Hooded windshells

ETHER WIND SHIRT APROX: 3 oz / 90 g
Order 1 size larger then your norm they tend to run short and tight other then that a nice wind shirt

Roger is spot on with his suggestion. Ether: Go with the large. I’m a 40 extra-short suit. Medium fits me a bit on the snug, not tight, side. Sleeves and torso not overly long on me. Med. would def. be too small/short for you.

Not familiar with the Lightspeed. I have a Montane Aero (hoodless). IMHO, much nicer than the Ether and Wisp windshirts. Fabric feels nicer and it seems both more rain resistant and more breathable – but this is just my impression (no controlled testing). Just to be clear: Ether and hoodless Wisp are nice windshirts – i just prefer the Aero for the reasons prev. stated.

I’ve got a Patagonia Houdini in size L that works great. Weighs only 3.8 oz. I wore it this past weekend in a cold light rain and mist all day and kept dry. Breathability is also very good.

The Patagonia Dragonly is very similar except (based on my shakey memory) it lacks a full front zip. Both would probably work well for you.

I have been very happy with my patagonia dragonfly. My wife likes her patagonia hodini. They are true to size. I am guessing you are an XL?

I would skip the Montane LiteSpeed. The zippers are too likely to get stuck.

I haven’t seen the Marmot Ion. The GoLite Ether and OR Ion are both nice. In a perfect work I would like them to be a bit longer. The OR Ion has the best hood I have seen on an ultralight windshirt.

–mark

Rod,

Though I am only 5′ 6″ tall I have a 42″ chest and sized up for the Lite Speed to an XL for some layering. This jacket as Paul indicates nice fabric and breathes well. But my XL weighs 5.9 oz. You may well get by with the L, but, I think it may well weigh more than your 5.0 oz upper limit.

Rich

I have the Montane Lite speed (size medium) and I’m the same height but 30 lbs lighter. It fits a little loosely but it’s fine, sleeve and torso length are perfect. You may need a large.

As for the previous post saying that the zippers get stuck, I initially found that a problem but I got used to pulling the zipper slightly out from the jacket when zipping up or down. Works fine this way.

I really like this jacket, the water resistance is excellent with excellent breathability and the hood fits snugly so much so that I normally don’t need to wear a wool hat at anything above 32 F. The sleeves don’t ride down and the hem doesn’t ride up much when you raise your hands over your head. I would buy this jacket again when mine wears out.

It’s a shame that the best windshell material, Pertex Quantum, still is not available in a hooded windshell. My runnerup is the old discontinued Marmot Chinook, in a polyester fabric that dries out rapidly, has good DWR, definitely cuts the wind, and is comfortable enough to use as a sleeping “shirt”. Oh, yes. It has a full length zipper. I have it in an atrocious shade of red (alas).
3.5 Oz.

It might be available as a closeout or on Ebay.

Kevin writes:

>> It’s a shame that the best windshell material, Pertex Quantum, still is not available in a hooded windshell.

Check out the Marmot Ion — their apparently short-lived successor to the Chinook. Hooded, Quantum, 3oz. It’s no longer listed on Marmot’s site, but is still available various places online.

Post Deleted.

Okay, so the Litespeed is Pertex Microlight. How does that compare to Quantum?

The impression I’m getting is that people are happiest with Pertex, as compared to the inhouse polyester or nylon some manufacturers are using. Is that fair?

Richard, my upper limit is probably the Litespeed, so I wouldn’t reject it for 0.9oz.

I plan on using it a lot, and would prefer to get it right the first time.

Thanks for your help guys. I’ll let you know when I make the decision.

Cheers, Rod

Rod,

can’t ans. you myself. have nothing in Microlight (only Quantum).

checked the Montane site. could find nothing there.

this might help:

Nunatak – fabric descriptions

also this:

Pertex website – product range web page (click on the graphical rectangles with the fabric name)

[note: some time in November i noticed that the above link no longer works.]

Thanks Michael for the heads up on the Ion—completely slipped by me–I thought the successor to the Chinook was going to have a less breathable material, so I ignored it.

Unless one is of the female persuasion, there are very few Marmot Ions available anywhere. Most of the Men’s are small sizes. Marmot Mountain Works has a few L’s available and I just snapped up one on sale.

If the Montane Litespeed was in Quantum—what a design. Gotta love that double layer hood.

Sun and Ski in grapevine, tx has a couple of Chinook’s left for $40, in size M,L, or XL as of a few weeks ago.

hi-
I have the Litespeed. In my use thus far:
–great hood;
–very loose fit around the torso but fine for arms/shoulder; Good for layering but a bit floppy in the wind, at least for me.
–reasonably windproof but breathable
–nice chest pocket;
–a fussy zipper that tends to snag.
–hard to beat the “value/weight” ratio.
(and sometimes on sale!)

tom

The Ether is on sale for 39.99 at Sierratradingpost.com.I have the Ether,Dragonfly & Chinook. I like the hood on the Ether the best but I feel the chinook breaths the best,just my 2cents worth. The chinook is on sale at travelcountry.com for $59 ?

The Chinook, which I have, breathes very well, has good DWR and because of it’s polyester fabric, dries out faster then any other windshell material I’ve experienced.The Patagonia Dragonfly (a hooded pullover) with it’s proprietary nylon fabric, breathes a little poorer but comes w/ perhaps a liitle better DWR. It’s thicker fabric takes longer to dry, but is perhaps more durable. Pertex Quantum, found in the Montane Aero (no hood, alas) and the discontinued Marmot Ion, breathes better than the Chinook and Dragonfly and has the best DWR I’ve encountered on any windshell material. The material used on the Golite Ether breathes quite a bit poorer than the above shells but is even more water resistant. It, however suffers from poor ventilation options. Think clammy.
These are all cut w/ what I call a semi-athletic fit.
Marmot and Patagonia have the best fitting hoods.

All of these are available (Chinook is ?) on the web at significant discounts.

> Okay, so the Litespeed is Pertex Microlight. How does that compare to Quantum?

Microlite is 1.3 oz while Quantum is 0.9 oz. They are vert similar, but Microlite isn’t calendared on the outside, so it doesn’t have any sheen. This also makes it incredibly soft and comfortable because of the “drape”. Quantum is comfortable too, but a little stiffer and shinier because of the calendaring on both sides. (The sheen is still less on the outside than the inside, so I assume it must be “partially” calendared outside.)

My Montane Featherlite (Pertex Microlite) is so comfortable and breathable I have worn it just like a shirt in warm weather and even slept in it. Not at all clammy.

> The impression I’m getting is that people are happiest with Pertex, as compared to the inhouse polyester or nylon some manufacturers are using. Is that fair?

Pertex is great stuff, and you know what you’re getting. It can be hard to compare the house brands. Some of them are coated and/or heavily calendared, making them feel waxy or slick or sticky to the touch. Those treatments do typically make them more water resistant/less breathable than Pertex Microlite or Quantum.

Colin, I think I’m probably leaning toward a Litespeed
.

Any comments on durability?

My other option would be a Marmot Ion. I have one of their Minima jackets which I really like. I’m just a bit worrier about the durability of the lighter fabric.

Thanks for you post by the way.

Rod

i have the featherweight pants in microlite and no question that it’s very tough for it’s weight–I’ve done a lot of off trail travel in mine with occasional scrapes with granite and willow. Still intact.

Quantum, although lighter, is more tightly woven and calandered—which makes it very snag resistant— but it is probably not as abrasion resistant as microlite. I will probably baby my Quantum shelled windshirt a little. I think it’s worth it for the superior breathibility and water resistance.

Rod writes:

>> I think I’m probably leaning toward a Featherlite.

Rod, one thing to consider about the featherlite is that is has a relatively small front zip, plus elastic wrists and hem. Combined, these features limit ventilation options. Ventilation comments on some of your other choices:

The Aero has a bigger zip plus a drawcord hem.
The Litespeed has a full zip and the newer version has a drawcord hem.
The Marmot Ion has a full zip and a loose hem which can be tucked into your pants when required.

Rod,

I’ve worn my Featherlite on all my trips for the past four years or five years. It’s still in good shape and I don’t baby my gear.

> Any comments on durability?

I’ve been impressed with the durability of the Featherlite. The Microlite fabric is very smooth and snag resistant. I do tend to be careful with my gear though.

> My other option would be a Marmot Ion.

Marmot makes some great stuff. Haven’t seen the Ion though.

One note on Montane sizing: many sites point out that you should order one size up. My sleeves are 34″ and chest is 40″ so I normally wear size L, but given that advice, when I bought the Featherlite 2 years I got an XL. It fits perfectly. But then last year I bought my wife a Litespeed, and since she generally wears size M, I followed the same advice and got it in size L. It was too big for her. I laid it over my FeatherLite and her size L was identic in size to my XL! So I exchanged hers for size M and all is good.

There are two possible morals to this story. 1. Montane used to run one size small but has since moved to more normal sizing, or 2. The Featherlite runs a size small but the Litespeed is normal. Let’s hope it’s (1)! Anyway, I’d make sure there’s a good exchange policy, or buy the jacket locally if you’re lucky enough to have that option.

>> Rod, one thing to consider about the featherlite is that is has a relatively small front zip, plus elastic wrists and hem. Combined, these features limit ventilation options.

I konw the ventilation problem you’re describing (years ago I exchanged a Puffball pullover for Puffball jacket for this reason), but I’ve never had a problem wanting more ventilation on the Featherlite. The Microlite fabric is extremely breathable.

But getting back to the start of this thread: the Featherlite doesn’t have a hood! The Litespeed does.

Thanks for that. I meant to say Litespeed, and have gone back and changed it on the prev post.

I tried to buy one last Thursday, but the retailer who stocks them here has shut up shop or moved. I’m now trying to track them down.

Cheers, Rod

This on sizing from an online site

“Important Sizing Information: We used to say, “The Featherlite is sized small – please size UP at least 1 size.”however we have found that Montane has adjusted their product sizing and they are now “true to size”!