For cold weather below 40° F I recommend using a polar fleece top with sleeves underneath, unless you are working with your arms a lot. Once temperatures hit freezing the coat gets stiffer, colder, and the lining feels non-existent. The wax gets stiffer, and without the oil mixture it would no doubt crack.
Am slightly curious as to low a temperature this jacket is useable for.
Have tested with just the polar fleece vest, and a cheaper sleeved fleece jacket. A vest alone is good at 40° or higher. Below 36° was wishing I had opted for the sleeved fleece jacket.
As for me am ringing bells for the Salvation Army for the 4th season/year. This Driza-Bone Riding Coat is great for cutting the wind and rain so far, but once the temperatures drops below freezing things change really fast.
Am wearing a t-shirt, light or heavy thermals, a long sleeved Henley before the polar fleece vest or jacket, and the Driza-Bone Riding Coat. It is a tight squeeze with this many layers on and agility is greatly reduced. Don't dare go inside a warm building for very long.
Earlier in the day we had 28° F on average. The sun was
very welcoming, and I was like a lizard on a rock! Towards this evening when the temperatures dropped to 24° once the sun went down, my arms were cold - fast. Not to the point of being annoyingly cold, but noticeable. We had a light wind kick in and I was looking for a structural wind-break. Toes started to freeze up too.
Yesterday at the front of the arctic front I was snug as a bug in a rug with a sleeved fleece single-layer jacket underneath. The vest is easier to get on as my left shoulder is still healing up (don't have full dexterity yet). The sleeved version makes it more difficult to get the jacket on as there is not much room in the sleeves for thermals/Henley/fleece.
Tonight the temperatures are supposed to hit 7°, so will be wearing the sleeved fleece jacket, and praying that the riding coat will be adequate. If not will have to put the heavy jacket i got from Cabela's two years ago, or a blanket-lined ranch coat.
If you never wore a long coat in the cold, you will get very spoiled. The extra protection of your thighs and knees/legs will not be as noticed until you swap out for a waist-high jecket - then you'll feels colder in the areas where the chaps/coat tail were.
Aussie clothing manufacturers are a strange bunch. They think in order to get something bigger (around) it also means taller too. Does not seem to be a 'BIG' size without getting 'TALLER' too.
Driza-Bone Riding Coat is heavier than a normal jacket and takes some getting used to. About 3 days for me. Still am finding myself wanting to pull up on the jacket, and I wonder why there wasn't a waist belt there.
One thing that would make this coat rock is of there was the options to have snap in chaps added around the legs with the coat tail snapped out (open).
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