hood or hoodless wind shirt

Get the Hoody because of rain and most importantly save the back of your neck against Mosquitoes.

-Jay

Having even the thinnest of nylon hood works wonders in helping to keep you warmer when cold winds are howling.

Shameless plug — if you are interested in the Houdini and wear size Medium, I’m selling mine here.

I have a Golite Wisp (Hoodless) and a Marmot Ion (Hooded) and even though the former is lighter, I still find myself packing the Ion due to its hood and the full front zipper is also a nice bonus.

Go with a hood. I have the GoLite Ether (hooded) and Wisp (hoodless). The hood adds so much warmth and keeps your ears warm in cold wind.

Another vote for the hoody. I have one of each and seldom use the hood-less one. Both of mine are home made and by some quirk, the one with a hood weighs less than does the hooded one. Both shirts weigh less than 3 oz and provide a lot of protection for almost no weight.

This topic comes up every year. The overwhelming answer – GET THE HOOD.

I absolutly go without the hood.
Hoods flap around in the wind, rarely if ever fit and can can be noisy in the wind as the wind blows the hood over your eyes blocking your view especially if you look in any direction other than straight ahead.
I use a balaclava for warmth and wind protection. Far warmer than any hood and come in different thicknesses and materials. Balaclavas fit like a glove every time and don't block your view. Plus hoodless is cheaper and lighter.

I want to add another strategy I use is a light hat and a light merino wool neck gaiter. This is good if the wind isn't the biggest problem. The balaclava is best to cover as much bare skin as possible to protect from the wind which it does far better than any hood IMHO.

Another vote for a hood here.

I hate hoods. I don't like when they flap around, and I don't like the sound in my ears when they are over my head. I'd much rather have a hat.

Even for a rain shell, I tuck the hood inside my jacket and wear either my Tilley or a rain hat.

Hoods=Evil Can't hear, can't see never fit properly. I use a Buff and a hat with my Wisp.

For those of you who don't like hoods flapping in the breeze, consider just folding the hood to the inside of the wind shirt when you put it on. No flapping and you can put on a balaclava any time you wish. If you wear a baseball cap, it keeps the hood from interfering with your vision. And, if the need arises, you have a hood available to keep the wind from ruffling your hair.

I've gotten less fond of hoods over the past two years. I often suffer from a poor fit, and they screw with my hearing. I'm finding a hoodless wind shirt and a hat work well in most conditions. I've been using Nau's Lightbeam shirt, which is a winshirt designed to look like a normal button front shirt. The DWR is a bit weak, but I've generally been happy with it.

> This topic comes up every year. The overwhelming answer – GET THE HOOD.
+1

You will contrary answers from some. Fair enough for their conditions, but I suspect they have never had to deal with a good sub-zero bad storm.

'Good' bad storm … yeah, well … :-)

Cheers

"but I suspect they have never had to deal with a good sub-zero bad storm."

I don't follow? How is a thin hood going to compete with a windproof balaclava , face mask, hat, neck gaiter, and goggles? Not to mention that I would want something more than a wind shirt for subfreezing windy temps-which we get a LOT of around here: like a wp/b shell.

In the northeast the hood is a must. Always added just the right extra amount of potection, rain, cold, wind. Its much harder to untuck the hood you don't have than to tuckin the one you do

I find that if I pull my windshirt hood over the top of my hat, I gain some warmth in a wind. The negligible weight of the hood does make a difference over almost everything.

Even if my hat already provides a good amount of wind resistance, I find it helps a little and the hood only adds a few grams.

I must being doing something wrong, because I live in the northeast and the White Mountains are my stomping grounds and yet I don't see any advantage to hooded wind shirt let alone it being a "must"

"I don't follow? How is a thin hood going to compete with a windproof balaclava , face mask, hat, neck gaiter, and goggles?"

If you have a hood, you might be able to do without, say, the neck gaiter and either the balaclava or hat, your choice. A few less bits and pieces to fiddle with.

"Not to mention that I would want something more than a wind shirt for subfreezing windy temps-which we get a LOT of around here: like a wp/b shell."

Fair enough if things get bad enough, but the same logic applies, i.e. WPB shell with a hood. My 2 cents.

Of course if you already have something to fully block the wind, a windshirt won't add anything. The windshirt is meant for more moderate conditions.

I have both. I got a hoodless Montane several years ago, then bought a hooded version this past year. If the hood is flapping around or blocking your view, tuck it in as others have suggested. If you're sitting around camp and it gets windy you have some extra warmth. This can be combine with a balaclava or hat…doesn't have to be "either or" at the weight we are talking about.

"If you have a hood, you might be able to do without, say, the neck gaiter and either the balaclava or hat, your choice. A few less bits and pieces to fiddle with"

Ya, but that brings me right back to my original complaints about hoods. Hoods on waterproof shells and belay jackets are fine, I just don't see how a hood on a water/wind resistant shell is a must or necessary for storm conditions?
If hoods work for you great, I just figured I would chime in with a contrary view since it seemed like no one else was.

+1 hoodless for a windshirt, for almost all of the same reasons mentioned in this thread.

Everytime I've been caught in a snow storm with my wind shirt and no shell, I've regretted my clothing choices, mostly the leaving the real jacket behind, but also not having a hood on the wind shirt to make it a less harsh.

Ultimately, only you can decide what you want.

If you get a hooded windshirt the first time and find you don't really need the hood – nothing really lost. Now you know.
If you get a hoodless windshirt and find you really did need a hood … you have to buy another windshirt.

Mind you, in all of this we are talking about a bit more than something you might wear just on a sunny day up the mountains. Just what did you want?

Cheers

I can see both sides. I would be using the shirt for everything from climbing to trail running. I would like hoodless for trail running but a hood would be nice some time. Do you suggest I look at any other jackets other than the mont bell and patagonia? Also of the mont bell and patagonia which do you prefer.