Best Lightweight Wind Jackets

www.prolitegear...
ProLite Gear conducts Breathability, Wind Resistance, and Water Resistance performance tests on the Patagonia Houdini, Rab Cirrus Wind Top, Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer, and Montane GL Slipstream Wind Jackets.

[@BH-pl7vg]

This guy put so much effort into this, should have more views lol

[@Abbbb225]

Really appreciate your work in testing these products. If the air has to move at such velocity to penetrate the fabric then they are all essentially non-permeable in normal conditions. Assuming air does move through at lower velocities, then it would be more informative to take several data points at different velocities and determine the equation of the resulting line. The function may not be linear. If it is significantly exponential then all the jackets may be virtually equivalent until very high wind velocities are reached. Also, the air permeability and wind test seem to be the same test - both measuring how much air can be forced through the fabric, just in the former the pressure, I imagine, is less, and there is water on the other side.

[@sw2de3fr4gt]

This is how you do science. So much more informative than a spokesperson reciting buzz words.

[@WeileWorld]

Great work on your test

[@MX4551]

I'm german, guys you do a pretty damn good job here. My favorite channel when it comes to choose clothes to buy from. Keep going :_)

[@MX4551]

and what i most like, that actually every statement is just objective and that there is no overall winner. to really comes down to what your individual needs are ;-)

[@thdjjfsfh]

Thank you for doing these tests. I bought a houdini after watching this video. I have bought four wind jackets in the last 3 years. They lose their DWR very quickly, so it would be nice if you can do some abrasion testing to see how well the DWR resist abrasion. I know you can retreat the DWR, but they are never as good as factory treated DWR. If you're going to do an updated version of this test, can you add something with Schoeller Nanosphere like the Black Diamond Alpine Start. It's by far the most air-permeable jacket I have, and its DWR has been extremely abrasion resistant. I haven't had the Houdini long, but most of my other jacket DWR is almost useless after a month of daily use. The houdini has definitely been the most water resistant of any wind jacket I have. Keep it clean and store it inside out and it will keep even heavy rain out as long as you're not wearing a backpack.

[@turquoisecrayfish]

Just a few points about your testing methods. You claim that your middle test measures wind resistance - it does. You claim that your far right test measures breathability - it does not. By definition, wind resistance is a measure of how much air the jacket allows through it. By definition, breathability is a measure of how much water vapour passes through the jacket. Your far right test does not measure how much water vapour passes through the jacket, only how much air passes through it. Your middle and far right tests both measure the same thing.

[@pieronaldesi4276]

I was actually thinking the same. In middle and right tests they are measuring the wind resistance in (probably) two different speed wind regimes. For breathability, you should create a gradient, a difference between let's say two chambers, of humidity at constant temperature of around 37~39 °C!!

[@pgreenx]

give him a break. its hard enough to make these videos and comments like this are a reason people dont

[@2klatte]

I was really hoping to see how the Arcteryx Squamish hoody windbreaker would fare against your chosen contenders.....thanks for doing this comparison review.

[@ProlitegearPage]

Regarding the requests to test the Arc'Teryx Squamish hoody... that is a "wind jacket" that weighs 5.5oz. That is 3 times what the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer weighs... and puts it in the same weight category as the Outdoor Research Helium II Rain Jacket.... which as the name suggests is a rain jacket. I am just curious as to why this jacket is interesting to you as a wind jacket when it is so heavy?

[@vietataru]

Hi! I own both the Arc'Teryx Squamish Hoody in Heron Grey and the 2014 Patagonia Houdini in Paintbrush "Red" and was hoping to get a comparison. The Squamish is a great bit heavier but I was convinced in purchasing it after the Houdini by this review in particular: www.outdoorgearlab.com/Wind-Breaker-Jacket-Reviews/Arcteryx-Squamish-Hoody and this discussion: www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=70722 Thanks for the reply and I'm loving your reviews and tests. They seem much better than anywhere else and you seem on top of your game.

[@ProlitegearPage]

Vsin ok - the Squamish is something I will test. ProLite Gear isn't an Arc'Teryx dealer(perhaps in the future), so I tried to purchase one locally and unfortunately no stores stock them. I will get one shipped to me and test it for you... stay tuned and thanks for the suggestion. Craig

[@Gambit33]

Arc'teryx Squamish has been compared to and reviewed with Patagonia Houdini... a jacket you reviewed in this video. Just check out Outdoor Gear Lab's review of the 2 jackets and you'll see that they preferred Squamish over Houdini and even gave it their Editor's Choice award. Also, Squamish only weighs 1 oz. more than Houdini, depending on size of the jackets being compared, so it's only slightly heavier. To most runners, other than marathoners, that slight weight difference isn't noticable. Weight isn't the most important factor to a lot of people when deciding which lightweight wind breaker jacket to choose. Other factors such as look / style, fit, material quality, durability, utility (pockets), etc. are more important to many people than some of the technical factors you've tested in this video. In my opinion, all of the jackets you tested in this video except maybe Houdini looks like a wearable plastic food wrap or garbage bag.

[@Gambit33]

ProLiteGear I'm surprised you'd go out of your way to purchase a jacket you don't even sell just to test for some random person on KZbin. Arc'teryx makes amazingly high quality but super expensive (at retail price) products. I think it'd be a great idea if you finally became an Arc'teryx retailer. Gives your customers more options. Keep up the good work with these videos.

[@ProlitegearPage]

There are already 2 other Arc' Teryx dealers in Bozeman or we probably would be dealers for them. It is not unsuall for a dealer to get some geographic protection for the brands they are dealers for. To date I have paid for all the products that we have tested. But we are starting to get the attention of some brands we are not dealers for, so that may change in the future. In the interest of transparency if I test something that a brand has sent me I will make that known in the video. Thanks, Craig

[@nojaysimpson]

Wish you guys continued doing these videos on gear!

[@fderive]

Great job informing us again thank you

[@ghpatriot]

Awesome video. A little happier here that I went with the Houdini last year. =)

[@vietataru]

Any way you can also test the Arcteryx Squamish? Would love to see how it compares.

[@ProlitegearPage]

Please see my response above regarding why you are interested in it. It seems very heavy for a wind jacket.

[@TomsBackwoods]

Great test! Thanks

[@piotrszymanski9586]

Great video, thanks!!! Would it be possible for you guys to test different Outdoor Research Helium jackets? There's a couple of them Helium HD, Helium 2, Helium Hybrid I believe.

[@ciprol]

On the water permeability test, what's the situation with any DWR on the four jackets? If one was to DWR treat a specific jacket, surly the result would significantly change, no?

[@Sol_Bull]

i would've liked to seen tests for wind resistance at a more reasonable speed. Honestly 30mph is pretty fast.

[@Sol_Bull]

I also really love your videos. Keep them coming!!

[@weeksy68]

Great review ..

[@HikeLighter]

Could you please perform these same tests on the Montbell Tachyon Wind Jacket.

[@ProlitegearPage]

Hi John - great suggestion. I have one on the way to me and will test it shortly.

[@HikeLighter]

Thanks. As the lightest windshirt on the market, it just sort of belongs in the test.

[@r91976]

what's the difference between a rain jacket or hard shell and a wind shirt? I mean doesn't a hard shell act as an wind block also???

[@tywilson3689]

Wind shirts are much lighter in material than a shell and pack down a lot smaller as well. They don't have a lot of the features a shell might such as ventilation zippers. An important thing to note is that the Houdini doesn't have hand pockets, but the Rab Cirrus has hand pockets. The Patagonia Houdini weighs only 4 ounces and packs down to a very small size. It's pretty easily to justify throwing one of these into your pack in case of light wind, rain, or for a little extra warmth if needed.They are primarily to be used in unexpected and/or slightly bad conditions. I would not want to be caught in only a wind shirt during a torrential downpour.

[@ProlitegearPage]

Tymon - great answer and I agree with you. One interesting thing to consider is that now, just like in the hardshell / softshell categories we have products that fall someplace in the middle. So we have 6 oz rain jackets like the OR Helium II, and also sub 6 oz softshells to think about as potential solutions for "wind shirts." That might be a good topic to explore in a future video.

[@MarcP5267]

If hiking heavy in the Montane seems like it would wearing a trash bag

[@AZRockRunner]

You are not going to get wet with the Houdini, period. You may loose a little heat with the Houdini in extreme windy condition, but it is more breathable in 99% of case. So the Houdini win hand down.