Anyone know/heard about the new Golite Virga rain jacket coming in at 5.6oz!? It is listed as a prototype in Skurka's gearlist for his GWL trip that was recently completed.

http://www.andrewskurka.com/GWL/gearlists.php

Thanks for the heads up! I can get excited about a wp/b jacket @ 5.6 oz -- if it is truly breathable! Otherwise, I'll just stick with my 5 oz. wp/barely breathable Sierra Designs Isotope jacket. My other concern is that Golite's production model will creep up in weight -- as Golite always has one eye (and sometimes both) set on the mainstream market.

Curious -- for current Golite Virga users -- is your jacket pretty darn breathable? Or just so-so?

IMO, just so-so.

Just so-so.

IMO the benefit of a sub 6oz virga will be a relatively cheap, more durable than propore, and easily available jacket.

I find the breathability so-so, but not any worse than most proprietary WPB. I believe the "new" virga is really a return to the original virga prototype before it gained pockets, etc. There's a podcast on here where Coup from golite mentions how he really wants to bring out a "new" model of the virga that is true to the no frill prototype that Ryan used on the arctic 1000. If you hear/read skurka's comments on the jacket it seems to support that it's closer to the original prototype and has no pockets, etc. I love my virga (even with the awkwardly placed pockets) because of its simplicity.

Great, so when the 'new' Virga shows up -- assuming it remains at 5.5 oz., then we get to choose between:


1. Light as heck semi-sauna jacket (Virga or SD Isotope)
2. Light and breathable as heck but fragile and no styling whatsoever (DriDucks).

Skurka may have done some modifications to get his jacket to that weight

My DIAD with pit zips and a chest pocket weighs in at 6.1oz for comparision purposes. It's slightly modded.

Looks like it could be good, but I will stick with my inexpensive Rainshield O2 hooded jacket which weighs about the same and breathes better. True that it is as ugly as sin and doesn't fit with precision, but the price/performance blend is hard to beat for the weight. Mine is two years old, worn pretty often on narrow trails, and besides a few duct-taped holes, has remained largely unscathed. It is nice to see TNF, Sierra Designs, and Golite building jackets of this nature. Hopefully, they will master the waterproofness/breatheablility factor soon, and then I may jump to these more sophisticated (and costly) jackets.