As a followup to our recent review of the Integral Designs eVENT Rain Jacket, I wanted to post some longer term impressions.
I’ve been using the jacket this winter, primarily as a mountaineering shell in variable conditions. By variable, I mean that it’s been going with me on trips where I can expect temperatures to be warm enough that precipitation will fall as wet snow or cold rain. For colder trips I just take a wind jacket as an outer layer.
Anyway, a lot has been discussed about the fit of the Integral Designs eVENT Jacket. Yes, it’s very trim – they’ve designed it to layer over a single thin base layer.
In my question for pursuing an all-purpose 3 layer mountaineering hard shell, I’ve been looking hard at three jackets: the Arc’Teryx Alpha LT (XCR), the Rab Latok Alpine (eVENT), and the ID (eVENT). All three are excellent jackets, but I think I’m probably going to be settling on the Integral Designs, with a caveat:
I normally wear a medium, and I’m sizing up the ID to an XL. At this sizes, the sleeves are long enough to withdraw my hands into when it’s raining, there is enough volume to layer over a high loft sweater like a Micro Puff or Cocoon, the hood works well enough over a helmet, and even when layered over just a base layer, the fit is good and not excessively baggy on me (5’8″, 155 lb).
What I’ve really noticed in this experimentation period, is that the larged sized jacket is quite a lot warmer, something I’d not give a lot of thought to previously, and I don’t notice appreciable differences in breathability due to the large size. In fact, the larger size may offer better ventilation than the smaller size due to a bellows effect (which would lead you to think that a large size would be colder but this is not the case in my experience).
And so, I guess the real point of this post is, if you are normally a size M (or on the smaller end of a L), sizing up to an XL may provide you with an oustanding hard shell in eVENT that provides room for layering.
Also a factor in my decision was the weight: 10.4 oz for the ID eVENT in XL vs. 14.9 oz for the Rab Latok Alpine in Size M and 16.4 oz for the Alpha LT in M.
Finally, although I considered adding pit zips to the jacket, I think I’ll skip it. I simply haven’t missed them wearing it this winter.
