There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Those of us in NZ can't buy the jacket, nor can anyone in Australia, or UK and the entire EU! So where the hell can you buy this unless you live in the States?
It's hard not to get cynical about Massdrop, supposedly a group buying community for the benefit of members all over the world, that apparently allows a manufacturer to tell it who it can and cant sell its own Massdrop exclusive jacket design to.
It's not Massdrop's fault they can't ship- blame the manufacturer for allowing their distributors to put your part of the world under a protectionist fence.
Unfortunately we have some of the greediest outdoor retailers in the world in NZ, and nowadays manufacturers are enabling them by preventing us from buying their products elsewhere with their protective distribution rights.
And guess what, you're the director for the distributors of Rab NZ; singing a patriotic tune while you enrich yourself ripping off fellow Kiwis with your obscene pricing.
Having now had first hand experience of how our local distributors interfere and actually take the time to monitor the comments on your site and influence our personal buying choices, it's become a whole lot clearer what an onerous task that might be.
'Supposedly' but it's still got RAB plastered on it, and let's face it, it's really clearly a RAB product which is why people would want it :)
I used to live in Oz and was blown away by how high things were priced there because of the distributor middleman layer. over a grand for Osprey packs that were selling for 40% of that in the States.
I really like RAB gear, but this jacket is just off the list as I can't understand why the hand pockets are missing. IMO hadn pockets are a fundamental design requirement in an outer shell, possibly unless it's a crazy-niche climbing jacket.
Damn, the more I look at the original, the more I want it.