Montane eVent Halo Stretch Jacket - Men's - 2011 BCS

eVent more breathable than similar gore products, stretch works well, hood like a ninja/balaclava style thing, nice wire brim, sweet weight. Bottomline this jacket performs well. Some small gripes. 1. for a price like this montane should put something soft right around the face and lips like tricot or fleece or something, it's really just less comfortable having your face on the shell material and the lining is the traditional three layer type of semi scratchy stuff. 2.) The main zipper has an awfully large rain flap in addition to the waterproof zipper so that it makes it hard to use the zip. FYI for us Americans the zipper will seem backwards, but one can get used to that part. 3.) This shell fabric seems thin in order to be lightweight. My concern is stretch reinforced around elbows+pockets+cuffs but not shoulders. I wonder if packstraps will wear on shoulders over time, haven't had long enough to tell if this will be a problem.

UPDATE as of november 2010 now- LOVE THIS SHELL HAD FOR A YEAR NOW AND WHILE THE CHIN FLAP NOT HAVING SOMETHING SOFT STILL BUGS ME SOMETIMES; I CAN SAY THIS JACKET JUST WORKS REALLY WELL, DWR COATING IS GREAT AND IS MORE BREATHABLE THAN MY PRIOR GORE TEX XCR SHELL. A GOOD DEAL WHEN AT SALE PRICE!

I was initially very stoked to try a new brand and a new membrane for me (eVent). Cut was good for me in size XL (6'1", 198lbs, 43"chest, 17x34 dress shirt) and the jacket offered excellent breathability. As soon as it arrived, I inspected the jacket and found a spot on the hood where the seamstress had mis-stiched the line and reversed his/her work. The seam tape covered the needle holes/mistake and I got it for 50% off, so I decided to keep it. After wearing it for one season, max of 10-15 days in the backcountry, the jacket fabric began to bubble/delaminate near the chest pocket and on the left sleeve. Maybe I just got a bit of a lemon, but for the original price point on the jacket, I was expecting more in terms of craftsmanship.

This will be my primary jacket for this season of backpacking/mountaineering. I hope to give a full report in a couple of months and really tell you what I think. So far everything looks good. I'm 5'11" 160 and bought the medium. It seems to fit pretty good with just a t-shirt and really good with a layer or two. I wanted a jacket that wasn't too bulky but still gave me the option to be able to put on a micro-puff just in case the weather gets nasty. This jacket allows for that. The hood feels good and lets me turn my head in any direct...it even does a better job with a helmet. All in all, I love that the jacket is made of the eVent fabric matched with Entrant for some better mobility.

Been using this jacket primarily while I bike commute to work on rainy days. It breathes way better than my previous rain shell and water beads right off. The orange color is a little more red looking than it appears in the picture but I think it looks great in person.

My only complaints are that the pockets/vents on the sides are a little high. They are great when I need to wear a harness at work, because I can still access the pockets, but for general around the town use it looks a little funny with your hands that high up. The hood/neck is also a lot taller than I'm used to, I can practically hide my entire head in the neck when zipped up all the way.

I'm about 6-1 with longish arms and the Large fits with plenty of room to layer with a fleece underneath.

I use the jacket for hiking, golf and running. Awesome in every respect. Nice and lightweight, strong and highly breathable. I live in Hawaii and it suits my needs perfectly. I stay dry and comfortable in the heaviest downpours. I like the features and quality of manufacturing.

Closer to 15 oz. for the weight. (Size M)

The sizing runs a bit voluminous - which can be nice for accommodating layers, but can also flap in the wind.

Appears to be well made, but would be much nicer if it were actually 12 oz.

This is my first eVent garment. The reason for going with eVent is primarily because I know all to well that goretex (at least the older goretex, not pro) does not breathe.

As expected, it looks and feels quite thin, and not terribly durable. This is a concern. However, if the jacket lives up to its breathability claims, and lasts me a season or two, I'll be happy. Moreso considering how lightweight it is.

So far I've used it only several times. 25-55 degree range, generally heavy rain. The water still beads off reasonably well. Where it does not bead off, it's still waterproof. Breathability is definitely superior to that of goretex. On one occasion I have kept it fully zipped during strenuous exercise, and I did sweat eventually, but much, much, much later than I would've in my older goretex shell.

Jacket is quite roomy. A large one fits me well over a couple of layers (6'2"; 160 lbs). Hood accommodates a helmet nicely. Zipper is a bit hard to engage; I definitely have to take gloves off to do so. Feels like a defect, but a small one at that.

It will take a while to assess durability. So far it has survived a long afternoon practicing self-arrest in the snow without problems. So, it's probably tougher than it looks. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it will perform in a few months.

I love the fit and feel of this jacket! Great style and features (helmet compatable hood, watertight zippers, full map pocket). Extremely breathable and solid in the cold...I can't wait to test it in the rain this Spring! There are so many jackets that are not built for an athletic cut but the Large is perfect in the chest and arms, it is just the right length and not too baggy around the waist (I'm 6'0", 170#, 42" chest, 32" waist)...with or without a light insulated jacket (Mountain Hardware Compressor) on really cold days on the mountain.

Thanks for the tip Backcountry and Kenny P.!!!

I tried out this and a dozen other storm shells. This jacket definitely had the best fit and the materials are (in my opinion), the best out there. I especially liked the long tail in the back, the double zip and the hood that closed off all of my face except what would be exposed wearing a typical balaclava. Great jacket - and great service from Backcountry.com

I've used my Halo for long days out in the Lakes fells (U.K.), skiing at times, walking the dogs on the beach, even once or twice on my mtb when desperate, all in shockingly bad northern UK weather! It remains watertight, the DWR has remained good despite little washing (it's recommended to wash eVENT jackets regularly), and to answer some of the questions, the pockets work just fine as handwarmers (they are a little higher than some others but not too much). The stretch works well and the hood adjusts well. Any questions please feel free to ask me directly. tim@montane.co.uk

I bought four different eVent bike jackets to try them all out with plans to return three and keep the best. This was the first I returned because I found it just okay. first of all, the cut was rather large (I bought an XL and at 200 lbs and 5' 11" and found it too big.) I found the cut was rather boxy compared to some of the other jackets available and just felt like they did not spend a lot of time developing the patterns, or just tailored it to fit a cylinder instead of a person. If you want flexibility for multiple heavy layers underneath in really cold weather this might be good, but if you bike a lot in 40 - 70 degree weather and want one or two light thin layers under you will not like this. This is more of an all-around parka than a bike jacket. I was excited to have an integrated hood, but my neck needed to be 6 inches longer to be in the right position to see out; it felt like there was an extra 6 inches of neck cuff between the hood and jacket. You can pull the hood down, but then you have all of this baggy material to deal with. The hood has a plastic adjuster in the back to fit the visor back to where you can see which is great without a helmet, but the adjuster is in the middle of the back of your head so when you try and put your helmet on over the hood, the adjuster has to go between the helmet and your noggin which I found very uncomfortable! The tail is long, but not quite long enough and I found that I like the long tails more on other jackets that snap up under the back when you do not need them.Quality of material was fine as well as construction details and my issues were more with design than overall quality. Zip vents good and pockets adequate but not as good as some other jackets. If you want one jacket that is okay for everything (skiing, biking, backpacking, running to store, etc. this might be good for you but if you want a great jacket specifically for biking there are better jackets out there for the money. Right now my favourite is the Showers Pass Mountain (not the more popular Elite 2.0). Because I realized I was going to return this, I did not take it on a sweaty rainy ride so I cannot comment on that aspect, but I am assuming it is pretty good based on other reviews here.