“Faux-dini”: 2.3 oz. Windshirt, <$15 – Initial Review and Sourcing

[Graham F]

The one listed by Jackson is not the fauxdini for what it’s worth.

As the owner of a few of them, this jacket whilst see through, does not look much the same. The shiny fabric is the give away, it does not match the original.

This is https://www.ebay.ca/itm/152391459271

what was agreed by the original poster Valerie as the fauxdini.

Not that I’m really fussed if this is breathable, but I will wager the shiny surface is a coating and will restrict breathability which the original has in spades and remains quite drizzle proof. It is excellent.

See page 14 of this thread for the details. Several people apart from me now own a few.

Cheers.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/152391459271

[Stephen Seeber]

I have completed my evaluation of the RockBros Cycling Jacket that was discussed previously on this thread.

My post may be found here.  https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/performance-evaluation-of-12-99-rockbros-jacket/

Please post any comments on the new thread.  Thank you for reading.

[Chris S]

Is this the real faux-dini? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZKBDCMW?pf_rd_r=QAY14DQDHNNG8NWAEKT2&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8&pd_rd_r=c066b80b-ae89-4de7-8c49-7dc55f559c10&pd_rd_w=quXob&pd_rd_wg=7UV5B&ref_=pd_gw_unk&th=1

Looks just like it with the packable hood and chest pocket.  I picked one up, weighs 2.9 oz in XL.  Sizing only seems to run maybe a half size small.  Had plenty of length and sleeve length at 6′ tall.  Super breathable, maybe even too much?  What do you all think?

[Tim Czarkowski]

That certainly looks like it. I’m thinking about picking up another one. I’m 6’3″, how are the sleeves on it? I usually wear a large, do you think the sleeves would be long enough? They’re out of the XXL. I’ve had a number of them thorough the years and they’ve been great but the sleeves have always been too short or just barely long enough.

[Ethan A.]

+1 what Tim said. I’ve had a breathable one for a few years now that Tim helped me find. This looks like one of the breathable ones. I’m 6 ft tall, 33/34 in. sleeve (I think that’s measured from the neck) and the sleeves on the XL I ordered, with just a base layer underneath are short by about 1.5-2 in. Still works, but I wind up pulling the sleeves of my base layer out to reach my wrists.

What are your measurements – height, chest, sleeve and what US size do you typically wear?

I prefer windshirts that are highly breathable. If you’re concerned with too much breathability, for very strong cooler winds, just reach for your rain shell.

 

 

[Chris S]

They still have one XXL in green and in white it looks like.  I’m 6′ 175 lb, athletic build.  Not sure my exact measurements but I wear a large in most things, sometimes a medium.  I have pretty normal length arms for my height.  Sleeve length from center back neck to cuff is 37 in.  The elastic scrunches it up at the bottom a bit, but it comes down about 6 in below my belt in front and long enough to cover my butt in back.  I have room for a thick winter puffy underneath comfortably.  I might order a large to try cause I think it will fit better over just a base/midlayer. Also, wouldn’t be confident all the colors have the same fit.  They say white is adjusted sizing but others may be different.  Here are a couple pics of the XL.

[Ethan A.]

Thanks, our measurements are very similar. I wear my windshirt usually over a baselayer, and sometimes over a baselayer + midlayer. Never with anything thicker underneath. Gotta love the “Dooy” branding.

[Tim Czarkowski]

Thanks for the pictures. The sleeves look reasonably long. I’m going to give an XL a try and I’ll post my results too. Being able to order them from Amazon is a huge plus vs getting them from china where there is no opportunity to return them. Well worth the premium, plus when I was recently looking on eBay and AliExpress it didn’t seem like there were many good options.

 

I usually wear mine with just my base layer but also sometimes with a 100 wt fleece below if it’s particularly cool on a day hike. I always take mine with me, I often will just carry it in my back pocket on day hikes. The amount of warmth they add for the weight is amazing.

[Michael B]

I might have to pick one of these up. I looked at the Houdini, and the images Chris provided, and the look of the jackets are different – Hood is different, basic pattern of the pieces are different, hood cinch method is different, and there is an extra bit of collar that the Houdini doesn’t have. Is this really a fake Houdini, or just another hooded windshirt? It looks nice, or at least the XL seems to fit Chris well enough, and if it does a good job in blocking wind, I would be inclined to give it a try for the price without feeling I am buying a counterfeit product. Patagonia does not have a monopoly on windshirts and I’m not inclined to pay the markup for their brand (500%!!!) if I do not have some reasonable evidence their product or their labor is costing them 500% as much as the guy on Amazon. This thread is 16 pages long – maybe all my points were already pointed out.

[Chris S]

I don’t think these are actually supposed to be fake or counterfeit Houdinis, just cheap light windshirts that perform similarly to the old Houdini with high breathability.  If you want something that really blocks the wind, then this probably won’t do it for you – it’s very easy to breathe through and I think some of the other links mentioned in this thread have less breathability/permeability.  I’ve never owned a windshirt before so I don’t have much to compare it to.

[Brad W]

I don’t think any of the faux-dinis were ever counterfeit or direct copies of the Houdini. They are just cheap windshirts. FWIW I love my real Houdini. It’s been beaten to heck, is a crucial part of my layer system and I never get on trail without it.

[Ethan A.]

They fauxdinis are just inexpensive wind shirts. The fauxdini was so named because it was highly-breathable like the pre-2012 Patagonia Houdini. Both my wife and I had the pre-2012 Houdini, which was verified by Richard Nisley to be about 35 cfm. It was one of our most used pieces of gear other than our trail shoes.

Our Houdinis met an unfortunate end in a dryer, torn to shreds. I always washed our synthetics and rarely dried anything, except to reactivate DWR. That time my wife put the Houdinis in with a bunch of heavy wet clothing, the sides of the dryer had some ribs to agitate the clothing, and the ribs would pull on the wet Houdinis while the heavy wet clothes fell on them. Almost passed out when I saw them. By then Patagonia was using a much less breathable fabric. Yeah, still happily married. Small price to pay for all the good things : )

[Chris S]

Update: I got a Large in “gray” and it’s about 5 inches shorter in the sleeves and length than the XL in “olive green”.  Pretty sure the two are on different sizing scales.

[Brad W]

Got the blue XL. Fits me a tad more snug that the real Houdini XL. Arms and length are fine and I have a bit longer arms that average. I am 6’2″, 180lb. Base layer wouldn’t be a problem underneath, puffy may be pushing it. I wouldn’t go up or down in size. Seems decently breathable. Is slightly transparent. Zipper seems of low quality. Compresses nicely into stuff sack. 4.5″x2.5″

 

[edward b]

Got the green in xxl.  I usually wear an xl.  At 5’10”, 195 lbs with long arms, it is a good fit.

[Brad W]

Had a chance to take the cheap-dini out this weekend. It really breathes quite well compared to the current Houdini. I had some decent winds out-20mph-and it cut a good portion of them while letting a just a little through-which was fine. My XL weighed in at 2.3oz. Hood is form fitting has elastic on it-wasn’t blowing around.

[john mcalpine]

I bought both a L and XL.  I’m 5-9″ and weigh 155.  College swimmer so wide shoulders.

The L didn’t fit.  The arm length was too short.  Easily 4 inches above my wrist when I gold my arms straight out.

The XL is better.  The body is a bit big.  The arm length was still too short.  I’d say they added about 3 inches.  OneCare inch would be great.

[Ethan A.]

@John what color did you get? Apparently different colors fit differently.

[Tim Czarkowski]

I got the blue XL and am 6’3″ 155 lbs and I’m very pleased with how it fits. The sleeves are a decent length and it sits slightly below my back. The hood is the only thing that doesn’t fit properly, the elastic is so tight that it pulls the whole jacket up making it unusable for me. There are a few other things that I don’t like but they’re just a matter of opinion. I would prefer to have pockets, adjustable hem, and a heavier zipper. Overall the fit is so much better than a lot of the others I’ve tried that this will definitely be my go to wind jacket.

[john mcalpine]

@Ethan A.       The L was blue.  The XL only came in green when I purchased them.

[Brad W]

Like others said-the sizes are not consistent throughout the colors. I can vouch currently-may change-that blue XL will fit people that usually are on the smaller side of wearing XL. I have XL Houdini and the faux-dini XL in blue isn’t too far off.

I wish there was a definitive way to test breathability. I would be curious where it sits CFM wise.

[Marcus]

I bought the Green XL. I am 6’1″, 185lbs, 40″ chest under armpits, 33×32″ pants, athletic build.

The Green XL fits acceptably. I wish it was slightly smaller as I will only have a thin active layer under it most of the time, but for $20 it will definitely work fine. Its sized similar to my Arcteryx Zeta AR shell in Large. I’ll take some pictures tonight with various layers underneath.

Per the darth vader breath test, I am able to breath through this very easily, like I can exhale a full breath in nearly a normal amount of time if I push hard. We have not had wind to test it in since I received it, but I put it over a 330cfm 6″ diameter centrifugal  blower with the output reduced to 4″ diameter. it dead heads at 1.8″ water column. Assuming the neck-down produces ~.5inwc with ~200cfm flow, that puts the output velocity at ~26mph. Assuming any of that is close to correct, I cannot feel a breeze through the shirt with it about 2″ away from the nozzle. Im not sure how wind speed converts to inWC static pressure, but my unscientific testing says you need close to 1.5″wc to feel a noticeable breeze through the fabric.

That said, it does seem to breathe extremely well.

Argon 90 is rated at 40cfm according to what I read. That is very hard to breathe through. If Argon 90=40CFM, then I would think the fauxdini is well over 200cfm. its easily 5x more breathable, and likely much higher than that.

[Bill in Roswell]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Good info Marcus. I use wind jackets quite a bit since it doesn’t often get really cold in southern Apps. I have an old Marmot Ion that breathed well, blocked most wind, let moisture out. The wind had to be 25+ to feel it through the fabric. Like the old Houdini, I’ve not found one since that breathes similarly. As I recall, BPL (Roger?) tested a few jackets and the Montbell and EE jackets did fairly well, seems like around 40?  The fabric should stop the wind, not the moisture.</p>
 

[Shmedlap]

I’ve owned four of the proper ebay so called fauxdinis for about four years. I also now own an Argon 90 zipless hoody at 48 grams that I’ve made.  I was wearing both this morning at varying times on a run. As someone mentioned the two above I have a few things that may be useful?

The real Fauxs vader is about twice, maximum, (that’s to me-it may even be a bit less) the Argon 90 (purportedly 40CFM). So I often say the Faux is about 70-80 CFM. Just from pushing air through with my mouth. If you can’t see through the fabric on those ‘Fauxs’ listed above I don’t reckon it’s the same Nylon ‘papery Faux’ material.  I recently recommended the Faux to someone and they found it easily enough on ebay (look for the chimp and the lollipop colours in the ad) in many colours. You will feel wind through it above about 10 kms/hr. Excellent for me when being highly ‘active’ in cooler weather (or even static in some weather with an Alpha Nitro!) use, but not windproof by any stretch of the imagination. Argon 90 for what it’s worth when not as highly active as running (I made some pants as well) I find brilliant.

[Brad W]

@13th You can see through the Amazon fauxs. Very breathable.

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