Golite Xirtam - First Look

GoLite Xirtam Jacket - First Look

Price: £130.00 (men's) £120 (women's)

Weight: 428 grammes (men's large)

Features Fusion three-layer waterproof shell with PU membrane and built-in stretch, teflon finish, adjustable cord-lock hem, two front pockets withstorm flaps, chest pocket with water-resistant zip, twin exhaust vents with water-resistant zip and mesh, hood with wired peak, water-resistant main zipper with back-up storm flap.

N ice feel, surprisingly effective hood, reasonable weight. Looser knitted face areas wetted out easily, curious venting arrangement.

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The Concept The Golite Xirtam - Matrix backwards if you were wondering - is billed as being suitable for 'fast motion sports in foul weather' but what really stands out is that it feels like a soft-faced, stretchy softshell but is, in fact, a fully-taped waterproof. So... what you're getting is something with that nice softshell feel, but full waterproof protection. We'd expect the trade-off to be significantly lower breathability than a bona fide soft shell with wind resistance or proofing and improved permeability rather than full waterproofing.

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Features The fabric uses a PU membrane sandwiched between two layers of polyester tricot, though its' got two different fabrics with different faces which are the distinct colours in the test jacket pictured. Otherwise there's nothing particularly remarkable, though it's nice to see a US-made jacket with a proper wired hood.

There are also some weird vents in the back of the jacket, they're only six inches long and we're not sure of the rationale behind them, unless they're intended as exhaust vents for when your zip is undone, in which case we'd prefer a double-ended zipper rather than the single one fitted.

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In Action We were a little wary of the Xirtam's in your face colour scheme - a more discrete all-black is also available - but the bottom line is that we were considerably more impressed with this jacket than we thought we would be.

On a nasty, sleety, windy day in the Peak it proved to be a very effective waterproof. GoLite says it's 'semi-fitted', though the cut is still reasonably generous and not absurdly short. It also has a nice, softshell-esque feel thanks to the tricot face.

What we did notice though, is that the orange bits, which have a looser knit, wetted much more easily than the closer textured black portions which beaded well, though to be fair,we still stayed resolutely dry at walking speeds. Breathability seemed okay and we didn't have condensation issues, though pushing harder might well have overwhelmed the fabric - we'll update after a good running or biking session.

What was excellent was the Xirtam's wired hood. The wired section extends almost down to chin level which creates an interesting sun-flower like flange around the face. In vicious sidewinds with driven sleet, we had no problems thanks to the excellent side-on protection from the hood. A Rab Drillium jacket wasn't in the same league resulting in a panful facial lashing for the wearer.

What else? The pockets are mesh lined, but thankfully didn't leak at all, the main ones foul on a pack belt and will only just take an OS map, if that worries you. We're not quite sure about the rear vents either. They were easy to open, but hard to zip-up one-handed and didn't seem to do much until a vigorous sidewind chilled our kidneys unpleasantly.

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Initial Verdict

It's early days yet, but so far we've been favourably impressed with the Xirtam. It kept us dry and protected on a nasty, gnarly Peak day when other jackets let other members of the party down. We also rather like the soft, comfortable softshell feel and stretch, though we're not sure how the DWR will fare in the longer term.

And we have to give a special mention to what turned out, despite odd looks, to be a really capable and protective hood. We'll be keeping an eye on the DWR and giving the breathability a more exacting test, but so far things look good.

Finally, check the understated branding on the upper sleeve :-)

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Golite web site

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