I am now ready to get a wind shirt for the first time. I am trying to decide if it would be better to get a hood or not though. I am looking at the mont bell wind jacket or the patagonia houdini. Let me know if you have other suggestions though.

Get the Hoody because of rain and most importantly save the back of your neck against Mosquitoes.

-Jay

Having even the thinnest of nylon hood works wonders in helping to keep you warmer when cold winds are howling.

Shameless plug -- if you are interested in the Houdini and wear size Medium, I'm selling mine here.

I have a Golite Wisp (Hoodless) and a Marmot Ion (Hooded) and even though the former is lighter, I still find myself packing the Ion due to its hood and the full front zipper is also a nice bonus.

Go with a hood. I have the GoLite Ether (hooded) and Wisp (hoodless). The hood adds so much warmth and keeps your ears warm in cold wind.

Another vote for the hoody. I have one of each and seldom use the hood-less one. Both of mine are home made and by some quirk, the one with a hood weighs less than does the hooded one. Both shirts weigh less than 3 oz and provide a lot of protection for almost no weight.

This topic comes up every year. The overwhelming answer - GET THE HOOD.

I absolutly go without the hood.
Hoods flap around in the wind, rarely if ever fit and can can be noisy in the wind as the wind blows the hood over your eyes blocking your view especially if you look in any direction other than straight ahead.
I use a balaclava for warmth and wind protection. Far warmer than any hood and come in different thicknesses and materials. Balaclavas fit like a glove every time and don't block your view. Plus hoodless is cheaper and lighter.

I want to add another strategy I use is a light hat and a light merino wool neck gaiter. This is good if the wind isn't the biggest problem. The balaclava is best to cover as much bare skin as possible to protect from the wind which it does far better than any hood IMHO.

Edited by MAYNARD76 on 02/12/2010 17:15:07 MST.

Another vote for a hood here.

I hate hoods. I don't like when they flap around, and I don't like the sound in my ears when they are over my head. I'd much rather have a hat.

Even for a rain shell, I tuck the hood inside my jacket and wear either my Tilley or a rain hat.

Hoods=Evil Can't hear, can't see never fit properly. I use a Buff and a hat with my Wisp.

For those of you who don't like hoods flapping in the breeze, consider just folding the hood to the inside of the wind shirt when you put it on. No flapping and you can put on a balaclava any time you wish. If you wear a baseball cap, it keeps the hood from interfering with your vision. And, if the need arises, you have a hood available to keep the wind from ruffling your hair.

Edited by Rincon on 02/12/2010 19:05:40 MST.

I've gotten less fond of hoods over the past two years. I often suffer from a poor fit, and they screw with my hearing. I'm finding a hoodless wind shirt and a hat work well in most conditions. I've been using Nau's Lightbeam shirt, which is a winshirt designed to look like a normal button front shirt. The DWR is a bit weak, but I've generally been happy with it.

> This topic comes up every year. The overwhelming answer - GET THE HOOD.
+1

You will contrary answers from some. Fair enough for their conditions, but I suspect they have never had to deal with a good sub-zero bad storm.

'Good' bad storm ... yeah, well ... :-)


Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 02/12/2010 19:47:58 MST.

"but I suspect they have never had to deal with a good sub-zero bad storm."

I don't follow? How is a thin hood going to compete with a windproof balaclava , face mask, hat, neck gaiter, and goggles? Not to mention that I would want something more than a wind shirt for subfreezing windy temps-which we get a LOT of around here: like a wp/b shell.

In the northeast the hood is a must. Always added just the right extra amount of potection, rain, cold, wind. Its much harder to untuck the hood you don't have than to tuckin the one you do

I find that if I pull my windshirt hood over the top of my hat, I gain some warmth in a wind. The negligible weight of the hood does make a difference over almost everything.

Even if my hat already provides a good amount of wind resistance, I find it helps a little and the hood only adds a few grams.

Edited by brooklynkayak on 02/12/2010 20:10:10 MST.

I must being doing something wrong, because I live in the northeast and the White Mountains are my stomping grounds and yet I don't see any advantage to hooded wind shirt let alone it being a "must"

"I don't follow? How is a thin hood going to compete with a windproof balaclava , face mask, hat, neck gaiter, and goggles?"

If you have a hood, you might be able to do without, say, the neck gaiter and either the balaclava or hat, your choice. A few less bits and pieces to fiddle with.

"Not to mention that I would want something more than a wind shirt for subfreezing windy temps-which we get a LOT of around here: like a wp/b shell."

Fair enough if things get bad enough, but the same logic applies, i.e. WPB shell with a hood. My 2 cents.

Of course if you already have something to fully block the wind, a windshirt won't add anything. The windshirt is meant for more moderate conditions.