Looking for a light, quiet, hooded softshell / windshirt

Take a look at the Arcteryx Squamish, it weighs in at 5.2 oz in size regular,is made of gossamera fabric and is hooded. I use this shell for road running and it is quieter and softer than the Houdini. Overall I prefer the Houdini but the Squamish is a nice shell. $135.00 on some sites.

Hey not a bad suggestion, it looks appealing except that I'd have a hard time bringing myself to pay that much for what I'm getting, especially given that one review says it's pretty weak on the water resistance. Thanks for the tip though.

Just started looking at the MEC Ferrata 2 hoodie. Looks great to me except I wish it were just a little lighter.

I've also heard great things from everyone about the Patagonia Ready Mix.

But hey, is it possible Epic would fit the bill for me? I would be comfortable paying $130 for Wild Things' Epic hooded windshirt if I knew a little bit more about the garment or how the fabric performs. I'll start poking around. In the meantime, anyone want to tell me about their experiences with Epic?

WildThings makes very nice gear and I know you would be pleased with the quality of their epic windshirts. Epic fabric has its limitations, as do all fabrics, but having said that it performs well as wind protection and is relativly light.

I haven’t personally used any of the ultralight soft shells… just looked at them in the store. You might want to take a look at the The Montbell Stretch Wind Jacket and the ArcTeryx Squamish Windshell.

I have tried a number of jackets that are a bit heavier. The Cloudveil Prospector Hoody performs quite well. I am a big fan of Pertex Equilbrium which was used in the REI Pyrn and several other jackets over the years. In colder weather (when there is a medium weight base between me and the jacket I have been happy with EPIC, but in warmer weather I find it too clammy. I have some notes about my experiences with soft shells in my clothing page.

–mark

It seems that quiet is one characteristic that is fairly low on the priority list for outdoor fabric makers. I've been looking into this too and haven't found a solution.

There was a thread that bordered on this topic here recently where a poster suggested looking into hunting attire. The hunting community, it was said, has not embraced high-tech fabrics yet, largely because they aren't quiet enough for stalking. But that market might be worth a look.

In my experience, the more durable stretch-wovens tend to be pretty loud, probably because of the inclusion of robust nylon yarns like cordura. Schoeller dynamic for example gives a pretty strong "swish-zip" when sleeves rub against the torso. Schoeller dryskin is quieter, but may not be wind-resistant enough for you (CFM~25?). In any case, finding a hooded jacket of these fabrics is now a challenge. However, I have seen discontinued Cloudveil Ice Floe hoodies, of Dryskin, on eBay recently going for under $100.

The Ice Floe jacket was recommended in an older BPL article:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00278.html

European companies Mammut and Millet both make Dryskin hoodies, but with either wb400 (heavier, warmer) or WPB laminates for the hood, yoke and sleeves in hybrid configurations. Very expensive though. One advantage of these jackets is that Dryskin is now being produced with Schoeller nanosphere DWR, which according to reviews, appears to have set a new standard in that department. I'm hoping that someone will made a simple dryskin hoody w/nanosphere soon.

Another new fabric to consider is Wetcomb's Polartec Powershield w/Hardface technology. This is a lightweight stretch-woven, single-layer fabric (no membrane or fleece liner) with the Hardface application added. A Westcomb rep. told me this fabric, of similar weight to Dynamic at about 6 oz., is more water resistant and Quieter by virtue of the Hardface coating. Currently, the fabric is used in their Trailblazer pant, and planned for use in an eVent hybrid jacket next fall.

As a single layer fabric it would be more versatile than dryskin. However, it too is quite permeable, at 30-35 cfm – would probably require an UL wind vest to throw on under in high winds.

Mark Verber's suggestions of Pertex Equilibrium and Montbell Stretch Wind series sound good also, although Montbell doesn't offer hooded versions of their Stretch Wind jackets.

For MYOG, Rockywoods has Pertex Equilibrium for under $10/yard in several colors. They are also carrying some lightweight Schoeller stretch-wovens that I haven't heard of before. They will send out free sample swatches that could be rubbed together in a noise test.

You also may want to look at windshirts made for golf. A lot of them are advertised as "silent swing" and such. But they look to tend toward PU coatings and wretched styling. And a hoody may be hard to find.

I like both the GoLite Wisp and the Montane Lightspeed. They don't seem very noisy. But neither are very water-resistant.

+1 on the wisp & lightspeed,use them both (as well as the montane featherlight smock) all are excellent.

maybe a bit on the heavy side, but def water resistant, and def quiet: Marmot DriClime shirt (old style….it' def one piece i have willingly (weight wise) added back into my system for coolerconditions