Montane Superfly Event

I have used my superfly for 2 seasons now and it has performed flawlessly It has never let me down in a driving rain or blinding snow, keeping me dry without overheating. It is heaver than some other jackets I have, but when I take only one jacket on long trips, I reach for the superfly.

Edit: See this review http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=3&UAN=2760

EDIT2: I purchased from this guy before as have others on this site. Everyone that responded reported good product and service and you can save serious $

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-MONTANE-eVENT-SUPERFLY-JACKET-WATERPROOF-BREATHABLE_W0QQitemZ160201362295QQihZ006QQcategoryZ137007QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I've been using an eVent Superfly for just about a year, in all the conditions that the Cascade Mountains can throw, and I'm a believer. Excellent breathability, complete protection from any sort of rain or snow. In a perfect world it would be 4 ounces lighter but I'm quite willing to pay that modest weight penalty.

The drop tail and wire hood brim are especially nice, with the only downside I've found being that the sleeve openings are difficult to stretch over the cuffs of a pair of gloves.

How low is the coverage in front?

I'm 6' tall, the size L hangs 3-4" below my belt buckle. No thigh coverage to speak of.

Oh, and good call on the Ebay link above – that's where I got mine.

Thanks for the input, I went ahead and ordered one from the same seller everyone recomended. I also purchased my hydrolite from him and agree he is an excellent seller. Can't beat the prices.

Thanks again for pushing me along.

Here's something interesting that was posted on thegearjunkie.com, it appears that REI announced they will be coming out with their own line of eVent outerwear this fall:

"REI embraces eVent— REI took the OR Show to make a big announcement in the outerwear world. Namely, the Seattle retailer unveiled its eVent fabrics Outerwear Collection, an apparel line that is “the first nationally distributed brand to feature eVent fabric technology,” according to the company’s press release. When it comes out next fall, the REI Gear & Apparel—REI’s private label—line will include the men’s REI Shuksan eVent jacket and pant, and the women’s REI Kulshan eVent jacket and pant, all waterproof and breathable pieces made to handle any type of weather."

It'll be significantly heavier than other event gear from integral designs and such…I bet.

I bet the new REI eVENT line will have the word "ultralight" plastered all over — even if it weighs a ton! :)

Personally, I think it's great they are bringing eVENT to the market!

Sure, it may be heavy, but hopefully it will not be as expensive as the other makers. This means I could try some eVENT out and see just how well it works. After that I would feel much more confident about buying a more expensive piece made with eVENT.

I have been wanting to try it out, but on my limited funds, I have not splurged yet. This may give me the chance!

I for one am excited for some scratch & dent eVENT! ….

Edit: Removed unnecessary comment…This forum is getting Too negative!

Not to crash the REI party here, but you can alreasdy get a cheap(er) and heavier eVent jacket (only left in L) and pants (S, M, XL) from North 66 ("Blafell") on backcountryoutlet.com
I have the pants and they really are great.
Cheers,
S.

and now we can have event raingear on our trips and return them after the trip….awesome!!!!!!!!

kidding sorta

First, I want to be upfront and let you know I work for REI and more specifically on this eVent product. Now you can take this with the proverbial grain of salt, or even two or three :) I do appreciate the criticsms though, as they will result in better product for us all.

As to the weight of our new eVent product launching this fall, it's not what I'd call lightweight nor will it be marketed as such. However, at 18.3 oz for the men's jacket in size large, I think it competes fairly favorably with most other waterproof-breathables. We've tried to eliminate any unnecessary details to keep weight down and functionality up. We've done extensive field testing on these and it's really helped us home in on what's important. I know I'm not exactly a partial jury, but the one I've been field testing is the best jacket I own, though it is the only one I have made with eVent. It flat out rocks when you're working hard (and I say that mostly about the fabric, not as much about the jacket itself.)

I hope my post, coming from where it does, doesn't offend the online community. thanks.

Tim,

Thanks for the input. For the 18.3 oz weight, I'm curious, will it have pit zips? That is one feature missing from many of the eVent jackets out todate.

I'm a little surprised they could not get it down to the weight of 16 oz for size Large. What did Integral Designs do (other than eliminate Pit Zips) to get their weight down to what they did?

Actually, with pit zips, one can argue for the elimination of pockets, as one can just reach into the pit zips and pull out from anything beneath (such as shirt pockets, whatnot).

I am an REI member and strive to buy what I can from REI (which basically is limited to clothing, boots, Steripen and a training daypack — the Osprey Stratos). For my sleeping bag, tent, pack, I've resorted to ultralight alternatives from Internet located industries.

No offense to others here, but there is a good reason eVENT jackets rarely include pit zips – they aren't particularly needed. Just the same, it would be REALLY nice if REI made TWO models of eVENT jacket. A slim cut minimalist one without pit zips, pockets (okay, maybe one small chest pocket for glasses), or anything extraneous. And another that appeases the more-features-are-better crowd that dominates the retail outerwear market.

Tim – If you have to build just one jacket, I vote for making the Taku out of eVENT. Love the hood on that one!

I really should be working now, but this is alot more fun!

We ended up without pit zips on our eVent style for this fall, primarily because during field testing everyone felt that it performed really well without them. As most of you know how much more comfortable a jacket is without them, not to mention the weight factor, it only made sense to drop them if we were still getting the performance.

I do really like the idea of building a slimmer fitting minimalist style, hopefully that is something we can add into the lineup. As you alluded to about the economics of this market, we need to hit the center of the bullseye first to get this off the ground before getting to some other projects. And by the way, while the hood on this one doesn't have the stretch panels, it came out really good.

Re the 18oz weight question, we did want to add in enough features to make it widely appealing, but hopefully we did so judiciously. It does have four pockets, two of which also act as core vents. This may have been one too many, but it's where we landed. We did drop the powder skirt and make it as trim as possible. The hood could have been made smaller but we wanted it to accomodate a helmet (note: the adjustability got really dialed and it's not cumbersome when not wearing a helmet).

I hope this helps. We'll keep working on building the best stuff we can.

hey Tim,
in the future if you guys made a sub 10 oz eVent anorak, REI would certainly have a UL backpackers rushing to the stores…

My major complaint of gear makers is that so many of them are copycats. I have long yearned for a 5 foot 1" thick self-inflatable sleeping pad (the 4 footers were too short for me and the 6 footers were overkill for me). I finally after 2 years of searching found the Montbell Pad which includes a 5 footer (actually 4.92 feet because it is 150 mm long) so Montbell got my business. Unfortunately REI does not sell this pad so I ordered off the Internet. It would be nice if REI could ask Thermarest to offer a Prolite 3 5 footer pad.

(I also like Montbell's idea of being able to clip their pillow onto the pad to extend the pad via the use of the pillow. Why can't REI carry some of Montbell's products, aren't they a big company?)

It seems that all the American Pad makers either do 4' or 6' pads (oddly, Thermarest did a 5.5 foot pad that weighs identically to their 6 foot pad–ie, the Woman's Prolite 3/4 pads — very weird decision as you'd think women would want something smaller and lighter than a man's pad.

I'd also like to see REI have a truly "ultralight" line of gear that truly is as light as the pioneer industries, even if it meant licensing patent use rights from them. REI could charge the same amount as the pioneering industries charge and there would obviously have to be a sizeable market for the items as out-of-shape yuppies (many of whom use REI) most assuredly would like to save weight on the trail.

Oddly, about 35 years ago there was an external frame backpack that was made of a high tech airplane metallic alloy that no longer is in existence but was only about 3 pounds. I stupidly sold the pack to a friend of mine who used it for 30 years and he told me that the company went out of business sadly and nobody since has made as nice a pack as that was. The LuxuryLite external frame pack comes close (but I can't stand it's belt and I'd love for its back to have a ultralight screen mesh to keep the bags from poking one's back). It would be cool if one of the pack makers for REI to re-resurrect an ultralight external frame pack which is really handy as one can substitute 100% true dry sacks as the pack sack and be able to fjord high streams without getting one's gear wet.

In water-trekking sandals, it would be nice if REI could get Crocs to make an ultralight (even if it can only last 1 season) sandal that weighs no more than 5 oz per single sandal — right now, cheap croc clones are able to make such but they are hard to come by. Why does Croc have to limit themselves to minimally 10 oz apiece sandals? One problem might be that REI hesitates to sell anything that might only last one season, but it should amend their guarantee for such ultralight items. For instance, the Rainshield rain jacket is obviously a single season item. Interestingly, REI sells the no-hood version for bikers but not the hooded version for hikers.

I buy plenty of things from REI and get a sizeable dividend each year from them but the major gear items I end up buying from the Internet. The only major items I buy from REI are Steripen, boots (Keen Event Mid-height Targhee), socks (Wright No Blister socks), insoles (SuperFeet), hiking poles (Black Diamond), and training daypack (Osprey Stratos 24) and some clothes (pants mostly).

Oddly, the gun-ho backpackers who work at REI that I know often buy their own gear from internet pioneer companies because REI does not have a truly ultralight competitive (or comparative) line of gear.

Continuing my ramble, if I was an REI buyer, I'd try and get some of the major pack makers to negotiate with SixMoonDesigns about the dual use features of the Starlite pack and the Gatewood Cape. I'd try and get them to look into fabrics such as Cuben Fiber, eVent, Spinnaker. To look at the awesome taj mahal space of the Rainshadow 2 three person tent that only weighs 2.5 pounds because it makes sensible use of trakking poles.

Others might have similar ideas.