Snowmobile newb. Taking my first trip this year

Chester Copperpot

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Last year I wore a hodge podge of gear composed off Farm and Fleet bibs with Sports Authority jacket with Menard's $25 special rubber boots with 3 layers of socks (non-snowmobiling junk) and seemed to have done alright. I finally bought some decent gear and dropped the coin on some good snowmobiling boots. The most common brands you're going to see and find are FXR (think of the early 2000s FOX craze, and that's FXR now), Klim (expensive but reeeaaalllyyy nice gear), 509, Castle X, and then manufacturer gear (Ski-Doo, Arctic Cat, etc) which is really just rebranded gear from the previous. There are a ton of brands but the ones I listed are the "popular" ones. I have FXR jacket and bibs, and Klim boots and gloves.

Honestly, the boots and helmet/balaclava are the three most important items, IMO. My feet were constantly cold last year from the crappy boots I had but my head was fine from my helmet and balaclava. The jacket and bibs I had were also fine but no one could see me because I had no reflective material (ask [MENTION=16]PANDA[/MENTION] and [MENTION=340]Eagle[/MENTION]).

Klim uses Goretex for water-resistance and you're going to pay easily 1.5-2 times the price for Klim over other brands but their gear is top-notch but bland. FXR is flashy and uses a knock-off of Goretex called HydrX but seems to insulate very well. Not sure about anything else.

IMO, invest in good boots. I just bought some nice Klim boots that look like a beefier version of my combat boots from the Marine Corps with a fuck ton of insulation and water-proofing. I also bought some Klim gloves because, again,Goretex and water-proofing. The FXR stuff will be fine because I can easily brush snow and junk off jacket/bibs but if water/ice gets in my boot, game over. I'm going home.

That's my newbie experience thus far. i'm sure [MENTION=19]Yaj Yak[/MENTION] will come in and call me a retard but as much as I love the cold, I'd rather be prepared with good gear since I actually enjoy the fuck out of this sport.
 

Eagle

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Chester's advise is solid. One thing he didn't note is that you might need different gear depending on the weather. For example, I have heavy gloves I'll wear when I'm going out on a long trail ride in cold (10* or less) weather. I also have a super lightweight pair of Klim gloves that are awesome in 20*+ weather. Basically, you need to be warm, but you don't want to be SO warm that you're sweating and getting wet. Once you're wet, you're going to get cold.

Klim is top notch gear, period. You'll pay for it too. There are others out there, but Klim performs the best if you ask me. I've had Klim, FXR, CastleX gear - it all works... but I still prefer Klim over all the others.

If you're just going out for a short ride (20mi or less), gear selection won't kill you. Sure you might get cold, but at least you can get a feel for riding. The first time I went out on a sled at all, I literally wore Carhartt bibs and jacket, with some ghetto gloves. It did the trick though, and I learned that I loved to ride a snowmobile. Once I knew that, it made more sense to invest in better gear for longer rides.

Balaklava is something you should spend a couple bucks on regardless. They're super key in not only keeping your neck warm, but also properly directing your breath away from your helmet visor. Fogged visor isn't fun at all.

As Chester mentioned, boots are key too. Something waterproof is ideal, but it has to be insulated as well. Boots get covered in snow and then warmed by the engine, so they're certain to be wet at almost all times. Wet feet suck in my opinion, so I avoid that at all costs. I actually use a pair of SOREL boots, that I'd bought for winter hiking. They work great, so while they weren't exactly cheap, they WERE cheaper than most boots marketed as snowmobile boots.

Jacket - again I've used everything from a Carhartt (which will work but is NOT ideal) to FXR jackets, which are very nice and warm. Always buy bigger than your normal jacket size keeping in mind that you have to almost always fit the bibs under the jacket, as well as a hoodie and whatever else you might decide to wear.

I think that covers it for me...
 

PANDA

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I don't think gear is very important in the sense do not need that $600 Klim jacket. But you don't want standard Kohls winter gear either. You stay pretty warm riding a snowmobile because you are moving around alot. However if you ever get stranded or stuck out in the woods you want more to stay warm. This assuming you are riding with places to warm up near by and won't be outside ALL DAY. The Milwaukee show is the best place to buy gear IMO. You can buy stuff online, BUT you can't try it on. I usually buy the stuff that is 1-2 season's old new stock. $149 jacket, $99 bibs, etc. Not junk but won't hurt your wallet either. You don't need to be that fanboy with the 2016 special edition FXR jacket and no one has. Who gives a fuck. Its snowmobiling not a fashion show.
 

BeerOrGasoline

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+1 on the closeout gear Panda mentioned.


I have a Klim Kinetic Jacket that I bought as NOS. It was $171 (RevZilla still has some). Klim sells a 2016 version of the Kinetic, for well over $300 and almost nothing technical has changed.


I also have a Klim Glacier Balaclava (I believe Eagle has the same one). Best investment ever. It seems a little nuts to spend $60 on something walmart has 10000s of for $14.99 but it's unbelievably worth it once you use a good one.

Other than those two items it's some generic "waterproof" ski bibs I bought from Sports Authority for like $40, some really nice gortex Columbia ski gloves I got as a gift a few years back. A solid, full face helmet with two-pane shield as well.
 

Eagle

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+1 to Klim Balaclavas! Best thing since sliced bread, no doubt in my mind.

Don't let Debbie downer [MENTION=16]PANDA[/MENTION] knock the online stores, the Milwaukee show is already past us this year, so if you need affordable gear, online is about the only place to find it.
 

PANDA

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+1 to Klim Balaclavas! Best thing since sliced bread, no doubt in my mind.

Don't let Debbie downer [MENTION=16]PANDA[/MENTION] knock the online stores, the Milwaukee show is already past us this year, so if you need affordable gear, online is about the only place to find it.

Not knocking online stores its the only place to buy stuff unless you want to bend over and buy from the dealer like Carter. Just saying you can't try stuff on. If you need gear your best bet it to hold out for the Milwaukee show.
 

PANDA

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Thanks guys. I already have some pretty war clothes that I think will work. Had planned on buying some new boots this winter. Will 200g insulation be good enough or should I go higher? Also will need se good gloves and a balaclava

On some sleds your feet stay REALLY warm because of the engine placement/exhaust.
 

Yaj Yak

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Last year I wore a hodge podge of gear composed off Farm and Fleet bibs with Sports Authority jacket with Menard's $25 special rubber boots with 3 layers of socks (non-snowmobiling junk) and seemed to have done alright. I finally bought some decent gear and dropped the coin on some good snowmobiling boots. The most common brands you're going to see and find are FXR (think of the early 2000s FOX craze, and that's FXR now), Klim (expensive but reeeaaalllyyy nice gear), 509, Castle X, and then manufacturer gear (Ski-Doo, Arctic Cat, etc) which is really just rebranded gear from the previous. There are a ton of brands but the ones I listed are the "popular" ones. I have FXR jacket and bibs, and Klim boots and gloves.

Honestly, the boots and helmet/balaclava are the three most important items, IMO. My feet were constantly cold last year from the crappy boots I had but my head was fine from my helmet and balaclava. The jacket and bibs I had were also fine but no one could see me because I had no reflective material (ask [MENTION=16]PANDA[/MENTION] and [MENTION=340]Eagle[/MENTION]).

Klim uses Goretex for water-resistance and you're going to pay easily 1.5-2 times the price for Klim over other brands but their gear is top-notch but bland. FXR is flashy and uses a knock-off of Goretex called HydrX but seems to insulate very well. Not sure about anything else.

IMO, invest in good boots. I just bought some nice Klim boots that look like a beefier version of my combat boots from the Marine Corps with a fuck ton of insulation and water-proofing. I also bought some Klim gloves because, again,Goretex and water-proofing. The FXR stuff will be fine because I can easily brush snow and junk off jacket/bibs but if water/ice gets in my boot, game over. I'm going home.

That's my newbie experience thus far. i'm sure [MENTION=19]Yaj Yak[/MENTION] will come in and call me a retard but as much as I love the cold, I'd rather be prepared with good gear since I actually enjoy the fuck out of this sport.



you are a retard.

not for any of the things you said there, but just in general.




joking aside... one of the biggest things your write up forgot... and is probably why your feet were cold... is good socks. like $20-$40 a pair good socks.

NEVER wear more than one pair of socks. that is when you fuck yourself. get a great pair of socks or three... i have smart wool & point 6 socks. from smart wool, they don't directly make a snowmobile sock (at least they didn't before, probably do now)... so i wear their snowboard lineup/ski socks... they have padding in the shins so that's a nice touch

i also wear my beat to shit K2 Prime Boa Snowboard boots and my feet couldn't be happier.

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they are super supportive, warm, and easy to walk in, and extremely light as well.



i would totally rock fancy klim/fxr whatever shiiiit. butttt. i don't and didn't to save dollars... buying a "snowmobile coat" to me is important though, because of reflective material. my all black snowboard coat i bought, didn't have shit on it, and i might as well been invisible at night.

i wear some nicer (no idea on brand) snowmobile pants with suspenders built in- not the bibs that go up to your nipples. i don't like how the bibs feel and never have...

to me on the doo's, pants are pretty important becuase your knees will be out in the wind more often than not.



that leads me to my next point and seems to be forgotten here as well. base layer is insanely important. buy really good long underwear and wear it...

http://shop.hellyhansen.com/us/products/men/base-layer/

i have some helly hansen wool stuff like that and it's the best decision ive made for clothing stuff for cold. it wicks away moisture to keep you dry and keep you warm... once you sweat. you're fucked. if you have clothing to get the moisture away from your body, you will stay warm.

for me, gloves were important but no where as much as the other stuff.... doo's handlebar warmers get to the temperature of the sun, and you can basically ride barehanded :rofl:

for me having flexibility in my hands & fingers outweighed the importance of having an insanely warm bulky glove. the carbureated doo's have a pretty hearty throttle that takes some oooomph to put into it, and i found that my super insanely warm thick gloves were awful to ride with, and went and invested in some simple thinner skidoo gloves on clearance from somewhere.
 
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