The REI Flash Jacket is a thin nylon jacket that traps your body heat and prevents the wind from stripping it away. Also called a windbreaker or wind shirt, it’s much more breathable than a raincoat or a hardshell jacket; it only weighs a few ounces and compresses down to the size of an apple. It’s ideal to wear over a mid-layer garment like a fleece hoody when it’s cool out or to prevent bugs from biting you during on summer evenings when a heavier jacket is too hot. I also wear one in winter as an outer layer on 90% of my hikes because it’s much more breathable than a rain jacket or hardshell.
- Weight: 4.4 oz in a men’s XL
- Gender: Men’s and Women’s sizes are available
- Pockets: 5
- Hood: Volume adjustable at the rear of hood
- Material: Recycled Nylon
- DWR Coating: Yes
- Pros: Easy to Layer, Packs in Pocket, Fits in Fanny Pack
- Cons: Moderately breathable
The REI Flash Jacket is a gossamer-thin nylon jacket designed to trap your body heat while actively hiking or exercising. It has no insulation but blocks the wind or cold air from penetrating your midlayer clothing and chilling you. You’ll be amazed at how much warmer you’ll stay wearing it.
The Flash Jacket is also remarkably breathable and wicking, absorbing the perspiration you generate, both sweat and water vapor, and helps evaporate it without chilling you. I can feel dampness on the outer surface of the jacket when I’m hiking hard and climbing mountains, but I’m still nice and dry inside. While it has a mist-shedding DWR coating, it’s not waterproof like a rain jacket or hardshell.
The Flash Jacket is a little different from most windbreakers and wind shirts because it has a lot of pockets, five pockets in all. There’s a chest pocket capable of holding a full-sized Smartphone, two internal drop pockets for holding hats or mittens, and two external side pockets (unzippered) to keep your hands warm or carry extra stuff. This makes it an ounce or two heavier than many ultralight wind shirts and windbreakers, but it’s a tradeoff that provides the jacket with a lot more utility. Still, having a chest pocket for a phone is a really nice feature that I wish more windbreakers and windshirts had. And, of course, you can also stuff the jacket into its chest pocket if you like.
The Flash Jacket comes with an adjustable hood with a rear cordlock, so you can shrink the hood volume down to human size. It has elastic wrist cuffs to seal out the wind, although I wish they were a little larger so I could slide the sleeves higher up my arms when I want to release more body heat without taking the jacket off. There’s also an elastic hem adjuster to seal out drafts from below and a full-length front zipper for ventilation.
The Flash Jacket is made with thin recycled nylon. REI doesn’t publish the denier spec, but it’s very similar in texture and weight to the 15 and 20d fabric used on Patagonia’s Houdini Jacket and the Rab Vital Hoody. The Flash Jacket is also rated windproof up to 30 mph, which I can vouch for firsthand on windy summits.
Windbreaker Comparison Table
Recommendation
At 4.4 oz, the REI Flash Jacket is on the high end of the gear weight spectrum for windbreakers and windshell jackets, which is pretty impressive considering the amount of functionality and pockets REI was able to include. Despite those added features, it’s quite a good buy, and I’d recommend getting yourself one, especially if you’ve never used a windbreaker or windshell for hiking or backpacking.
Disclosure: REI donated a jacket for this review.
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