiss Patagonia.

The most expensive. If you want it to last buy Carhart Actice with Duck. If you are not doing hot work, welding,cutting, fabricating, it will last a life time. Oh yes buy with buttons as zippers fail.

We called first to ask if they’d replace the waistbands (he was totally willing to wear them with a new waistband), they said to send them in and they’d see, then they credited them. The warranty extends to all their products, so who cares if I bought it from them or goodwill? Someone paid full price for them in the beginning and they chose to donate them instead of warranty it themselves. The fleece we were sending to their recycling program, not the warranty program as I said in my initial post, and they still sent us credit. The jacket was paid for brand new, I only wanted the snow skirt replaced that did get torn due to bad stitching because I would have continued to wear it, and they replaced the jacket instead. I’m not going to say no to them replacing stuff/giving credit when they are the ones offering. Between my husband and kids, we’ve spend many thousand dollars on brand new gear from Patagonia in addition to used gear, so yes, I will accept whatever replacement choice they offer.

Read the room, I’m not the only one who feels this way. There is a big difference between a product failing from normal use in a normal time period then doing a warranty claim …….and abusing a generous warranty program. It’s not hard to figure out what column you’d fall under.

Their warranty specifically says they will repair things for wear and tear at a reasonable change. Everything I’ve sent in has been under that aside from the fleece, which was again sent in to their recycling program. We bought the sweater as a size L, it fit like an xsmall and the texture was awful so we knew no one else would want to wear it. I didn’t expect anything for that. They are the ones that chose to replace things. Why would I say no to that? I’ve sent in many other items for repair that have been repaired that I’m still using. These were just examples of why I’m happy spending, again, THOUSANDS of dollars on Patagonia. I’m not abusing anything.

Arteryx guarantees products even to the next owner, when bought used…

I think the warranties are against defects (broken zippers, etc.), during the item's reasonable lifetime, not your lifetime. Even a well cared for jacket will wear out if worn daily for years and years, at which point it has reached the end of it's reasonable lifetime. I don't think anyone is promising a magic jacket that will last for 60+ years of use.

I have had two Rab jackets, both several years old. The older of the two is still in prime shape and the other the lining came apart entirely so they're hit and miss in my experience. I'd go Patagonia over Rab in the future.

Good to know. Did you try reaching out to them for repair or replacement? It seems like their policies are pretty generous, but thibgs could be different on paper vs how they treat it in real life.

Wuxly has a five-year warranty on their coats and parkas:

https://wuxly.com/pages/warranty-and-repairs

Outdoor research has an infinity warranty. They warrantied a pair of (expensive) mittens that had just worn out after nearly a decade of snowboarding and snowblowing. It was painless, no receipt required and they let me keep the worn out pair. Fantastic quality and service l.

I love seeing everyone recommending Patagonia, as I recently got a pair of hemp overalls from them, and hope it basically lasts me to the day i die.

So far i find them real comfy, and although a bit wary of getting them badly stained. So far all stains have easily washed out.

That's the thing though... companies can offer lifetime warranty when their stuff is high quality.

If it's just a 1 year, that means they can reduce the quality and not be inundated with claims... anytime a company reduces a Warranty I get scared that they're cutting production costs. But they always keep prices high because their brand reputation is still high. They then rake in profits till we learn our lesson

I still have a Patagonia windbreaker with lifetime warranty from my freshman High School days back in the late 2000's and its still intact; however recently the YKK zipper broke after years of use and I headed over to my local Patagonia store and they fixed it no questions asked.

I love carhaarts. They’re wonderful for a bad winter. My dad has a Columbia 3/4 length coat with the metallic silver/gold lining they come with now. He swears it keeps him sweating. I’m in NYC. coldest it gets is real feel -5. Don’t happen too often.

I didn’t actually try… I should have seen if they would have replaced it. The lining was completely delaminated beyond repair (it was a rain jacket).