Form,
I appreciate your field testing and realize that any such testing must have some objective criteria to use.
However, short of coyotes and whitetails (where most of the time, weight is not a concern), how realistic is sitting motionless for hours? And why did you pick that as your yardstick?
I live and hunt in Montana in November, in one of the colder parts of the state. I can't imagine carrying enough clothes up a mountain to sit motionless for hours when its around 0* F, and even if I had the clothing, I'd have to bring a second set of boots to keep my feet warm once I got there.
Point being, I never assume that I will have to be motionless for hours, and really I can't think of why I would. Usually I sit down to glass, throw on a layer or two, and try to sit for as long as possible. Then, I either get up and hike to a new glassing spot or take a short warm-up walk and then come back to my spotting scope. Even if I bring an insulation layer for top and bottom and am mostly comfortable, my feet will get cold and I'll have to move to warm those up.
For one reason, you have to have a standard to compare against. Of a “moving” standard is used there is almost no usable info that can be gleaned. For instance, last week in 5 degrees, snow falling, and a 8-10 mph wind, I was in a thin base layer and waffle top (LW fleece) while slowly moving, and would have been drenched from sweat with any weight puffy. In contrast, my partner had the same layers on, plus a heavy puffy, and a rain jacket and was fine.
Second, for hunting- we get to ridge tops and glass big valleys all day. I agree with you in that I doubt very many people sit and glass late season, as we’ve never met a single person doing it and in the last decade in 4-5 western states. However it works, and we kill pretty consistently doing it.
As for what you do- why would you want to “need” to move instead of choosing clothing that lets you just sit and glass? Feet are the problem, but there are ways to mitigate that.
If you use the “I move when I get cold” standard... there’s no info there. That’s how you get people say that a jacket that has as much insulation as a 50 degree sleeping bag “is an oven”. It means nothing.
