Pertex fabrics

I am interested in a windshirt for alpine pursuits and bicycling. I was considering a jacket of either pertex microlight, or one with polartec power shield pro. I assume the polartec power shield pro is more breathable but there is no way to know to what degree from information sources online. Does anyone know where to find actual numbers comparing the breathabilities (cfm) and the waterproofness (mm column test) of the modern pertex fabrics? How does it compare to the modern polartec fabrics?

With their testing, Pertex would have to have this information, but if you look on their websites the only information on the fabrics are vague bullet points which are almost the same for their entire lineup ('breathable', 'highly breathable', etc.).

Why is it so difficult for consumers to get the actual breathability measures to compare their different fabrics?

Look on backpacking light, there is a amazing man on there who has got tons of information on the arc'teryx squamish hoody, patagonia houdini and the black diamond alpine start hoody, nothing on pertex sorry to say.
Under the information available it was a toss up between the arcteryx jacket and the black diamond alpine start hoody, i went for the arc'teryx jacket simply because it's more versatile. the BD hoody seemed to me more like a nice craging jacket for the fall and good running jacket in the winter but that's about all i could see it being useful for.
Basically these were the scores
Wind resistance
1. Patagonia (like a trash bag)
2. Arc'teryx (very wind resistant)
3. BD (cuts straight through it)
Waterproofness
1. BD (stupid waterproof, genuinely amazes and confuses me)
2. Patagonia (very water resistant)
3. Arc'teryx (as waterproof as the DWR)
Breathability
1. BD (stupid breathable)
2. Arc'teryx (very breathable)
3. Patagonia (like a trash bag)
Sorry i had no info on pertex, i looked my self and couldn't find shit.

Recent Forum with good discussion on what you might want

BPL forums have the most available information about windshirts.

I have to totally disagree with Seb on the alpine start and whoever wrote that review that "wind cuts right through it". I have worn one with no base layer ski touring in 20-30mph winds with temps in the mid twenties and been fine. It is not a full wind BLOCK, it breaks just the right amount. The trade off in not blocking 100% of wind is that being incredibly breathable you can just leave it on.
Yesterday I did an alpine climb, wore a thin merino T with the alpine start over it all day long. Left it on leading in the sun on a south face, barely broke a sweat on lead, was still comfy w/o putting on a puffy at belays in the shade. Wore it the whole hike out through the night, again just the right amount of wind break to stop chills and breathable enough that it's not sniffling at the lower elevations in the calm.

The hoodies which block more wind, but breathe less, don't hold as much value to me. I want to keep the dicking around at pitches to a minimum. Your needs may vary.

do the darth vader test ... put your mouth to the jacket and try to breath through it ...

if you sound like darth vader and start choking its not that breathable

the reference is breathing through 2 coffee filters ... that gives a CFM of around 30-40 or so ...

backpackinglight.com/forums…

;)

Nick Drake wrote:BPL forums have the most available information about windshirts. I have to totally disagree with Seb on the alpine start and whoever wrote that review that "wind cuts right through it". I have worn one with no base layer ski touring in 20-30mph winds with temps in the mid twenties and been fine. It is not a full wind BLOCK, it breaks just the right amount. The trade off in not blocking 100% of wind is that being incredibly breathable you can just leave it on. Yesterday I did an alpine climb, wore a thin merino T with the alpine start over it all day long. Left it on leading in the sun on a south face, barely broke a sweat on lead, was still comfy w/o putting on a puffy at belays in the shade. Wore it the whole hike out through the night, again just the right amount of wind break to stop chills and breathable enough that it's not sniffling at the lower elevations in the calm. The hoodies which block more wind, but breathe less, don't hold as much value to me. I want to keep the dicking around at pitches to a minimum. Your needs may vary.

So your point is you use it as a softshell instead of a windjacket, good for you, i hope those 30mph winds weren't to gnarly though, i need gore windstop for 10mph winds, that really must be some miracle fabric right there.
Edit: Also i appreciate your opinion response to my display of fact, truly the age where people get to argue with fact with opinion articles is truly fantastic, you should write for a newspaper.
Edit: you could write an opinion piece on the splitting of atoms or global warming.

that guy named seb wrote: So your point is you use it as a softshell instead of a windjacket, good for you, i hope those 30mph winds weren't to gnarly though, i need gore windstop for 10mph winds, that really must be some miracle fabric right there. Edit: Also i appreciate your opinion response to my display of fact, truly the age where people get to argue with fact with opinion articles is truly fantastic, you should write for a newspaper. Edit: you could write an opinion piece on the splitting of atoms or global warming.

You did not post any facts. You paraphrased a review by another person, on another forum, with no link to reference, and no actual "facts" to back anything up. It's surprising that you have such well informed opinions on products you've never tried.

Facts would be cfm ratings of different fabrics (or at least the coffee filter test bearbreeder referenced). Not only did your post lack facts, but you only appear to have first hand experience with one product in question.

My example ski touring in below freezing temps was with no base layer with 30mph winds. The fact that the schoeller fabric used in the alpine start reduces cfm transfer to a point where that can be comfortable, yet breathes so well is damn impressive. I'd stop short of calling it a miracle though, but if your comparison is gore windstopper than it might be.

Pertex equilibrium is a "windshirt" fabric that falls under the "cuts straight through it" level of protection. I own a westcomb crest hoody with that fabric. It's breathable score is similar to the schoeller fabric, but it cuts FAR less wind.

Nick Drake wrote: You did not post any facts. You paraphrased a review by another person, on another forum, with no link to reference, and no actual "facts" to back anything up. It's surprising that you have such well informed opinions on products you've never tried. Facts would be cfm ratings of different fabrics (or at least the coffee filter test bearbreeder referenced). Not only did your post lack facts, but you only appear to have first hand experience with one product in question. My example ski touring in below freezing temps was with no base layer with 30mph winds. The fact that the schoeller fabric used in the alpine start reduces cfm transfer to a point where that can be comfortable, yet breathes so well is damn impressive. I'd stop short of calling it a miracle though, but if your comparison is gore windstopper than it might be. Pertex equilibrium is a "windshirt" fabric that falls under the "cuts straight through it" level of protection. I own a westcomb crest hoody with that fabric. It's breathable score is similar to the schoeller fabric, but it cuts FAR less wind.

Allow me to post references, backpackinglight.com/member… read through his posts you will find it.

I've seen Richard's posts before in the many various windshirt threads on there, he does some interesting tests. The thing about raw numbers that aren't linked to some type of quantifiable scale is that they make it very easy to draw erroneous conclusions.

If you want to know where fabrics that wind "cuts right through" fall in the CFM scale simply refere to this spreadsheet compiled by BPL member Rohan Vazhnov. He covers different numbers Richard has posted. A loose woven t-shirt comes in at 400cfm.
docs.google.com/spreadsheet…

I'm assuming that your "cuts straight through it" comment from the third post in this thread; where he states the Squamish had a CFM rating of 43cfm and the alpine start "has approximately double the air permeability of the Squamish":
backpackinglight.com/forums…

Yet he tested the Alpine Start had a CFM of 65.9..........I'm no mathematician, but last time I checked that isn't roughly 86cfm or 106cfm.
Also BD states Schoeller has rated the fabric at 40cfm, see post in this thread:
backpackinglight.com/forums…

Interestingly Richard's numbers don't match up from one thread he posts to another. In another thread he created he gives the 14 Squamish a rating of 53cfm:
backpackinglight.com/forums…

Nick Drake wrote:I've seen Richard's posts before in the many various windshirt threads on there, he does some interesting tests. The thing about raw numbers that aren't linked to some type of quantifiable scale is that they make it very easy to draw erroneous conclusions. If you want to know where fabrics that wind "cuts right through" fall in the CFM scale simply refere to this spreadsheet compiled by BPL member Rohan Vazhnov. He covers different numbers Richard has posted. A loose woven t-shirt comes in at 400cfm. docs.google.com/spreadsheet… I'm assuming that your "cuts straight through it" comment from the third post in this thread; where he states the Squamish had a CFM rating of 43cfm and the alpine start "has approximately double the air permeability of the Squamish": backpackinglight.com/forums… Yet he tested the Alpine Start had a CFM of 65.9..........I'm no mathematician, but last time I checked that isn't roughly 86cfm or 106cfm. Also BD states Schoeller has rated the fabric at 40cfm, see post in this thread: backpackinglight.com/forums… Interestingly Richard's numbers don't match up from one thread he posts to another. In another thread he created he gives the 14 Squamish a rating of 53cfm: backpackinglight.com/forums…

Schooled.