I first had a look at these a good while ago. Since then they’ve been my first choice for local bimbles or runs and they’ve been on the bike on cool weather days.
They’re really rather good, the fabric does combat rain and wind, but it’s not too hot for sunny days. The stretch and free movement means that they’re kind of innocuous all the time you’re wearing them. The ankle adjustment is actually pretty handy, I cinch it in for fast moving and boggy stuff and if I’m just a-wandering I leave it open and let a gentle breeze in. The single rear pocket is handy, the waist is comfy with the wide elastic and bootlace style drawcord. They’re aging well too, I’ve had them through thorn bushes, scraping rock and rubbing my chainrings and all I’ve suffered is a bit of bobbling on the arse.
They’re in a difficult position, being very good indeed, but having prescious few flashy features to sell them. You’re buying the performance and that’s hard to see on a rail in a shop.
They are worth the money as it turns out. I didn’t expect that.
I bought a pair of these earlier this summer – at 200g they’re light enough and presentable enough to carry as spares on backpacking trips or foreign jaunts.
But I wore them for my Yorkshire Three Peaks monsoon last month, teamed for large parts of the day with OMM Kamleikas (stretch with stretch worked a treat). Seven times I crossed a thigh-deep stretch of river, yet each time I emerged warm and comfortable. They really proved themselves that day. I can see they’re going to get a lot more hill time :)
I haven’t had chance to give the Haze Pants a good test yet, but the fit is so much better than my Montane Featherlites that I’ve sold those!
Aye, I think they’ll work in winter with merino longs under them as well. Great kit.
They’re discontinued for winter, but they’ll be back in spring ’09.
There’s a new tight as well, Zap2 or Zone2, I can’t remember. But instead of welded seams like this years it’s sewn and it’s got better movement plus two external stretch mesh pockets. I yelped like a dog whose tail had just been stood on when I saw them.
There were both Zap and Zone Tights in this year’s Intense series. I tried a pair of the Zones, they were the first Intense legwear I came across, and they looked to have good biking potential…..
Let’s just say a little too extreme cut for me, not exactly flattering! ;O) Definitely best left on the hanger.
Fortunately I managed to track down other goodies from the range :)
Aye, tight enough to hold steam as we say :o)
It’s getting sunnier now.
Do you know who’ll be getting Kazoo’s this spring? The internet seems bereft of any at the moment.
Also how would you rate them compared to Terra Stretch/equilibrium’s. Less features but better function and cut? Or not comparable.
I’ve been wearimng these again recently, great pants.
I’ve only tried the first edition of the Montane’s, when they were the Terra Stretch’s. I know they’re much improved these days.
I suppose they are kinda different, but the result is the same, a light stretchy pant. The Kazoo’s will be better for runnimng and biking, but apart from that get the best fitting model.
I’m away to see Haglofs next week, I’ll see what the score is. Like you say, stockists seem to be non existant.
Yes, plus Haglofs always seem to be ‘limited edition’ in terms of how many of their most tempting items arrive to our shores, so if you’re a bit slow they’re all gone before you can get to them
Damn you black iguana pants for escaping me!
But yes, I like the look of these as they look like they’d have quite a range of use. Have you tried them with merino leggings underneath for cold days?
Haglofs pretty much manufacture to order, so there’s never much going spare, or much in the way of sale stock. Seems to work for them, no extra manufacturing and clearance brand association, but frustrating for us!
I did try leggings, and the effect was making me feel like I was wearing a pair of super tough Powerstretch tights. Works fine, looks fine, just took a bit of getting used to.
Well it looks like someone from Ellis Bringham might have been reading this ;)
Manchester EB actually seems to have a little Haglofs sale stock around season changes. I got a (relatively!) cheap treble recently and very nearly took pity on a half price Kaza last autumn :)
Half price Kaza? I’ve got two and I’d still have bought one. I really should wrire the Kaza up at some point.
Kazoo’s in stock at the Ambleside Climbers Shop right now!
Cheers for the heads up both of you!
A Kaza write up would be great, it’s one of my very favourite bits of kit.
As I remember the thumb loops ending a bit short of my thumbs put me off a little :) Happy with my lightspeed too.
Certainly sad to see the best thing in the shop not selling for so long. Like the trebles. Not so likely to encourage store buyers to stock nice stuff :(
I can use the Kaza thumbloops okay, and those on the LIM Ultmate waterproof, but the Oz arms are too short for the thumbloops to be usable in an “action pose”. Which is a bugger.
There is so much stuff that needs writing up!
Well half price Kazas might have been resistable but full price Zeal jackets seemingly aren’t ;) Super long (RAB+) sleeve length…. Thumb loops bang on for me.
Less sure about the rear cycling style pockets for walking mind :)
I know, I’d like to see them without the pocket. But fell runners and the like seem to be happy with it.
It’s great kit though, they just designed what they wanted, used the best fabrics and then thought about the price!
Bless ’em :o)
Hi pete just looking at the kazoo’s but they don’t make them in an xs which seems to equate to a 30 inch ish waist. Why not i don’t know as all their other pants seem to be available in xs. Do you know of any similar products by anyone else, as they tick a lot of boxes apart from them not going to fit me.
You might actually be all right – the fit in the Kazoos is a little different given their stretch/simple drawstring waist etc. I’ve got a ~29″ waist and I’ve tried on small, medium and large ones.
They were all(!) – the small/medium totally so – actually all right round the waist, although the large ones did have rather too much space in the leg to work right.
Thanks for that Martin. i think i will order a small and try em for size. If they don’t fit i’ll return them as knowhere local to me stocks em anyway.
Aye, it’s worth a try. They do seem to be on their own, there’s nothing I’ve come across that’s quite like them, and they’re one of those rare items of test kit that I’ll happily pay full whack to replace when they wear out.
I’ve changed one thing on mine, the lace that ties on the inside of the waist now ties on the outside of mine. I cut and sewed two wee lace holes and it works much better. Ach, nothing’s perfect :o)
Well i managed to bag a bargain as they were at the wrong price on a website so i clicked away, they turned up today and i’ve just been out for a local bimble on the East Lancs hills where i live, as its always windy. First impressions they felt flimsy, so it tried em on small size fits perfectly, ran em under the tap as a DWR test, great on the black areas not so on the grey bits. I think when i wash em i will spray em with xt proofer to see if that adds abit too em. I must admit i am very impressed with them (pimped up ron hills?), at times feels like your not wearing anything, very windproof but i think the black material on the front should have covered the crotch area aswell. I think if you paired em with a base layer leggings, as some people suggested, you could stretch their usage significantly, along with your lightweight waterproofs. I think they are too expensive at £60 though, about £45 would have been right. So my inital Haglofs purchase is good now i want an Ace M pack, lite flex pants and an acer top. Just found out a local shop near me Fell and mountain in Accrington stock loads of haglofs so i can feel the debit card twitching, if i can barter a deal that is.
Good stuff!
I pretty much agree with all the points there, I think the arse should be the black fabric as well as it’s the only wear area on mine (bike saddle + grit = bobbling).
I was talking to Haglofs yesterday and I should be getting a new style ACE pack in for test at some point, I do like the look of it, should be a good choice.
Bobinson, Craig who was out with us last night on foot and I all wear the Azer tops and we all like them, definitely one of the better synthetics I’ve tried.
Let us know if you do get a deal :o)
The arse on mine has the black fabric on so that may be an addition to when you got yours. Wore em again under my lowe Alpine rush pants yesterday in the pouring rain, tremendous. i can see these getting cained, and they ended up costing me £14. Ref your rugged mountain pants is the DWR on em all over or just on the dark bits like the kazoo’s.
Can’t be a recent change…. I got my Kazoos last May – my @rse has been covered in black ever since! ;O)
Aye, sorry, I should have said the black should have carried through more, the grey bits at its edges are the bits getting worn now.
The DWR on the Ruggeds seems to be better on the not-black bits, maybe partly down to the robustness of the fabric as well.
I still like the Rugged’s as much as ever, £100 now though!
Could someone take measures of the Kazoo (or other Haglöfs softshell-type pants), namely the inseam length? I have 36″ inseam but hoping that maybe Haglöfs would have pants long enough, they used to make Granite Mountain Pants that were in right size in size XL (and they were REALLY tight XL), some 88 cm inseam (36ish I guess). How about Kazoo?
My Haglofs pants are all size large (or in the older versions 52) and where there’s a choice the legs are regular length.
This usually seems to mean around 32″ or 33″, I think the long length might be an inch or two more.
I’m going to see Haglofs pretty soon and I’ll sort this out as much as I can, it’s a really important point and folk often ask about it.
Here’s some help…
http://www.climbers-shop.com/size_HaglofsSize.htm
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but this seemed the best place for my query: do you know if the Azer tops are the same fit as Haglofs 021 base layers?
Everything Haglofs I own (which is quite a lot!) is size Small except the 021 zip top, which is a medium (and still a VERY close fit!). For the Azer however, Haglofs do not describe it as ‘athletic cut’. and it certainly looks looser in the website pics. Also the fabric weight is almost half that of the 021, yet the top is only 20g lighter, which kind of implies it uses a lot more fabric and is therefore a looser cut.
Incidentally, the grey fabric of the Kazoo pants does not have any DWR. In Haglofs own words: “Wicking treated to enhance moisture management”, which kind of implies it has an anti-DWR (if there is such a thing!). Thanks.
Hey, no problem!
The Azer is cut a little looser than the other baselayers I’ve found, I’ve got an 031 which is spray-on tight in large and the Azer is “just nice”.
I might have to get a budgie green one before they’re discontinued later in the year :o)
Interesting point about the DWR, I’d never noticed anything in use, I’ll be watching them now though!
Thanks for the info, much appreciated.
Regarding the Kazoos, the grey fabric soaks up water faster then a pair of jeans. Thought I’d got a duff pair til I checked the website and saw the ‘wicking treated’ info, so I presume they are meant to be like that. They are incredibly quick to dry though, so it’s not really a problem.
A bit like merino then, if it gets wet and it doesn’t seem to matter?
Good info.