Hooded Patagonia Airshed

[Greg Pehrson]

Looks like Patagonia has a hooded Airshed now—sort of. The hood and forearms are made from Capilene Cool while the body is the Airshed material.

Also looks like their Storm Racer has been changed again (at least three totally different designs using the same name) to be trail runner-specific–worn over a vest pack with two zippers to access water bottles on the straps. I love my previous generation Storm Racer as an UL 3 layer rain shell a la the M10.

I was just checking out their site the other day and these caught my attention.

[Simon Kenton]

Spoke with their chat agent today, the Airshed pullover is being discontinued. The new Airshed Pro seems to have a different fabric weight than the pullover. The chat agent confirmed they will have similar CFM in the nylon sections and worse in the Cap sections.

[Philip Tschersich]

I’ve had one of these for a couple of weeks now. I’ve mostly used it as an outer layer over a long-sleeve silk-weight base layer (Arc’x Phase SL) and sometimes under a breathable wind shell (Patagonia Houdini Air) in coastal Alaska temps of ~27-35 F doing XC skiing, snowshoeing, and backcountry skiing. I’m 5’11”, 190#, and the size large fits well. Much more so than the original Airshed that fit like maternity wear with skinny sleeves, a gaping neck opening, and a billowing torso. Seriously, who tailored that POS? Anyway…

I like the addition of the hood a lot. On a recent backcountry snowshoe that involved grunting up steep and loose snow slopes in calm and humid conditions, cresting the mountain into a chilly and biting wind, and then descending the other side I was able to skip a hat and just flick the Airshed’s hood up and down and adjust the zipper for a wide range of exertions and conditions. I can’t say it’s any better In that application than current breathable  windshells on the market like the Houdini Air though. It offers a comfy capilene fabric hood (nice) which offers no adjustments (hmm- though it fits a bare head well) and lacks any pockets at all (2x hmm), but the stretchy lower arms can be pushed up for ‘venting’ in some circumstances (neutral). It’s neither a base layer or a light shell, so does neither well, but kinda/sorta does both?

So far I like it, but I think I still like a silk-to-mid-weight zippered long-sleeve T with a breathable wind shell better. Like an Arc’x Phase SL or AR with a Montbell Tachyon or Patagonia Houdini Air. Come spring, I may find greater versatility with the Airshed Pro over a light, synthetic, short sleeve T for hiking. I’m sure trail runners that never want to stop to adjust will find a friend in the Airshed Pro.

 

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