Hi all, looking for a good jacket!

Have you checked one of these out yet? I recently snagged one, and so far I love it. It's right around your price range, light-weight, packs super small. It's been mostly warm and dry here since I purchased it, so it hasn't seen a whole lot of use yet. But, it seems to be an excellent purchase, at least for myself.

Thanks for the reply. I had not seen that one yet. What's the difference between the Alpha and Beta SL?

I believe it is the length. The Alpha should extend furhter down the hips and provide more coverage than the Beta. I think Theta is the longest.

I guess that explains the 3 more ounces of shipping weight. Thanks for the reply!

I believe Darren's right, it seems like I read that the Beta is about two inches shorter than the Alpha, and the sleeves on the Alpha are a bit longer as well. And then of course, there's the fact that the SL Hybrid meshes two materials, both the Goretex Pro and Paclite. It's mostly Paclite, but they've places the Pro Shell where there are areas of high wear, such as the shoulders and zippers.

Ok thanks for the information guys. I can snag the Alpha on Amazon for $250.

Seems like this might be the winner for winter 14'ers. Unless there is something else for that price range that I should really consider instead?

This is my "winter 14er" jacket. Amazing price – normally 299, on sale right now for 104 bucks. The "hi" is the warmer of the two models

http://www.backcountry.com/stoic-welder-hi-softshell-jacket-mens

Pretty incredible jacket IMO. Super warm, pretty much waterproof (held it under running water to test it), and breathes really well. Hardly super ultralight, but when out in the nasty stuff my concern is performance and not freezing over shaving grams..