A home run for BC outerwear designers....almost

By jbm_13 Ranked #23 - Men's Softshell Jackets February 23, 2009

But at least the Shift Welder softshell would be a solid triple. First of all, as mentioned in other reviews..the colors shown in the pics are way off. My monitor rocks an AS-IPS panel (best lcd you can get) and I calibrate it monthly with an Eye-One pro....the "carbon" I received is a lighter shade of gray than the carbon in the pics...and much lighter than the carbon portions shown in the "Tahoe/Carbon" model. This isn't a bad thing however..just something to be aware of.

The look of this hoody is techie and sharp, the welded seams offer a very sleek and streamlined look, yet the polartec material is very smooth, soft and quiet...moreso than any other softshell I own. I had the chance to try out the hood the very next day that it arrived, and I found that it can be adjusted to fit very well and the jacket as a whole does a good job of blocking an icy wind of 10-15mph gusts. The athletic fit means that I will likely never use the bottom hem cinch unless I lose about 10lbs and use it for rock climbing with updrafts. Overall, very impressed with the jackets windblocking and warmth with just a t-shirt and mid-weight longsleeve baselayer underneath in windy 38-45F weather...not made for extremely cold, stormy weather however. Haven't experienced the wet yet...but with welded seams and polartec material it should pass with flying colors in anything short of a white-out or downpour.

Now for the stuff that keeps it from being an out of the park homer and rating 5 stars. I've never owned a jacket with a double zipper and can't think of a good use for it personally. This one just makes it difficult to zip up the first try and I've never successfully unzipped the bottom zipper...maybe mine is defective? Even though I like the no velcro cinch cuffs for casual use (it falls fashionably to the middle of my hands) it could be a drafty problem with gloves that don't have a gauntlet that can be cinched down. The last minor detail is the heat transfer goat logos which may or may not survive for long (especially the one on the back hem) ...maybe on the next version, BC could just use a regular zip and spend the money saved on embroidered logos?

The bottom line is that this high quality jacket deserves to be on the same shortlist with TNF, Arc', Marmot, MHW and other top brands when you are looking for a weather resistant hooded softie. I can't say that it's totally worth the asking price (got mine on S&C) but you can definitely spend more and end up with a less worthy piece. And the best part...since only BC sells this jacket, it is fairly rare and you likely won't see anyone else wearing one ;)

View Details: Backcountry.com Shift Welder Hoody - Men's

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