Originally Posted by ViperZ
Highly breathable? I have a Polartech 300 wt TNF Denali, that's like a screen door in a breeze
Ive never heard anyone consider a fleece jacket a softshell before. Then again the term softshell is not very well defined in the industry. Most softshells do a lot better at blocking wind than fleece.
Hardshells work ok in cold temps, since the cold offsets the sauna effect that hardshells create due to their lack of breathability. In the west, wearing a harshell means you have to wear minimal thin layers underneath in order to not sweat to death. Especially with a drw coated hardshell like goretex. And then if you have to stop to fix a flat, you freeze since your no longer generating the same heat.
In west coast climates wearing a softshell allows one to have a much wider range of temps, similar to wools benefits. Here we can wear a softshell and one or 2 thin layers and be comfortable on the ride or if we have to fix a flat.
Cold temps like the prairies or east coast do allow the pitfalls of hardshells to diminish enough to be useable . And yes, they are a lot lighter than a softshell
