GoLite Wizard Jacket
Initial Report by André Corterier

Personal Biographical Information:

Name: André Corterier
Gender: M
Age: 32
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight: 78 kg (172 lb)
Chest: 100 cm (39.5 in)
Reach (sternum to touching fingertips): 72 cm (29.5 in)
Arm length (shoulder to wrist): 58 cm (23 in)
Standard clothing size: L
Email: andreDOTcorterierATfreenetDOTde
Home: Bonn, Germany
DATE: 2004-11-02

Backpacking Background:

I began backpacking in my late teens using Europe’s "InterRail"-System – weight hardly mattered, as we were on trains a lot. I usually traveled through southern Europe during summer, for about three weeks at a time, moving from campsites (often without tent) to youth hostels etc. I recently rediscovered backpacking and have started out slowly – single-day 15 mile (24 km) jaunts by myself or even shorter hikes (pushing a stroller uphill through the woods). I am getting started on longer hikes, as a lightweight packer. My gear is either old or really new – nothing in between.

ITEM: GoLite Wizard Jacket
Year of manufacture: 2004
Manufacturer: GoLite
URL: http://www.golite.com/
MSRP: 299.99 USD

Weight Comparisons - scale accurate to 5 g (.2 oz)
GoLite listed weight (size L): 570 g (20.1 oz)
GoLite measured weight (size L): 555 g (19.6 oz)

Arrival/Packaging:
The Wizard (dubbed "Potter's Parka" in the test call) arrived folded into a plastic bag which customs took hold of. Having examined the contents, the customs official mentioned that he wouldn't mind keeping the jacket. Once I had it for myself, I found that other than a paper tag attached to it, which quotes directly from the GoLite website, the bag simply contained the folded jacket, which was entirely unblemished.

Product Description:
The manufacturer describes the product as follows:
"Through the magic of breathable, waterproof Alchemy™ technology and experience-enhancing features like waterproof stretch panels, a built-in SkullGlove™ balaclava, WatchWindow™, and built-in ConvertiCuff™ handwarmer mittens, the Wizard will keep you dry and comfortable no matter what nature throws at you"
As key features, the manufacturer lists the following:
"Taped seams; ConvertiCuff; SkullGlove; Internal MP3/security pocket with headphone guider loops; Watch Window™; Watertight full front zip; 2 large pockets with watertight zippers and mesh pocket bags for core venting; Pit Zips; Stiffened beak; Hem draw cords with glow-in-the-dark cord locks; Aerodynamic fit; Left handed zip"

First Impression:
You may want to look at the picture provided by the manufacturer (link above). I found the manufacturer's website easy to navigate and full of pictures which seemed to give me a good impression of what the actual product looked like. This was certainly true for the Wizard, although it would have been nice to see the different available colors on the website. Due to the stretch panels on the jacket, which are always black, the jackets whose primary color isn't black have a less homogeneous look than the black one. The website shows the jacket in "night" color (black). Mine is in "fatigue", which is a darkish green, with the stretch panels in black. The surface is slightly shiny and shows the grid pattern of ripstop nylon - the tag inside says the shell is "100% nylon". The sleeves end in black elastic closures, which upon examination reveal themselves to be the "built-in ConvertiCuff handwarmer mittens" which the manufacturer mentioned. The jacket has two, no three, no four pockets: There are two pockets on the outside, which are cut much like the usual "handwarmer" pockets (and do not feel particularly "large" - or small, either, just standard), but are located a good bit higher up (likely so as not to interfere with the use of a hip belt). There is a third pocket inside the jacket at the back, with an upward-facing opening at the neck. This contains the SkullGlove. The SkullGlove is a black elastic balaclava which had its rear hem sewn to the top edge of the pocket it's stored in. It has a piece of mesh inserted, presumably to make breathing through it easier. The fourth pocket is a very small, top-opening pocket on the left side of the jacket, inside the zipper, near the collar. I take this to be the MP3/security pocket and it has what I take to be a "headphone guider loop" right above it. I have not found a second one to justify the use of the plural in the product description and am mystified where one would put it, if one were so inclined. The pocket is located right underneath the collar, so the single loop I found seems like overkill as it is. All the pockets have mesh as their inside surface. The WatchWindow is a transparent bit of plastic incorporated into the left sleeve, much like a window is incorporated into a wall. The jacket has five zippers, of the supposedly waterproof variety (the qualifier is just because I haven't tested them for waterproofness yet). There's the large center zipper to close the jacket with, zippers on the front pockets and long pit zips. The pit zips as well as the center zipper are two-way zippers. The stiffened beak (of the hood) is stiffened with fabric (no wire in there that I can feel), the cord locks on the hem draw cord are NOT glow-in-the-dark (and why would they be?). The stretch panels stretch very little - when I take the two seams bordering the stretch panel between shoulder and front and pull, I could not detect stretching over this 5 cm (2 in) "stretch". Pulling on the panel lengthwise, however, reveals that the fabric does indeed stretch (a little).

Fitting:
According to GoLite's sizing chart, I would fall into the size M range of their men's clothing. I very much doubted the accuracy of this determination, as I usually wear size L and believe (and am told) that my limbs are more in the area of above average length. And I do not at all like sleeves that are too short - they look stupid, feel uncomfortable and leave my hands too exposed. Nothing like rain running down the sleeves and into my gloves to annoy me. So I chose to ask for size L, just as I would have if I had ordered the jacket online. This proved to be the correct choice. The arms are just long enough, any shorter would be too short. The jacket also isn't too bulky - just enough space for layering (and my body isn't bulky, either). So I am given to wonder - either the average size of the target group GoLite sells to is bulkier all around than I am, or their sizing chart leaves something to be desired. With GoLite's emphasis on adventure races etc., I would have to suspect the latter. To be perfectly clear about it: While something *may* be wrong with the published sizing chart, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the cut of the jacket. It is what I would have expected of a size L garment. Its length (height of the bottom hem) is rather short, though - I think this lenght was en vogue in the 50s or so. While it (just) covers my hipbones, the lower part of my abdomen is exposed. Still, this allows for a few fingers' width of overlay with my rain pants, which I guess is enough. No gripes there. The hood fits over my head with room to spare, and the elastic ("SkullGlove") balaclava fits my head well. It also does not interfere with my glasses.

Trying Out:
Putting it on, I first noted that I had difficulty pushing my hands through the closures. This is because of the ConvertiCuffs. I soon realized that by pushing two fingers of my other hand through the sleeve opening of the sleeve I am currently putting on, I can hold the opening far enough open to push my hand through from the inside. This tends to slide the cuffs out a little, which causes me to fiddle with them for a little while, to get them properly stored. Admittedly, this is purely cosmetic - I don't see any functional reason not to wear them "partially deployed". When they are stored inside the jacket, they are hardly noticeable - and so is the WatchWindow, as it then only allows me to look at the ConvertiCuffs. This turns the WatchWindow into just another black spot on the jacket, which is hardly noticeable because of the others (the stretch panels). Of course, it also doesn't allow me to look at the watch. When I deploy the cuffs, the WatchWindow allows me a good look at the cuff of my next layer of clothing, which is then difficult to slide back from the watch underneath due to the deployed ConvertiCuffs. This gives me the feeling that this jacket is unlikely to become a favorite of mine for everyday wear. But then, that's hardly what it's meant for. In an alpine environment, I would likely have the cuffs deployed all the time and have an altimeter strapped onto my wrist on top of the base layer - not the kind of look I go for in the streets (or even when hiking in the woods), but I can see where this feature would come into its own. I can deploy the cuffs at various lengths. At the shortest, I pull them out just a little, and they act like a large elastic sleeve closure around the wrist. Deployed further, I push my thumb through the thumb hole. This way, the cuffs cover one half of my palm. Fully deployed, I fold the ConvertiCuffs over my fingers. This creates a mitten of sorts in which I can, but do not have to, include my thumb. In either event, however, I have to make a fist - the Converticuff will not fit over my extended fingers. This seems to me to prevent me from holding things in my hand with the cuffs fully deployed, so I guess the intermediate position is the one I'll be using the most. In any event, I cannot imagine having snow or rain enter my sleeve - definitely a benefit of having "glove" and sleeve sewn together.

The pockets of this jacket are more of the medium to small size, rather than the advertised "large", and uncomfortably high up to warm my hands in (which I guess, again, isn't what they're meant for). In other jackets, when I have my hands in the hand warmer pockets, my hands are just below hip level with the elbows bent only a little, well over 90 degrees. These pockets bottom out at the height of my navel, which means that when I have my hands in them, the elbows are bent a good bit sharper than a 90 degree angle. Not a comfortable position for me. I also think that it would have cost next to nothing (even weightwise) to extend the mesh panel (which essentially constitutes the pocket) further down by 5 cm (2 in) or so. This would seem to allow more storage and remove any anxieties that items stored there might fall out when opening the zipper (which opens all the way to the very bottom of the pocket). Whether items will, in fact, fall out of this opening, of course remains to be seen. I may be overly anxious. Still, these pockets occupy the spot in which the "Napoleon" pockets of other jackets are located, but seem to me, at first glance, to provide less utility - one could have incorporated two Napolean pockets instead. I will borrow an MP3-player from my brother-in-law to check the function of the MP3 pocket, and have confirmed that my cell phone fits into this pocket nicely. Cool.

The zippers provide more resistance to being pulled than I am used to, but then these are the first "waterproof" zippers I have ever used. This is likely normal, not a problem and they do not seem to snag. I like that. I am mystified why the center zipper and the pit zips are two-way zippers, however. I cannot fathom (1.83 m) which environmental conditions would cause me to prefer one end of the pit zips for a partial opening over the other in one condition, with the reverse being true in another. The center zipper is often two-way on jackets, but I believe this to be so that a jacket can be partially opened on the bottom, while otherwise closed, to allow better movement of the legs, say, on steep uphill hikes. This, jacket, however, is cut short enough that I cannot envision it interfering with leg movement no matter the circumstance.

The "SkullGlove" is really just a balaclava sewn to the jacket with its own pocket. It seems like a fine balaclava, but the more I think about it, the less point I see in sewing it to the jacket. It means that I cannot leave it at home, even when I'm positive I won't need it (if, say, I should take the jacket along as insurance against summer rainstorms). Sewing it on also requires the existence of the pocket it's sewn to, which, due to its location, would seem to be ill prepared to serve any other purpose - as it's in the contact spot for a backpack, there's really nothing else I would possbily want to store there. If the balaclava was loose, one could loose the pocket also and I could just take the balaclava along when I felt like it, storing it in whatever other pocket I felt like. Of course, it would thereby stop to be an "experience-enhancing feature" of the jacket. This may be where it's headed after the Long Term Report anyway, but I am determined to keep an open mind about it until then.

The stretch panels seem to be fulfilling their function. I wore the jacket on a weekend excursion with my daughter to our climbing tree. Climbing in this jacket (though admittedly not a very technical climb) showed that on this 15 m (45 ft) climb at least, the jacket was no hindrance at all, in fact, its existence was hardly felt. While I have doubts that the stretch panels are a big factor in this due to their apparent stiffness, the combination of cut and use of stretch panels seems perfect to me. Definitely a jacket which allows moving around in.

The cut of the jacket allowed me to wear a winter weight base layer and a Polartec 200 insulation layer underneath, though this meant stuffing the jacket just a little. This was fine for sitting around a small fire for a few hours on a (comparatively warm) November evening, temps around 7 C (45 F). I did note, however, that the high cut of the jacket left a small stretch above my pants exposed when sitting hunched over, which felt a little chilly after a while. The more I deal with this jacket, the more I am convinced that it is a jacket meant for moving.

What little spray my daughter got onto the jacket on our little hike up a shallow creek (her shoes are waterproof, mine apparently not entirely so) beaded up on the jacket and just sat there until I or the vegetation brushed it off. While I would expect a brand new jacket to repel water well, my old jacket never did this quite so well. I suspect that I will have great things to report concerning this jacket's ability to shed rain, but will leave this to the Field and Long Term Reports.

Summary:
I am quite happy with the jacket - it weighs less than my old one, and even a good bit less than advertised. Until now, I've been heard to remark how strange it was that the "unavoidable" irregularities in materials only ever made items heavier than advertised, not lighter - but GoLite came in 3.5 % below the advertised weight. Quality construction, good looks. What strikes me as strange about the jacket is the choice of features: The ConvertiCuffs, especially when regarded in conjunction with the WatchWindow, seem to be geared for hardcore alpine adventures, and "civilized" concerns be damned. The MP3 pocket, however, seems uniquely geared towards the civilized gearhead - I might wear one when jogging, but certainly not when hiking or mountaineering. While the cell phone is in a good position there, easily reached and easily heard, this would also be a use more for urban areas - when on the trail, I take my cell phone not so I can be rung, but so I can ring someone if the need arises. Still, the jacket seems to have lots of potential for fast motion in inclement weather, which I will be happy to report on in

The Future:
I will do some running in the jacket, in rain when possible, to report on its working in that environment. I will also be wearing it on my way to work and back on my bicycle, whatever the weather. Also, the jacket will accompany as inclement weather insurance on all my hikes. I resolve not to forget about the venting options the pit zips and mesh-backed front pockets offer (although I did that this morning on my bicycle). In this region, the test period (October to April) will typically see temps between -5 (maybe -10) C (23, maybe 14 F) and 20 C (70 F). For precipitation we'll have fog and drizzle as well as rain in fall, more drizzle and some snow in winter, actual rain in spring. Fall tends to be windy. I will be taking/wearing the jacket on numerous day hikes and the occasional weekender. All of this won't be far from sea level altitude wise. In winter I will take the jacket to the Swiss Alps to check out the lower temp border of the jacket and to try it out in some snow sports. The temperatures there will likely be a good bit lower, but I have no good information on what they'll be, nor am I certain of the altitude we'll be at. I'll be reporting on them in the Long Term Report.

Pros: Light. Seems to move with me well. High coolness factor. Probably really good for full-body movement.

Cons: Possibly a bit too gimmicky (what's with the "SkullGlove"?). Pricey.