Reviews > Clothing > Jackets > GoLite Wizard > Andre Corterier > Long Term Report

GoLite "Wizard" Storm Shell Jacket

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 (0.2 oz)
GoLite listed weight (size L): 570 g (20.1 oz)
GoLite measured weight (size L): 555 g (19.6 oz)

You can find a detailed description of the jacket in my Initial Report.

Long Term Experience:
I've used the jacket throughout the Long Term testing period as my main outdoor jacket, which meant wearing it most days. Temps ranged from about -10 C (15 F) to about 20 C (about 70 F), wind from none to lots, precipitation from none through light mist, heavy fog, light and heavy rain to light snow (heavy snow, once). Altitude was insignificantly above sea level except for a week snowbound at 1500 to 1800 m (5000 to 6000 ft), activities included hiking, climbing, running, bicycling and sledding. A good bit of fooling around in the snow (snow-ball fights, building snowmen and a "quinzhee hut") was also included.

General Issues:
Where there's light, there's shadow. This jacket is light, and has served its main purpose (sheltering me from inclement elements without imprisoning me in a sauna) flawlessly. I cannot say this enough - the quirky things I've noted about this jacket (which I expound at some lenght below) are findings which do nothing to detract from this jacket's usefulness. They concern the jacket's add-ons, features that most jackets do not have - and do not need. No jacket, in my opinion, strictly needs these, nor does the Wizard. They are features the jacket has which are added to its basic function, being a storm shell. It has served this basic function so well that I've come to take this for granted and have found that my mind was occupied more with the additional features and what could be done to improve them. I consider this to be a high compliment - any piece of equipment which serves its function so well that I stop thinking (worrying) about it has reached the Nirvana of backpacking gear. This jacket would be almost there, if it wasn't for all those additional features which have occupied my mind. Regarding these, I've had a mixed feeling about this jacket starting out with it and have gradually begun to realize that I've begun liking it more and more. So I'd like to state clearly that I like this jacket a lot, that it has served its function well for me and that what little issues I have with its additional features is something I've come to regard as a "quirky character", like a good friend might have - it's a bit weird, but not (at all) bad.
As far as these features go, I address only those features to which I feel I have something to say not already covered in my Field Report.

Features in Use:

WatchWindow:
Well, I've had the jacket down to about -10 C (15 F) or thereabouts and that was not enough to let the moisture condensing on its inside freeze over - or maybe the heat I generated in that environment was sufficient to prevent this. Other than that, while the feature has remained useless for me, it hasn't been much bother, either. I have tried to make use of the WatchWindow - I wear a watch these days - but unless I remember to wear it on top of the layer beneath the jacket when putting it on (which is rare, and then I usually cannot be bothered), moving the layer beneath the WatchWindow to allow looking at the watch is next to impossible without taking the jacket off completely, due to the ConvertiCuffs. I assume it had occurred to the designers of this jacket that the ConvertiCuffs would create this problem, and that this is the reason for the WatchWindow's existence. While this seems to indicate commendable foresight, I could do without the additional complexity.

Pockets:
Other than for gloves, these do not serve as storage options for me. While I won't say that everything stored there necessarily will fall out when they are opened, the mere fact that it's happened has made me shy away from using them. After all, should I not notice right away when something has fallen out, I might face searching kilometers (miles multiplied by 1.609) of trail for what I lost. They provide for excellent ventilation, however.

Zippers:
They all still work, are not prone to snagging (the front zipper has snagged once), and I still have not had a drop of water enter through them (when closed).
Having a double zipper on the front is actually good. It allowed me to keep it fitting tightly around the top while allowing more ventilation from the bottom. This was appreciated both to keep the mp3-player from bouncing when jogging and when hiking in a light drizzle on a humid day.
I have found the double pit zips annoying, however. Not only do I still not see a possible benefit to having them work both ways, it's been a (very mild) detriment once: In the dark, with heavy gloves on, I grabbed the wrong zipper pull when trying to close a fully opened pit zip (or maybe I grabbed both). I noticed later, after I had continued to lose heat, that I had thus moved both zips across the length of the zipper, with the pit zip thus remaining open. This made me feel stupid, and of course I blame it on the zipper (I get that way sometimes).

SkullGlove:
The balaclava is really nice. I have worn it on my winter excursions every day - it has kept my head nicely warm and I have seen no need for additional head covering. I have found that I am able to breathe through it without fogging up my glasses once I moved the mesh section over my mouth, rather than my nose. I guess that's how it's meant to be worn...
So, to make that absolutely clear - I consider the SkullGlove to be a very functional balaclava. Its stretchiness is welcome, and has allowed me to push my entire head through the face opening of it, to wear it like a scarf. This was nice.
I continue to dislike the fact that it's attached to the jacket, however. I find that I am uable to pull it down all the way to my base layer and then put up my collar all the way around because its rear hem is attached to the jacket - thus, I cannot pull up my insulation layer over it. Plus, when sleeping in my snow hut, I meant to wear the balaclava, but saw no need to wear the jacket. I was able to make do by folding the jacket into a pillow beneath my head while I wore the balaclava but found doing so a hassle. The fact that it's long and stretchy even allowed for a bit of moving around in my sleeping bag without my "pillow" sticking too tightly to my head. Still, I would have much preferred to put the jacket at the foot end of my bag. Plus, temperatures have gone up again and promise to go little, if at all, below freezing before the next winter. While I dislike detachable hoods (I feel a hood is necessary inclement weather insurance, and thus will take it along anyway, so why waste weight and complexity on making it detachable), I feel that a balaclava is an item I can afford to leave at home when the jacket is meant as insurance against rainstorms in summer.
The SkullGlove pocket, however, definitely remains unnecessary, with or without the balaclava attached. Here, the trend started by the ConvertiCuffs in my Field Report has continued: Once I started using it regularly, I simply could not be bothered to store the SkullGlove in its pocket again. And why would I? On the coat rack, it simply hangs down inside the jacket, and when I put the jacket back on, I put the SkullGlove back on, as well. For the short distance to the door or when waiting inside, I generally let it hang down the back (well, side - what with the pack on my back) on the outside or used it scarf-like (with my head pushed all the way through the face opening as mentioned above). But even now that the weather's become warmer again, I can just let it hang down inside the jacket. It bunches up under my pack no more than it would in the pocket - less, in fact, although it hasn't been noticeable either way. Once I've put the jacket on, I forget it's there. I will admit that letting it hang there makes it considerably more difficult (though not impossible) to put it on. However, in my experience, I could tell beforehand whether wanting to use the SkullGlove would become likely, and accordingly placed it either inside or outside of the jacket (but never in its pocket). So the SkullGlove pocket, in my opinion, is definitely dead weight.

Long Term Considerations:

Weather Protection:
The jacket has protected me well from the elements in all the elements I am likely to encounter - as pointed out above, this jacket has seen it all. Snow has slid right off, so did the rain for most of the time. It now appears as though it's time to renew the water repellent application. On my last long exposure to rain, I noted some wet-out (which means that the outside layer of fabric takes on moisture, which is visible as a darkening of it). This did not (and generally does not, in membrane jackets) result in water coming through the jacket to the inside, but reduces the jacket's ability to let moisture pass through it to the outside. When jogging in the rain in the early morning, I believe I could feel the difference - though it was still on the comfortable side, because the jacket vents so well.
I have particularly noted that even spending a lot of time with my weight on my elbows in the snow (scooping out my snow hut), no moisture was forced through the membrane despite the pressure.

Breathability:
With the caveat given above, breathability has remained excellent. I have seen no need to wash the jacket thus far (its slippery surface sheds dirt - not a spot on it in all this time). Even though I've done some serious sweating in it, it has not become odourific. I'll be washing it now with some DWR treatment and believe it'll be good to go for another half year of regular use.

Warmth:
I had been surprised at first at how little the jacket seemed to provide in insulative (warming) qualities. While I had realized this meant that I could layer insulation to my heart's content without having unavoidable, "fixed" insulation in the jacket, I had still thought that I might want to resort to my older, heavier jacket come the cold. Of course I tested the Wizard first, and was surprised again. With proper insulation (and, strong wind being absent, this meant just a long-sleeved base layer with a polyester shirt over it) I was comfy in it down to about -10 C (15 F). I have no doubts whatsoever that with a heavy fleece pullover (or down vest) this could be pushed much further.

Durability:
Apart from some mild bushwhacking, this jacket has confronted no serious abuse during regular backpacking use. It has, however, been taken out of and stuffed back into a pack several times every week. Right now, this is daily - I get up early when it's still cold enough to warrant a jacket (mostly as a windbreaker), while it tends to be (just) warm enough to ride my bicycle home without a jacket in the afternoon. It's seen all kinds of weather, and been used climbing lots of trees and a few rocks. I've worn my daypack or a light backpack (pack weight as carried between 3 and 6 kg - 6.5 to 13 lb) over it almost daily, and carried my daughter and a few other things in a "kid carrier" backpack for most of a 16 km (10 mi) walk (about 25 kg/55 lb). None of this has left any trace on the jacket. With the exception of the seams of the ConvertiCuffs slowly beginning to come apart (big hands and long arms, you see), I believe this jacket could have been sold as new after all this.
But, just to see how far this envelope (pun intended) could be pu(ni)shed, I decided to test this by throwing myself off my bicycle at moderate speed (guesstimated to have been around 20 km/h or 12 mph) onto blacktop (no, really, that ice patch in the curve had nothing to do with it). I slid to a stop, mostly on the jacket, partially on my pants (jeans). While the jeans now sport a bright scuff mark taking them out of the running as office wear (jeans being borderline as it is), the jacket shows only a very minimal fuzziness on the area of the right sleeve where I took the brunt of the impact. I can only guess that the slippery ripstop nylon surface allowed most of the force to shear off the surface, but I can tell that very little abrasion happened. This is a spot noticed only upon close inspection, neither the jacket's looks nor its waterproofness have suffered one bit. To any but the most discerning buyer I could still sell it as new.
I've done stunts like this before, and while not necessarily immediately germane to backpacking (I assume sliding on scree has a different abrasive pattern than sliding on blacktop, but prefer not to find out), I have seen what this type of treatment does to a leather jacket, and am inordinately impressed by how the Wizard took it. Like - magic?

Comfort:
The jacket remains comfortable to wear. In fact, the more I do things in it in which comfort tends to rank low on my list of priorities, the more (comparative) comfort it seems to offer. I believe that the reason for this is the way it moves with the body. Its presence blends into the background of the entire experience, especially when reaching for things, where other jackets were prone to remind me of their shortcomings (yes, another pun - they're not considered bad form where I come from). This jacket stretches and moves with me well. However, when only aiming for a little stroll with my daughter (if I take food along in a backpack, she calls it a "hike", regardless), I've found myself occasionally reaching for my older jacket. I have tried to determine the reason(s) for this and have come up with the following: The other jacket is cut a little longer, has handwarmer pockets and a useful storage pocket, and feels more comfy around the neck due to a thin fleece covering of the jacket's inside surface in this area. And, of course, I don't need much breathability or venting options in this (very limited) scenario.
Whenever hiking by myself, however (and even more so with more energetic pursuits) I reach for the Wizard without thinking. It's lighter AND more breathable and vents really well AND stretches. All good.

Suggestions for Improvement:
Again, there are suggestions for improvement which I could not suggest in regard of other jackets merely because the other jackets do not even have the features I discuss. While I see room for improvement on most of these, many are still a "plus" lacking on other jackets.

• The "SkullGlove" should be detachable. Allowing one to attach it to the jacket in a handy place is good for winter, but I want to be able to leave it at home. I see no need for a pocket for it
• I could also do without the WatchWindow
• The long pit zips are excellent - but a single direction zipper would serve just as well (possibly better) at less weight
• and, yes, the pockets - I continue to stand by my suggestions in the Field Report regarding these and the other matters mentioned there.
• A bit of a soft covering of the membrane around the neck might go a long way, also.

Personal Biographical Information:
Name: André Corterier
Gender: M
Age: 33
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight: 80 kg (175 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

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 recently rediscovered backpacking and have started out slowly – single-day 15 mile (24 km) jaunts by myself or even shorter hikes in the company of my little daughter. I am getting started on longer hikes, as a lightweight packer and hammock-camper. I’ve begun upgrading my old gear and am now shooting for a dry FSO weight (everything carried From the Skin Out except food, fuel and water) of about 10 kg (22 lb) for three-season camping. Not quite there yet.

Reviews > Clothing > Jackets > GoLite Wizard > Andre Corterier > Long Term Report