OK, my Ramsay Blue philabeg arrived yesterday and I've had it on all day. Since I know some folks out there need to keep the $$$ to a minimum, and the two kilts I own are potential purchases for them I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison. My first kilt was a Stillwater Black Watch, standard kilt...not their newer "heavyweight". OK, so here goes.

These two kilts are very different. They're both nice garments, but they are DIFFERENT...bigtime.

The Stillwater is more like a traditional kilt:

I was amazed when I opened the box with my Stillwater in it. The thing was *heavy*. Conversely I was surprised when I opened the box with my USAK philabeg in it, it was so light! The Stillwater material has a very "woolen" feel to it. People are shocked when I tell them that it's acrylic. On the other hand, I've had it for thre months and I've had to shave the pilling off the apron already.

This philabeg is made of the 11 ounce poly-viscose that so many contemporary kiltmakers use. (Rocky uses other materials for philabegs, not just PV, OK?) I e-mailed Rocky and asked him if it was cotton, 'cause I sure thought it was. It's not. AS for closure, the stillwater has a traditional three-buckle closure, the philabeg has velcro.

BTW, my waist is 40, my butt is 44 and the drop is 24.

The Stillwater's black watch sett is small, about 4 inches. This, plus how the thing is constructed allows for oodles of pleats, about 30. They're very deep. The kilt has a great "swing". The philabeg's Ramsay sett is about 6 inches. It has 17 pleats. The pleats are stitched down. The Stillwater pleats aren't.

The Philabeg is lightweight and easy.

In the summer this philabeg is going to be nice, 'cause on a hot day this thing will be a godsend. The Stillwater might be hot. Then again, today was windy around here and the philabeg flew up once to give the world at look at some leg, and I was stressing over it whenever I was outside. So far the Stillwater hasn't "flown" on me, but I've only had it on me one windy day.

The philabeg just LOOKS like something I can wash and touch up and it'll look great. I can tell that if I just slam it in the washing machine and spend ten minutes with an iron, I'll be stylin'. I washed my Stillwater and tried to touch up the pleats with an iron and I won't be doing that again. Next time, the Stillwater goes to the dry cleaner. Yes, the Stillwaters acrylic fabric IS machine washable, but I want crisp pleats and I'll get them from a dry cleaner.

The philabeg is easy.

Velcro. On-off. It takes about fifteen seconds to put on the philabeg. The Stillwater with the three buckles, takes a couple of minutes. I have to *think* with the Stillwater. BTW, the Stillwater "standard" buckles look fine, but they're pretty lighweight. They're fine..no worries, but they're not "nice" hardware.Tthe upgraded "heavyweight"s probably has nicer buckles. The philabeg is a "no brainer".

Upshot...if you want quick and simple and easy and lightweight, get a philabeg. I'm gonna love this thing in the summer.

If you want something more traditional, get a Stillwater.

Alan H