BMW Tourshell VS. Klim Latitude...

Yeah, I know, they are different jackets.

But, I am riding a Darien now & it is too big for me, so want to get another waterproof jacket, but one with armor that stays better in place, is more modern, etc... I like it, but I don't LOVE it.

So, I went to the local dealer to see if they had a Latitude. No, they had the $899 Badlands, but I am in the $550 range here... I liked the fit of the Badlands, then Dirk had me try the Tourshell on. I liked the fit quite a bit, but noticed the lack of exterior pockets. The back protector rode up a bit to my neck while on the bike, but I've read other reviews where they trimmed it a bit. I really liked the neck closure on it, and quality seemed top notch.

So...

Anybody try both? Have one & love it, have one & hate it?

FYI, I use a heated liner, so the jacket lining is not a big deal to me, but I want waterproof, windproof & also the ability to let it breathe in summer.

I'm in California, a Darien with the heater is always warm enough.

I ride an RT, I don't want to get caught up that one is an "adventure" jacket & one a "touring", I just want to spend my money the best I can.

Thanks!

John.

John, I bought the Badlands Jacket and Pants and could not be happier with them. They performed flawlessly in 10 days of rain in Alaska in June, a freezing drizzle on Cherohala Skyway 2 weeks ago and snow in Park City Utah last week followed by rain from Salt Lake most of the way to Las Vegas. One feature I did not fully appreciate when I bought the jacket was the kidney belt. Now I love it and feel undressed without it.

I have jackets and pants by Olympia, Revit, First Gear, Bates and BMW but the Klim has become my "go to" suit of choice since it has never made sense to me when it starts raining to have to remove your jacket and pants to put a liner on underneath and then get redressed. God Bless GoreTex.

Yes, it is pricey but blah, blah, blah. If it makes any difference in justifying the price (I'm not sure my kids or SO will be seen with me) but I plan to wear my Klim suit skiing (and snowmobiling) this year instead of springing for a new ski outfit -- thereby helping to justify the cost -- at least in my own mind.

I wanted the BMW at one point but opted for the Klim Badlands. No regrets, it just feels right for me. Slightly heavy but most of that is in heavy duty materials and padding. I have worn it for a year now, and only 2 days of rain, one in ice at Crater Lake and the other just a downpour, no failure. Some have complained about the tall stiff collars on it and the Latitude, I like the tall sized protection and it is adjustable. FYI, in 90 degree wx it is extremely cool with tons of air flowing thru not only the 8 vents, but thru the Gore Pro material. Very different to old Gore products.
Allen.

Two questions:

Comparing Klim jackets, how does the Badlands compare against the Latitude?

And comparing within the same price range, how does the Badlands compare against the BMW Rallye 3?

I like the price range of the Latitude but haven't seen a Klim jacket in person. I've seen the Rallye at the local dealer, it looks like an awesome jacket, but the price is steep.

Hi John,
I ride an RT, and managed a cross Canada / US trip this summer with the Badlands. Here's my thoughts.

On the plus side, I think the Klim is well made, well thought out. I feel very secure in it. It has good form fitting soft D3o armour, which is comfortable, including a nice back protector and a chest protector. The kidney belt sold it for me, as it provides a lot of support for long rides, and really does relieve some of the weight of the jacket. I don't mind the collar, but I do ride with the left side flap fixed open. Pants are comfy if a bit loose fitting around the calve/boot. I rode in all manner of weather, and with synthetics and vents open, there's great airflow for 90degree asphalt melting days ( Chicago), or 32 degree night riding ( crows nest pass). Pockets work great. Lots of good reflectivity. Goretex let's you forego the internal rain liner junk.. So no stopping when it starts raining. A big plus.

The nigly bits. I found the hook and loop fastener chews up the grey material a bit around the chest area. The internal Velcro on the kidney belt chews up my synthetic riding shirt a bit. The Velcro on the arm tightness adjustment stopped working on one side, too short. So need to be careful with washing machines etc.. Finally, side vent zippers are hard to reach when riding.. Just awkward to use.

That's it. I found with goretex stuff, and merino base layers etc, the amount of gear I need to take with me now has been reduced to a backpack, .. A major simplification of my travelling caravan..

Hope this helps.
Also recommended, the Klim Element gloves, Daytona goretex boots , smart wool base layers, tide laundry packets for sink laundry ;)

[QUOTE=apexal;831585]Two questions:

Comparing Klim jackets, how does the Badlands compare against the Latitude?

And comparing within the same price range, how does the Badlands compare against the BMW Rallye 3?

I like the price range of the Latitude but haven't seen a Klim jacket in person. I've seen the Rallye at the local dealer, it looks like an awesome jacket, but the price is steep.[/QUOTE]

OK, a few owners of the Badlands chime in... Now I think I may want one... Was looking at the Latitude 840 originally, so a comparo would be nice. FWIW, the dealer had a Badlands, not a Latitude...

I do like the option of a drink bladder in the Badlands. I don't care to have a Hydropak as an add on, I'd rather put the bladder in a jacket if I can. Had that on the Rallye 2, but shrunk out of that jacket as well. Might see if a dealer at the International MC show has a discount...

Keep chiming in, this is a good chunk of change to spend, I'd like to do it wisely.

BMW jacket is a robust jacket armor is excellent,front zipper kills the deal, to small of teeth, much stress it pulls apart from the bottom. Better more heavy duty zips would make a excellent jacket. Plus add some pockets

I just got a Klim Latitude jacket about a month ago so I don't have a lot of
information to report based on my use of it. I'm impressed with how well it's
made, the size is true to size and it has lots of pockets and lots of nice comfort features. The armor in the back is a bit stiff and I think I may swap it out for the more flexible D-3 armor that is available as many who own this jacket have suggested. When you buy a Latitude and register it with Klim you can have a laminated card with your emergency information made up for you by them and that goes in the specially marked emergency pocket on one of the arms, I got mine about a week ago......nice touch. I've worn the jacket as a single layer and with a Gerbings liner and it was great either way. The collar has a drawstring on it so that you can adjust and seal out any incoming wind. I've worn this when it was quite warm as well and found that the venting system was excellent. I haven't had this in the rain yet, but I've had other Gore-Tex jackets and when they say this is both absolutely waterproof and breathable I believe it based on my other experiences with Gore-Tex. So far I like it very much and feel that it may have seemed pricey at first, but has turned out to be a good value for my money so far. Good luck with your choice.

I've been interested in the Klim as well but don't have any close dealers that carry Klim to try it out. How is the comfort? Is the material stiff?

I'm using the Darien pants and they are less stiff now than when they were new but I have been putting off the purchase of the Darien Jacket in hopes of finding a jacket that's less stiff.

The Darien pants are made with 500 Denier Cordura GORE-TEX outer fabric.

I got the older model Klim Latitude from Revzilla and it is stiff, but not too bad. Klim released a newer model of the same jacket that has a more worn and flexible feel as one of it's key features. I find the jacket is quite comfortable and I'm confident will become even more so with wear. I don't have any Klim dealers in my area either and wasn't able to try one on, but I went with the sizing chart that they have on Revzilla's web site and had faith in their return policy. The sizing chart is spot on as far as my sizing was concerned and Revzilla has a pretty good return and exchange policy so I was confident I'd get what I wanted. I don't work for them, but have had pretty positive experiences in buying stuff from them so far, they also offer "Revzilla Bucks" and you get $25 in these when you buy this jacket, they came in handy when I bought my Gerbings T5 gloves. I also like the idea of buying stuff from a company that supports our events, support those that support us as they say.... Good luck with your choice.

Just went and took another look at the Klim latitude 840 and Missano .

I think Klim went a little overboard on their logo's. I'd feel like a billboard.

I got the jacket at A&S BMW in time to ride with it a bit. I wore it for abotu 800 miles and washed it 3 times to loosen it up some. It's pretty stiff, especially in teh collar and cuffs. It was finally broken in after a month in Europe over about 2800 miles (not Km). In Irish rain and fog it does what it is supposed to do - keep you dry. It does breathe and you do need a liner under it in cooler temps. In 90+ heat it vents OK, but you will a have to stop and take it off to open or close the vents - no big deal.

I liked the jacket so much - after it was softened up some - I bought the matching pants. The pants, like the jacket, required some break-in. The armor supplied with the jacket and pants is OK, but way too stiff, especially for the hip armor. I will end up spending almost $350 to replace this junk with the D30 armor. Yes, I aksed about a trade-in/upgrade. KLIM refused to even consider an exchange/upgrade trade-in of the armor- even before the clothing was worn.

A KILM rep at the HU meetign in Cambria told me that KILM is now making the Latitude jacket with softer matreial in the chest area because of the complaints about how stiff the front and the collar are on my gear.

If I could change this gear, I'd have the better armor and make the jacket a tad shorter in the body. It's good stuff, but I don't think I'd buy it again, given their attitude about the armor.

I got the jacket at A&S BMW in time to ride with it a bit. I wore it for about 800 miles and washed it 3 times to loosen it up some. It was uncomfortably stiff, especially in the collar and cuffs. It was finally broken in after a month in Europe over another 2800 miles (not Km). In Irish rain and fog it does what it is supposed to do - keep you dry. It does breathe and you do need a liner under it in cooler temps - no big deal. In 90+ heat it vents OK, but you will have to stop and take it off to open or close the vents - again, no big deal.

I liked the jacket so much - after it was softened up - that I bought the matching pants. The pants, like the jacket, required a lot of break-in to be comfortable. The armor supplied with the jacket and pants is OK, but way too stiff, especially for the hip armor. I will end up spending almost $350 to replace this junk with the D30 armor. Yes, I asked about a trade-in/upgrade. KLIM refused to even consider an exchange/upgrade trade-in of the armor- even before the clothing was worn.

A KLIM rep at the HU meeting in Cambria told me that KLIM is now making the Latitude jacket with softer material in the chest area because of the complaints about the stiffness of the front and the collar.

If I could change this gear, I'd have the better armor and make the jacket a tad shorter in the body. It's good stuff, but I don't think I'd buy it again, given their attitude about the armor.

I wish Klim would lighten up on the logos. I would like to give them a try.

I guess I'll be leaning toward Aerostitch or maybe BMW.

At first I didn't care one way or the other re: KLIM logos, but if they can spend the dough for their name in expensive very high quality reflective material, why not put some more of it on the legs where it shows from the side and rear like 'Stich. I can't see the logos when I wear the gear, so no problem on that score for me.

An advantage of the Darien pants is that I can remove them without taking my boots off. That's more comfortable for setting up camp - no hopping around or sitting in the dirt to remove the riding pants. And no problem doffing them to have lunch, either. The Latitude pants require boot removal before you can take off the pants. The Latitude is made of better material than the Darien, but... everything is a trade off.

Aerostich has outstanding customer support. I have used them for repairs and a replacement belt. I haven't spken to KLIM customer service except for the "one way/their way or the highway" armor discussion. BMW has done right by my Santiago boots - they actually sell the little metal toe sliders as a replacement part.