Montbell Versalite
The Montbell Versalite Rain Jacket was given the Best Value Award from the team at ProLite Gear because for the price it had the most features of the Best Lightweight Rain Jackets that we reviewed. The Montbell Versalite Rain Jacket weighed 7.6 ounces (215 grams) for a size large. While not the lightest of the jackets reviewed, the jackets that were lighter weight cut some features to shed weight. For example, the Patagonia Alpine Houdini and the Outdoor Research Helium II both used elastic cuffs instead of velcro adjustable cuffs which our testers preferred. Additionally, the Montbell Versalite Rain Jacket had two external pockets where the Patagonia and Outdoor Research jackets did not.
The Montbell Versalite rain jacket uses 2.5-layer Super Hydro Breeze® Technology. The face fabric is 15-denier Ballistic Airlight rip-stop nylon. The test team liked the feel(or hand) of the fabric, but preferred the fabric used in the Rab Spark rain jacket because the Pertex Shield + fabric used in that jacket was laminated to a face fabric that had a 2 way mechanical stretch. The Super Hydro Breeze® Technology also was not as air permeable as the Dry.Q EVAP fabric used on the Mountain Hardwear Super Light Plasmic rain jacket.
