RAB Vapour Rise compared to light fleece + windshirt?

Over the last 10 years I have switched back and forth between Vapour Rise (or other combo jacket) and a separate fleece or heavy base and windshirt. I really liked the Vapour Rise and am very fond of the Equibrium material as a shell because it's a bit more weather resistant than most windshirts but slightly more air permeable. The downside is that you can't wear the items separately.

Currently I am using separates… this years patagonia cap 4 hoody (which is AMAZING) and an ArcTeryx wind shirt because I can wear them separately which provides extra flexibility.

–Mark

I think the vapour rise is an excellent choice-it actually delivers on the promise of a softshell for a cold weather action suit. Good weather protection/breathability & dries fast. I like the VR alpine with its broad temp range–you can easily push up the sleeves and zip open the jacket or batten everything down and cinch the excellent hood. For overall comfort & versaitility in the cold, I used this & thin merino base hoody.

The other setup I used was a powerdry high effociency base hoody (mec T2) and the rab alpine jacket, which uses the same pertex equilibrium as the VR. Honestly its somewhat of a coin toss between the two. I prefer the polartec HE base with rab alpine for higher output stuff and for spring skiing. The wool + VR was better for long winter days with variable conditions & precip.
I'd choose the VR over most fleece/shell combos, but polartec powerdry combined with a breathable outer like pertex equilibrium or the arc squamish is a good bet too.

Thanks to both of you. I guess what I was really testing was if the fabric combination of the vapour rise really adds something compared to the sum of the separate elements. This was induced by the wicking mechanism of the likes of Paramo and Buffalo.

I think at this stage I will try a capilene 4 (I see it is in a lighweight Power Dry) with my current windshirt. I only ever had cheep fleeces, I need to make my own experience of how much benefit more sophisticated fleeces yeld.