I just picked one of these jackets up and am thoroughly impressed. First, it cost $65 shipped to my door. Weighed on a digital postal scale it is 13.7 oz.
To compare before I purchased the Cabelas jacket I went to REI and eyed up both the Mountain Hardwear Typhoon, and the Arc'Teryx Alpha SL.
The MH was a slim fit, with a shorter waist than I wanted/need. The pockets seemed over done for a lightweight jacket and the storm flaps on the front zipper seemed clumsy.
The Alpha had all the features anyone could want, one perfectly placed chest pocket and a well functioning hood. However, the arms were fairly long and the cuff adjusters weren't great. The arms were also incredibly baggy but the rest of the jacket fit me well.
The lady at REI was really pushing me on the Alpha SL but even after putting on a layer underneath it didn't feel right.
Well I went home and went to Gore Tex's website to see who else made jackets from paclite. I see the Cabela's Rain River Parka for a miniscule $60 and figure why not.
The jacket fits true to what I was looking for, it's longer than the MH but is definately not "parka" length. The arms were a good size for me. It fits semi roomy with just a t-shirt underneath, but feels good when layered over my Arturius jacket(which at $40 was an equally ridiculouus deal).
It has vents/ginourmous pockets(they go to the waist and to me seem unuseable with a pack on) on the chest area, but no pit zips and no real pockets. The hood seems fairly easy to adjust.
I don't know what the performance is like first hand, but it has 66 reviews on cabelas.com for an average of about 4.8 out of 5 so I'm expecting it to be up to par with most jackets.
