GoLite Malpais Trinity 3-Layer Liteshell Jacket Review

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Here there be an in-depth review of one contender from Dave Chenault's Ultralight Waterproof-Breathable Jacket SOTMR, the GoLite Malpais. On paper (or more appropriately, “on monitor”), the Malpais has everything a gear junkie could possibly want. Very light, waterproof but breathable, and all the little features… a full hood, full zipper, two pockets, and adjustable cuffs. The Malpais is even made using a three-ply fabric, which should prove more durable in the long haul. But does real-world experience with the jacket remind us of the disparity between some online dating profiles and the actual person?

The first thing I noticed was the size and weight of the Malpais in its package. I’ve had windbreakers that felt heavier! When I started handling the jacket, its touch was silky and a reinforced kind of wispy. The tricot scrim of the third ply is of an exceptionally fine gauge, a barely discernible texture to its feel. The inside of the jacket is finished in a clean, restrained manner. The face fabric is about as silky as ripstop nylon will get. The pocket liners are of fine-gauge mesh and laminated to the shell.

# WORDS: 1850
# PHOTOS: 6

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

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Apr 17, 2012 at 1:37 pm #1288830

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

Companion forum thread to:

GoLite Malpais Trinity 3-Layer Liteshell Jacket Review

Apr 18, 2012 at 11:19 am #1868640

sean neves
Spectator

@seanneves
Locale: City of Salt

I just brought this jacket through five days and forty miles in Cedar Mesa (Grand Gulch, Collins to Bullet) and saw everything from intense heat, light rain, freezing temps, driving sand blizzards and some light snow and this review nailed every single point that I observed. Puzzling (read: useless with a pack on) pocket placement, tight chest fit, loose belly fit, and the worst zipper I have ever encountered in my 25 years of walking around the hills. I am pretty sure that I have permanently damaged the zipper from forcing it in the early uses. The key is to get it to "set" and then force it. Force it before it sets and you will hurt the coat. No Bueno.

I love the concept, the light weight, breath-ability and 3-layer design, but sadly it's going back to its maker today.

Apr 18, 2012 at 9:12 pm #1868868

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

> significantly tighter around the chest and shoulders than around the belly and lower back
Can one jump to the conclusion that the jacket is designed for the average quite-obese yuppie maybe?

OK, harsh. But still … it fits.

Cheers

Apr 18, 2012 at 9:30 pm #1868871

Paul Hatfield
BPL Member

@clear_blue_skies

Posting my comments from another thread:

I love GoLite backpacks, but the GoLite Malpais Trinity does not get a thumbs up. It has a
absolutely horrible zipper
too much fabric in the gut
hood with poor coverage

The GoLite Tumalo that I tried had a horrible zipper too (just about impossible to get started).

Apr 19, 2012 at 10:12 am #1869026

B. F.
Member

@thrush

I find it disturbing that on a site about lightweight backpacking, I can find no weight on a product review. I scanned the text and searched for "oz", "Ounce", "Weight", "gram" – there is no weight. Waste of time.

Apr 19, 2012 at 10:16 am #1869028

CW
BPL Member

@simplespirit
Locale: .

This may or may not make you happy, but the weight was published in the SOTMR.

Apr 19, 2012 at 10:34 am #1869035

B. F.
Member

@thrush

Thanks. An idea would be to begin a review with the product weight and a comparisson to two similiar alternatives, always one lighter and one heavier. Also, this way you could sometimes cross-link product reviews. Example:

GoLite Malpais – 7.2 oz / 204 gram
Lighter*: Montane Litespeed H20 (5.6 / 159)
Heavier*1: Montane Spektr (7.7 / 218)

* : (chose a similiar featured alternative here)
*1: (chose a more featured, slightly different alternative here)

Just for consideration. Good review apart from this.

Apr 19, 2012 at 11:02 am #1869039

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

B.F.: Agreed. Weight should have been listed, and it completely slipped my notice that it was not! Thanks for pointing it out.
Addie

Apr 20, 2012 at 3:02 am #1869293

Anonymous
Inactive

I own one in a size medium and it is heavier than the weight listed by BPL. I put the jacket on my digital scale and the weight of the jacket in size medium is 224 gram/7.9oz
I don't know why my jacket is heavier…

Apr 20, 2012 at 6:47 am #1869324

Gary Dunckel
BPL Member

@zia-grill-guy
Locale: Boulder

My XL Malpais weighs exactly 8.0 ounces. And I hate the zipper too…

Apr 20, 2012 at 7:05 pm #1869543

Dustin Short
BPL Member

@upalachango

Roger, stop sticking up for the pudgy yuppies! They have enough money to pay for well fitting clothes, yet starving college students like myself have to spend big bucks on Euro styled brands to get decently cut clothing!

Rene, each scale is different. Some aren't that accurate or reliable (the former meaning reading represents actual weight and latter meaning weighing the same item over and over gives you the same reading with little/no variation).

While I think my scale is pretty decent, I really just use it as a relative guide to compare two items, rather than an absolute measure.

So unless there's something incredibly wrong with your jacket (ie much larger than labeled size or different fabric used) more than likely the issue is with your scale than the jacket.

Apr 21, 2012 at 9:00 am #1869651

Mark Montag
Member

@mmontag

Brad, nicely presented and well thought out review. Thanks for your time in putting this together.

As owner of one of these jackets, purchased 2011, just a few other comments. My men's medium weights in at 7.6 oz – at 5'-8", 140lbs, w/ athletic build the medium fits well, no restrictions for full movement, I like the softer, non crinkle fabric.

The jacket does indeed seem to be fuller towards the bottom, I use the jacket for backpacking only, it's in my pack most of the time waiting for the weather to change, I'm happy it's less than 8oz. When I do have it on, I never put my pack waistbelt over the bottom of my jacket(s), (or shirt for that matter) – instead pull the jacket above the belt. With the Malpais two-way zipper, I can unzip and open the bottom to aid in breathing. I'm thinking that little bit of lower looseness helps that function. As Will points out in one of his many fine articles – a waterproof/breathable jacket needs to be open in the front to truly breathe, I agree. The controls on the hood could be tighter, I typically use hoods with a mesh brim cap (ballcap) underneath the hood. The Malpais hood pull down nice & tight to the brim. A brim cap & hood is the only way to go in precipitating weather. jmo

As for the sticky zipper – mine had that at first, I thought mine was the only one that did that until I read it in a few BPL articles. The first thing I did was to rub paraffin (hard dry wax) on the zip coupler & zipper start – smooth operation, still works great after 8 months or so. YES – I know – a new jacket shouldn't need that, but it's a 30 second fix for those that have or would like to purchase the jacket.

Lastly, the outdoor clothing industry have their suggested retail price, GoLite however is almost always on sale somewhere at a substantial lower price & usually before the season is over.

Nov 20, 2012 at 11:16 am #1929905

andrew morgan
BPL Member

@andrewjet1
Locale: philadelphia

Not a single mention of how this jacket fares in the rain???? Am I missing something?

Review fail.

Feb 23, 2013 at 9:33 pm #1957955

Jim Milstein
Spectator

@jimsubzero
Locale: New Uraniborg CO

I got one of these in December 2012. The fit of mine is overall slender, which is ok, since I am too. There is no accommodation for a paunch, as described in the review. I normally buy men's medium, and this is the right size for me in this jacket too. The slender fit does not allow much extra clothing under it, like a puffy jacket. But that seems reasonable given what I think is its purpose.

Like everyone else's, mine has a hard-to-start zipper. A tiny, tiny smear of white silicone grease on each of the two zipper lugs at the bottom has helped a lot. An earlier commenter was not troubled by the pocket placement, since he unzips the bottom and keeps the jacket outside his pack's waste belt. I normally do too with all my jackets.

I have not field tested it yet, since it is not really the right shell for winter in the Rockies.

Feb 25, 2013 at 3:39 am #1958392

Green Thumb
Member

@greenthumb

I walked 25 miles up near the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC in a constant rain. I was wearing the Malpais Jacket with the Currant Mtn. pants. I stayed dry and they never came close to wetting out. Not bad considering I picked the set up for what the jacket costs right now. I've also worn the jacket around town lately with the wet weather and have finally gotten the zipper to loosen up a bit. Definitely worth it as an uber lightweight rain jacket.
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