REI Gossamer jacket and vest half off

[Colin Kelley]

I picked up a Gossamer vest at 1/3 off before Christmas and really like it. Now I see both Gossamer items are on sale at half off: $50 for the vest and $75 for the jacket. Those are great prices for synthetic insulation of Pertex Quantum+Primaloft.

http://www.rei.com/online/store/Search?vcat=REI_SEARCH&query=gossamer

They are somewhat full-featured: fleece chin lining plus chin guard fabric over the zipper ends, double adjustment waist drawcord–one at each hip–and an inside chest pocket with iPod headphone cord portal! The handwarmer pockets are simple (big and unlined) yet have insulation both inside and out which is really valuable IMO.

Here's the discussion from last year:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/1215/index.html

The Large vest I just picked up has 1.5 inches of double-layer loft and weighs 9.5 ounces. The only mods I made were for comfort, not weight: I trimmed off a couple tags, removed the second drawcord from a pocket, and retied the others to half length. Speaking of comfort, the catalog doesn't mention the fabric any more but the vest I picked up is unmistakably Quantum.

[EndoftheTrail]

Nice. Wonder what temps one can wear that as a "stand alone" jacket? Anyone?

[Robert McGaughey]

I'm also interested in this jacket. Does anyone have any experience with it? Especially in comparison to the Patagonia Micro Puff or MEC Northern Lite? My main concern is the durability of the fabric and also curious as to its warmth.

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