Marmot Crystalline / Mica as 4-season shell?

I have this jacket, and used it several times this past winter while snowshoeing. It worked very well for me, quite wind proof, and wasn't a terrible sweatbox either. We were snowshoeing in roughly 30-40 F weather, so not terribly cold, and either snowing or rainy, but with wind. I didn't find it to be much of a sweatbox at those temps, but I hike slowly and snowshoe even more slowly, so it depends on how you go.
Here it is in action at Hurricane Ridge this Spring. You can see what conditions I'm talking about.

For some people it may be fine. I run hot and really struggle to slow down enough that I don't sweet when engaged in snow storms. For me, MemBrain (and PU layer really) just doesn't breath enough. PU layers depend on condensing the moisture and then moving the moisture through. My experience is when it's cold I end up with the inside of the jacket filled with frost. eVENT (which direct vents) seem to work better… but typically I don't worry about waterproof, I go with water resistant soft shell for the 4th season.

–mark

for the awesome, quick replies! I'm not much of a sweater, especially come winter, which is probably why I've never gotten into softshells. Honestly, except when I'm expecting really inclement conditions, I mostly get through the winter wearing multiple layers of densely knit wool – winter is not a UL or even a particularly lightweight season for me…yet.

The one thing I'll really miss if I bite the bullet on a new jacket is the full-torso pit zips on the Aspire. Really nice being able to buckle your pack under the jacket instead of over it.