Great intro to Soft Shells

By James MacDiarmid Ranked #1829 - Men's Softshell Jackets August 25, 2008

This was my first soft shell jacket. It's a pretty good value. The large fit me perfectly at 5'11", 170 lbs with a 42 inch chest. Athletic fit. I really liked the cut of the cuffs, the sleeve length, the dropped hem and the front length. The chest pockets aren't huge, but can holded a folded over map. Very nice looking to my taste. Light, packs down pretty darn well. It's not super stretchy, (like the Gamma MX, which I tried on) but is stretchy enough. Breathability is good, presumably at the cost of wind-proofness. Biking to work on a 55 degree morning, the wind definitely cuts through the arms, though not as much on the torso. It's not completely porous; it does block the wind. But if you hold the jacket up to a light, you can see light through the weave. It worked best in combination with a long sleeved base layer. It held off a moderate drizzle for almost 3 hours ducking in and out of temples in Japan, finally damping out, but still not allowing me to get soaked. Useless as rainwear in anything more than a drizzle. It breathes well enough that I could wear it up to about 65 degrees without being too warm as long as I wasn't hill-climbing. The cuffs aren't really stretchy enough to push up my forearms to vent. (Why wear a jacket over 65 degrees anyways?) Comfortable down to 50 with only a t-shirt, so long as the wind isn't too bad. And it is definitely abrasion resistant. I've never had any fear of ripping a hole in it. Overall, I can't imagine a better reasonably priced soft shell.

View Details: Arc'teryx Epsilon AR Jacket - Men's

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