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Red Ledge Cirrus Light
Jacket
- Long Term Report -
January 2005
www.redledge.com
Below you will find:
1. Red Ledge Cirrus Light Weights and Specifications
2. Red Ledge Cirrus Light Long Term Report
3. Contact and Background Information
1. Red Ledge Cirrus Light Weights
and Specifications
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Year of Manufacture:
2004
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Color:
Helios (yellow), also available in Eclipse (grey) and Twilight (dark blue)
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Size:
Unisex XXL, also available in XS, S, M, L, XL
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Fabric:
15-denier ripstop nylon with a DWR coating applied
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MSRP:
$60 USD
According to my digital scale
(0.1 ounce / 1 gram accuracy), the results I measured are:
*For the weights of other sized
Cirrus Light jackets, take a look at the
other testers' reviews.
2. Red Ledge Cirrus Light Long Term Report
For an overview of where the Cirrus
Light fits into the windshirt market - and comments on windshirts in general -
please refer to my
Initial and
Field Reports.
Product Information
There continues to be a complete lack of information regarding the Red Ledge
Cirrus Light jacket as of this report. Testers were notified of the retail
pricing for the jacket (included above), but information on where to buy them,
what they're made of, and just about anything else about them is still virtually
non-existent. Red Ledge's website also continues to be under construction.
A Google search comes up with no information except that which can be found here
at www.BackpackGearTest.org. Perhaps most frustrating for me is that two
direct calls for information to Red Ledge have been unreturned. This
leaves me with very little information regarding the jacket itself and where it
can be purchased from. I have owned three Red Ledge products in the past -
all have been extremely well made, rich on technical features, and priced lower
than the majority of the competition. The design and development seems to
be just fine at Red Ledge, but the marketing and distribution all but
nonexistent.
Testing Conditions
After a very hot and dry Field Test period, the fall weather finally made it's
arrival to the Pacific Northwest. In the past four months, the Cirrus
Light has seen drizzle, rain, freezing rain, hail, snow and just about every
combination thereof. I moved from inner-city Seattle to the Cascade
foothills this summer, and while only a little over 30 miles (48 km) from
downtown, the annual rainfall has jumped from the Seattle average of 39 inches
(99cm) to almost 100 inches (254cm) in the forested neighborhood I'm now in. This
has given me plenty of opportunities to discover the uses of the Cirrus Light as
I hiked and climbed this autumn.
Long Term Report
Features
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The most notable feature of the
hood continues to be the peripheral vision. It is - by far - the best
peripheral vision I have experienced in a hood. The vision, drawstring,
tightening string, and cut all worked extremely well. A little
stiffening of the brim would make the hood perfect, but as it is it's the best
hood I've used.
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The zippers work just fine.
There still have been no major snags or failures. I do wish the flap on
the main zipper wasn't so loose and big. This flap provides little added
value in my opinion, and would be a good candidate for removal in an updated
model.
-
The elastic wrist cuffs still
remain comfortable and plenty stretchy. No failures or change in
tightness. I'd still prefer an open wrist with a Velcro closure, but for
elastic, Red Ledge seems to have found a nice balance in tightness with the
Cirrus Light.
-
Because of the snug fit of the
Cirrus Light, I still don't use the waist elastic cord much. I can see this
being useful if the jacket were loose and the conditions windy, but for my
girth, it's essentially non functional.
Materials
The materials used in the Cirrus Light Jacket are still a mystery. It is
certainly on the breathable end of the spectrum, with very little water
resistance. Mist and fog are okay, and maybe a few minutes of light rain,
but anything persistently wet or significant will get through quickly.
This is just fine with me, however, as breathability is what I value most in a
windshirt.
Performance
The Cirrus Light has left me thinking a lot about how a windshirt fits into my
gear outfit. I've been a fan of windshirts for years, but often a
frustrated one. There are many conditions where they are perfect -
certainly much more comfortable that rain gear or supposedly
waterproof/breathable clothing. Perhaps I expect too much from them, but I
always find myself looking for a more breathable windshirt. I'm on my 4th
or 5th one now, and the Cirrus Light is about the most breathable of all of
them. Yet I find that it, too, can get pretty steamy relatively quickly.
On a recent hike up a cliff that overlooks a local lake and watershed, I was
steaming up the Cirrus Light despite temperatures in the mid 20s F (~-4C).
It was cold enough and breezy enough that a next-to-skin shirt only would have
been too cold, and yet the Cirrus Light was trapping too much heat. Now,
one of the great things about windshirts is that stopping to rest even with a
wet base layer doesn't allow the bitter cold flash-off that so often occurs in this
situation. Instead, the windshirt tends to mitigate the wind chill and it's
very possible to dry out a base layer relatively quickly as the moisture is
released through the windshirt and body heat dries out the base layer. But
I'm more interested in being comfortable while I'm on the move. I dream of
the windshirt that will allow moisture to dissipate at the same rate I'm
cranking it out. What I've come to conclude is that there is no windproof
fabric that can do this. For moderate trail walking, the Cirrus
Light comes awfully close to doing this. But for anything that involves
speed, elevation, or significant exertion, it's not a challenge to overwhelm the
fabric and get wet. So for me, the solution appears to be a segment of the
market that hasn't really been explored: highly vented windshirts. In the
race to get sub 4 ounce (112 gram) windshirts, features are often the first
thing to go. A few windshirts have mesh pockets that can provide a little
venting, but pit zips are almost unheard of, let alone core vents and cape
vents. I'd gladly accept another 1.5 to 3 ounces (40 to 80 grams) to have
a windshirt made out of a breathable fabric like the Cirrus Light uses, but with
pit zips, core vents, and a cape vent. This would allow scaled venting,
ranging from a sealed up idle activity windshield to a fully opened,
breezy - but still chill-preventing - drizzle resistant jacket.
As far as the fabric, I believe Red
Ledge has found the right balance between breathability and water resistance in
the Cirrus Light. What I find myself wishing for now is a jacket that I
could wear in all but truly wet conditions, and that, I believe, would require
more venting.
Durability has not been an issue
during the testing period. I have not run through thorn bushes, but I have
definitely scraped my share of typical Northwest trail vegetation with no signs
of wear or tear on the Cirrus Light.
One of the best uses of the Cirrus
Light is as a bug jacket. It has no problem frustrating mosquitoes and
flies, and as long as I'm relatively idle (in camp, etc.), it's comfortable to
wear in warmer temperatures.
Fit and Cut
The Cirrus Light Jacket does fit too snug in my opinion. I would go up one
size for a more comfortable fit if it were available. Perhaps the most
frustrating aspect of the fit is that it's difficult to recommend people try it
on for appropriate sizing as the jacket doesn't seem to actually exist anywhere
and Red Ledge has virtually no information about it.
High Points
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Highly breathable fabric - at
least as breathable as any other windshirt fabric I've used.
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Incredibly lightweight for any
windshirt – let alone one with this many features. Most non-XXL sized jackets
should come in well under 4 ounces (118 grams).
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Best peripheral vision in a hooded
shell that I've seen.
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Reasonable price tag, especially
considering the comparable competition - usually priced $20 to $40 USD more.
Concerns
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Continued lack of information
regarding the Cirrus Light. As of this writing, the website is under
construction, there is nowhere to purchase the product, nowhere to see or try
on the jacket, and product information is virtually non-existent.
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Snug fit limits mobility and
therefore usage.
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Even with this highly breathable
fabric, overwhelming it during high exertion is easy, leaving me willing to
give up a little weight for a few venting options.
Summary
The Red Ledge Cirrus Light is a quality windshirt.
Construction is clean and solid. Fabric choice is excellent if
breathability is valued over water resistance. The features that are
present are functional and effective. The final product weight is
fantastically light. There's a lot to like about the Cirrus Light,
especially when most of the competition is priced significantly higher.
With different sizing and perhaps a couple venting options, this could the be
the 90% jacket - that is, the jacket I would find myself wearing 90% of the time
I'm outdoors.
I'd like to thank BackpackGearTest.org and Red Ledge for the opportunity to test
the Cirrus Light. I look forward to seeing it available and hopefully
future version of it down the road, as it fills a unique niche in the windshirt
market.
3. Contact and Background Information:
Name: Curt Peterson
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Height: 6'3" (1.91 m)
Weight: 270 (122 kg)
Email address: curt<at>boopants<dot>com
Location: North Bend, Washington, USA
I live in the Cascade
foothills, just 20 miles (32 km) from the PCT via footpaths leading right from
my backyard. Most of my outdoor time here in Washington is spent on dayhikes,
backpacking journeys, climbs, and ski trips everywhere from the Wilderness coast
to the rainforest to the massive volcanoes to steppe.
I played
football in college and often evaluate products from a big guy perspective. I
tested gear for
Seattle's biggest gear retailer
in the mid-90s, then guided backpacking tours in Olympic National Park for a few
summers. My typical pack load ranges from 12 to 19 lbs (5.4 to 8.6 kgs) and
usually includes a tent to keep dry in the Pacific Northwest’s incessant dampness.
Read more reviews of Red Ledge gear
Read more gear reviews by Curt Peterson
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