I bought my Filo on December 4th 2009, and received it a few days later. As discussed on the AlpKit page, due to high demand, the only colours I could get before Christmas were bright yellow or bright orange. I lumped for orange, dubbed “Jaffa”.

I measured myself roughly around the chest, and went for a medium in size according to the provided sizing chart on the AlpKit website. I’m probably a medium in most jackets, so this was good. Over just a jumper, there’s a lot of room inside, but with a jacket on it fits snugly. My large-sized Pro-Lite hardshell fits over the top without compressing the fill too much, although the cuffs poke out the end.

There is a little bleeding of colour around some of the stitching (pics to follow), and the jacket doesn’t come with a pack-bag. For the couple of occasions I’ve taken it out on the hills with me, I’ve used a spare compression sack, without needing to compress it as yet due to excess space in my rucksack.

Worn it around town in the cold of this December and it’s been toasty. On the hills, I took it up Skiddaw in the thigh-deep snow at christmas time, and it was a delight to pull on at rest stops, providing instant warmth and comfort. I look forward to getting more use of of this.

The first time I purchased from Alpkit, I was after a bouldering mat. I was looking at the Phud, at a price of £80, but they offered a deal with the Woomf (£50 on it’s own) for £110. £30 for a second (if smaller) mat seemed like a bargain to me, so 2 mats it was. I ordered at 2.45pm on a Thursday and received a prompt confirmation email. It wasn’t packed and shipped until the Friday, however, with notice of shipping being sent out but no tracking number. The parcel arrived on the Monday.

A nice touch Alpkit provide is including a handwritten thankyou-note with every order.

Subsequent purchase – Filo down jacket

In late November/December 09, I decided I wanted a down jacket ready for the winter; largely as I was going to be spending christmas itself in the lake district. I’d previously looked at the Filo jackets, thinking they looked very good value at £60. Sadly, when I went to look at the Alpkit website, they were sold out of the 08 model, and awaiting shipment of the 09 jacket, the price of which had risen to £75.

I signed up for the waiting list, and a couple of weeks later they came in, but with the warning that they were to be fast to sell out! I dilly-dallied over whether I really needed one, and alas when I finally made my mind there were basically 2 colours left – bright yellow or bright orange. I’m pretty awesome, though, and fortunately not a woman, so the colour didn’t bother me too much and I plumped for orange. I ordered at 2:52pm on a Friday, and it shipped the following Monday. It arrived on the Tuesday.

On the Thursday, I received another email from Alpkit that their next batch was not going to be in before christmas, so I’m glad I got in when I did.