houdini transparency

I have the 2008 green Houdini and no, it's not noticeably transparent.

Hope this helps in answering The Most Important Question Facing Today's Ultralight Backpacker(tm).

Thanks Ben. It certainly is of critical importance to today's UL backpacker, and I value your careful analysis on this subject. I would not want to find myself 2 days walk from civilisation, only to discover that my jacket was transparent. A very dangerous situation indeed.

My wife's Houdini is a very light grey color that does get transparent when it wets out. I wouldn't think the black or green would. Mine is a medium grey ('Stainless' I think they called it) and its not transparent when wet. I went with the lightest color I could so that it wouldn't heat up so much when I'm out in the sun. I think the range of temps over which a windshirt can be used is impacted negatively by darker colors. Since I practically live in my windshirt when hiking, that's important to me.

Thanks Russell. Interesting to hear that there is actually a non-fashion reason for preferring one colour over another!

nm

Ashley,

The colour as it relates to absorbing heat tends to be less of an issue below the tree line, where you're often in shade for part of the time. It's not generally a big deal in Australia, except perhaps up on the Main Range on a coolish, sunny day. In the US though, there's lots more walking to be had above tree line. It's also a good reason to choose light coloured thermals, especially when mountaineering.

Rod

Good point Rod. It probably won't get much use in Australia anyway… I'd be more inclined to take a proper waterproof layer. I'm getting it more for overseas use (Nepal, France) above the treeline.

Wait until you've tried it. It might get more use than you planned.

Rod