Arcteryx Epsilon SV

I picked up one of these on steep and cheep for $30... I figured I couldn't go wrong for such a cheap price! In my opinion it didn't come close to performing as well as my gamma mx so I sold it to a shop near my house for $60 store credit. Here are some things I learned while using this jacket while climbing...

The good stuff - This jacket has great abrasion resistance. I can remember 2 specific pitches of climbing I did while wearing this jacket that required scraping up the whole way. At the top of each pitch, I think the jacket came out less injured than the rock! I wore mine for many climbs (at least 10) and it still looked like new, except for one small snag in the outside. Compared to a lot of other jackets, this thing is bombproof. Also, the cuffs at the end of the sleeves have a strange cut that at first appears annoying. With some use, I found the odd angled cut actually allowed the sleeve to cover more of my wrist while keeping the jacket out of my palms. The gusseted arms were another thing I found to be useful.

The not-so-good stuff - The biggest flaw in this jacket was breathability. Even in the summer, wearing my gamma mx did a better job of keeping me from overheating. This jacket does not breath as well as most softshells I have tried before. Part of this, I think, comes from the material the shell is made of. It isn't as soft as most softshells (but has better abrasion resistance). Even though it made me overheat in warmer temps, it didn't keep me warm in the cold. This jacket only worked on those perfect in between that never happen. Another flaw I found in this jacket is the wind resistance. Any winds over 15 mph and you start to lose heat and the jackets starts to feel like dead weight. But that most annoying thing I found with this jackets was that the hood didn't work well with a helmet. I could fit a helmet in the hood but felt like I couldn't look in any directions other than strait unless the jacket was zipped below my neck... bummer.

All in all, it is a decent jacket, but for the price there are better jackets out there to get!

This is one of my favorite jackets and I wear it all of the time. I have been wearing it regularly for two years and it still looks great. I use it in the city, on my bike, walking around, mountaineering and backpacking. I agree with many of the points that Tsuyoshi made above and I think their review is very accurate. The abrasion resistance is awesome, though the end of my sleeves became scuffed up quicker than expected. At first, the cut shape at the end of the sleeves drove me nuts because one section is longer so you can grab it with your thumbs easily...but I have since forgotten about that. I live in Seattle and have found it to work well in this climate, but as Tsuyoshi says, it does a great job of causing you to overheat due to lack of breathability, but it does not provide a lot of insulation. All in all I have been very happy with it and would recommend it to a friend. At 6' tall and 160m lbs I absolutely love the fit of the Medium.