Norrona - avoid, buy, or shun?

I recently purchased a Norrona Trollveggen Down850 and not entirely sold, just yet. The specs & price are super impressive (~300grams of 850 down) though a touch comparison leaves me a bit wanting. Compared to another jacket I own, Mammut Eigerjoch Pro IN Hooded (200grams of 850 down), it seems even less suitable for Alaska.

Am I just in my head? Looking for opinions on the brand.

What don’t you like about it? I agree the specs look good and anything in the mid weight range (200-280g 800+) should be sufficient for most things in Alaska depending on where and when. I use the MH Phantom (220g 800fp) all winter long up here and comfortably get to -10f with layers.

I don’t have an opinion on the brand other than that they seem to make gear with good specs, but so do a lot of other companies. 

I got a Trollveggen Primaloft100 on sale the other week as a mid weight synthetic belay jacket. Very warm and appears well designed - cavernous hood, good amount of fleece on the chin guard, and loose fit for layering without feeling baggy. So far seems close to par with an offering from any of the higher end brands stateside. 

So I dunno, 1 out of a sample size of 1 likes their jacket. Do with that what you will. 

Very happy with my hooded polartec alpha vest from Noronna.

ryan climbs sometimes wrote:

if you ask me noronna is the new arcterycs 

Agree, they really don't differentiate themselves from any other established, high end brand. I've always thought this was a really weird way to market a company. 

"We're kinda the same as this brand that you're already familiar with but with a different name" doesn't seem like a good way to market a brand in the long term

I always thought of Norrona to Norway is like Arc'teryx to Vancouver, Patagonia to US, Rab to UK, ME to Scotland etc 

The quality of these brands are generally comparable and they all have similar offerings  

Justin S wrote:

I always thought of Norrona to Norway is like Arc'teryx to Vancouver, Patagonia to US, Rab to UK, ME to Scotland etc 

The quality of these brands are generally comparable and they all have similar offerings  

Mountain equipment isn't Scottish.

They're definitely not all the same quality nor do they really even release the same style clothing. 

Range is everything here, arcteryx, rab and patagonia have traditionally always offered a huge selection garments catering to everyone, brands like norona and mountain equipment don't, just looking at their shells for climbing arcteryx usually had a range of sl, fl, ar and sv, mountain equipment had a sv equivalent and only got burlier from there norona is quite similar with their lightest goretex Pro shell jacket weighing close to half a kg. 

Norona is a ski brand, with their styling and main euro centric market this makes sense. Mountain equipment is focused on climbing, walking and a little bit of trail running, this makes sense as they're much less popular outside of the UK. This is what seperates it from brands like arcteryx or patagonia and provided their business model is go hard on their niche, they will never offer a similar product range. 

These may seem like irrelevant distinctions to make but they dictate the future of the brand and the products they make, like whether they make a jacket ready for alaska or for the slopes. 

Norrona has the best fit for me (6’4”/ 175) and the quality and performance has been as good or better than any other brand I’ve used over the years.

Amazing customer service/ warranty/ etc, and a brand that has been making ski and mountaineering apparel for a long time, run by the same family.

Plus how many brands offer ‘festival fuchsia’ in men’s freeride jackets?!? Haha. Had my coat and bibs for 10 years and still going strong! Gloves for the same amount of time and just now barely coming apart on the tips, still warm and comfortable. 

I’ve also had several insulation pieces and casual/ hiking pieces that I’ve used for rock climbing and hiking that fit and function superbly.

YMMV, but this brand has been producing thoughtfully designed, rigorously tested, and intelligently built products for a long time! They stand behind their product and from my experience ordering from the states, the DHL service they use for shipping is surprisingly fast, reliable, and easy to use. 

that guy named seb wrote:

Norona is a ski brand, with their styling and main euro centric market this makes sense. Mountain equipment is focused on climbing, walking and a little bit of trail running, this makes sense as they're much less popular outside of the UK. This is what seperates it from brands like arcteryx or patagonia and provided their business model is go hard on their niche, they will never offer a similar product range. 

Norrona is a brand that makes clothing of a high spec for many activities not just skiing, their mountain biking gear is second to none…..The issue with some of the Scandinavian brands is that the colours they make don’t fit into the typical palette popular/sold elsewhere….in fact some of the clothing sold in Norway does even get shipped to Sweden….

Norrona is good. Its a premium brand. The quality shouldnt let you down. If it fits, what is the problem?

I would like to vouch for Norrona as well, very high quality brand. They don't make only ski clothing.
I own 2 puffy from them, the Falketind down hood which is my summer puffy and the Trollveggen down which is my winter/belay jacket and couldn't be more satisfied with it. I also like the vibrant colorway. 
They also make high quality softshell pants and GTX jackets according to my climbing partner who uses both.