Norrøna Bitihorn Dri1 Jacket

Have you actually weighed it? I bought a Norrona windshirt that was listed as 2.8oz on Backcountry. When I weighed it, it was 6.0 oz exactly. I was rather disappointed, but since I don't a wind shirt, kept it anyway.

EDIT: I got a mens Medium, I doubt a small is less than half the weight…

I will weigh this tomorrow (using my shipping department's scale) and update any discrepancies. How do you like the windshirt? – My girlfriend just ordered one (which I will also weigh),

Thanks for the info!

Let me know what it weighs. I'm curious if it's just the off-track that is consistently wrong, or a company wide issue with misrepresenting weight.

It's a great windshirt, just twice as heavy as advertised; only reason I bought it was weight and price. Material seems rather strong for it's weight, but not sure how it will handle snags. I've only been on wide trails instead of the usual scrub down here in the desert.

A couple weekends ago I was up in the San Francisco Peaks here in AZ (our only alpine environment) and go rained, snowed, hailed and sleeted on all in one day. The jacket kept me dry through the hail and snow. The sleet and rain eventually wetted out the material after an hour or so. I only had on a thin merino long sleeve underneath. The material doesn't hold much water though so aside from a bit clammy, I didn't get soaked until maybe 2 hours of consistent precipitation (wasn't really paying attention to moisture as much as temperature though, so take with grain of salt).

I'm thinking of cutting out all the pockets and zippers and sewing it up to bare minimum. The pocket mesh seems fairly heavy compared to the outer material and I never use the pockets anyway. Also there's a big back pocket (i guess for bike riding?) that will definitely go. That and the waist adjustments shock cord and cordlock will get chopped (slim fit already, don't need to snug up any more).

Altogether I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped to the 4oz or less range.

If your girlfriend is a gram weenie she'll definitely be disappointed at the mislabeled weight, but if she's just looking for a functional wind shirt that fits well on a slim frame and doesn't weigh a half pound or more, she should be content

There are ALOT of small european brands that are making really good gear, people are too used to sticking to the same ol brands for everything. Cant really blame them though, when buying a $250+ jacket, it pays to be secure in your choice, even if there is better stuff out there.

I'm crossing my fingers that they aren't misrepresenting weights – that'd be a shame.

She's definitely not a gram weenie, she's slim, and she picked it up on SAC for $39.99 – I think she'll be more than content.

Thanks for the details. I'll get back to you with some numbers on her Off-Track and my Dri1.

Cheers.

Yes, I agree…AND they are making some really good LOOKING gear :)

A few, maybe, "less popular" companies that come to mind:

Laufbursche (I know Hendrik (www.hikinginfinland.com) has reviewed some of their stuff)

Woolpower

Norrøna

Multimat

…any others that stand out to you?

Oh, one thing I'll add. I got a medium (all they had) and I normally wear a small in slim cut companies like Arc'Teryx. The Medium fits really well. I'm sure I could fit into a small, but it would leave very little room underneath. For a woman, if she doesn't want to wear it over light insulation, the close formfit should be fine.

Doesn't appear from mfg. or seller's site that jacket is WP/B. Reference on seller's site to "hydophilic" does not connote vapor permeability.

I'm not too worried whether the company claims: "WP/B" or "Hydrophilic" or "Microspore" or "eVent" or "Gore-tex"… I'm more concerned of how I feel when drops of water fall from the sky and when drops of sweat start to fall from my skin… so far, so good.

Plus, as I understand it, "hydrophilic" means "water loving" – that sounds nice to me. : )

I found a blurb on their site describing the Dri1 material under the bitihorn waterproof pant:

A new technical fabric, driä1 is a 2.5-layer constructed with face fabric laminated to a membrane coated on the backside. Without needing a liner, it is a soft, ultra-lightweight, low volume protective material, using a hydrophilic system of moisture transportation rather than microspore holes. Works well for biking, walking, hiking and other outdoor sports when it’s important to shield body against rain and wind.

2,5 layer construction 66 g/m² of, face: 100% nylon /100% PU membrane

Norrona does say it's waterproof in their descriptions, just no technical specs about construction. The question then becomes "are the seams sealed?" From most of the user comments on backcountry it appears well constructed and people have stayed very dry, so I'm assuming they are. Maybe you can answer that question for us Tyson?

EDIT: I found somewhere else, earlier, that it is a PU coating. They just use some proprietary hydrophilic method for moving water/water vapor from the inside to the outside, instead of micropores.

Yeah, I read that same thing on the women's version of this same jacket (not sure why the specs are missing for the men's version) The name would be pretty silly if it didn't keep you dry.

It's definitely seam sealed. I'll post some pictures soon.

Honestly, it's one of the most well constructed jackets I've come across… my most recent rain jacket was the MH Stimulus, or the hooded version, the Quark – both pretty nice jackets, imo. (It seems like MH gets a bum rap – hey, I absolutely love my Phantom 15 sleeping bag!) But, the two jackets felt crinkly and definitely not as durable as the Dri1.

Time will tell. I'll be trying this jacket out on the slopes, and in the mountains, this winter. For now, I'll wear it proudly around town, at work, and weekend hiking/backpacking trips.

It looks like she ordered the medium, normally she wears a small. Sometimes the sleeves are a littler short for her on smalls, so I think the medium is a good choice.

I opted for a large on the Dri1. I was wearing a MH medium rain jacket and it didn't offer enough room to wear a insulating layer. So, I went with the large – and I'm glad I did. My medium, MH Nitrous down jacket fits great under the large Dri1.

Hey Dustin,

So I came into work this morning, with my fingers crossed, hoping Norrona hadn't botched the weight as bad as they apparently did on the off-track.

I stuffed my jacket into its own pocket and walked out to production and put that baby on the scale. The scale read: .6 pounds

9.6oz! …for the LARGE! Pretty impressive.

Looking forward to weighing my girlfriend's off-track!

Cheers.

That's great news (and now puts the company back on my "to consider" list). I've seen other comments on the right weight being around 6oz forthe off-track, they don't even list it on their site anymore.

Definitely a botch job by their marketing group. I wouldn't be surprised if it was originally 2.8oz for just the shell material, then all the pockets and features doubled the weight. The new version, Bitihorn aero100 (same material and weight spec as off-track) has a much simpler design from the pictures, One chest pocket and no waist adjustments, just the hem.

Keep us updated on the Dri1, it looks like a solid piece of kit from an established company.

Dustin,
You are right. My bad. Very good specs.
Sam

Just to add some more data for this jacket —

I have a men's small and it weighs 9.15 oz

The orange color is terrific! The hood cinches down so it fits like a baseball cap, no durability issues so far, no leaks. I don't sweat much so I can't comment on condensation.
I am a small female and the men's jkt fits me well. I can get a few layers under it if needed, the sleeves are a little long but I'm able to adjust the cuffs with the velcro tabs. All good so far.

Thanks for more info, Val!

I've had a little bit more time to "test" it out and I've been extremely happy with the hood and durability, so far. I haven't had condensation issues yet. I wore it the other day in a light drizzle with the pits unzipped, on a hike, with a long-sleeve icebreaker merino wool shirt underneath – it felt great.

Cheers.

EDIT: I've worn this jacket for almost two months now – in numerous rainy and snowy conditions and I've been extremely happy with the durability and functionality.

So I'm confused, would the Off-Track Men's medium be more than 6 oz.? Or are you saying the weight would drop to 4 oz. after you removed those pockets? (Which is a good idea.) I was skeptical myself when I saw the spec weight of 2.8oz. for this jacket. Just wanted to be sure though, because if it's still under 4 oz. "as is" weight, I still may get it, their line of stuff looks pretty solid.

@Rob
The weight is off at Backcountry.com, where weight is listed as 2.8 oz. As someone else said at the Backcountry item page, the actual weight is 6.4 oz or so.

I got one of the Aero 60 jackets, which is a hooded windshirt made of a lighter fabric similar to the fabric used on the Off Track. I still have it now, but will be sending it back to Backcountry- the waist cinch around the hip broke the first time I tried to use it. In XXL, it weighed around 7 oz. My review at Backcountry.com.

The fit is good, closer to Arc’teryx than Rab. True to size on the chest measurement.