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.
