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Outdoor Research Helium II Jacket

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Outdoor Research Helium II Jacket

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Product Description

Designed to keep you dry in the event of a downpour, the Outdoor Research Helium II jacket is a lightweight backcountry essential. Made with a super-breathable Pertex Shield fabric, the jacket is highly compressible and packs down to the size of a granola bar Read More

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reviews49

discussions206

Customer Reviews

4.3

(49 reviews)

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Pedro58

Apr 21, 2021

Verified Buyer

Excellent jacket

Ultra-Lightweight, windproof jacket. Keeps lighter rain out, but can wet out in heavy rain. Good emergency shell.

Recommends this product? Yes

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Commeatus

Oct 12, 2019

Verified Buyer

Excellent, moderately breathable shell

Tested on the Wonderland Trail in September, among other hikes. Ill be direct: Is it light? Yes. Almost exactly the same weight on my scale as my old helium 2. Is it waterproof? Yes. You can carry water in it, but I get the feeling the HH is a bit low. Will it wet out? Sort of. The fabric can become saturated, but very little moisture makes it through even then. It took 2-3 hours of heavy rainfall for me to notice any real difference. Does it breathe? Yes. I would say it breathes roughly as well as 2.5-layer gore-text but not as well as eVent fabric. It's enough make an appreciable difference when hiking at a moderate pace, though hard hiking will still leave you sweaty. When sweaty or saturated with rain, breathability suffers, and sweat in particular seems to be worse. I imagine this is due to the inside having more direct access to the breathable membrane.

Recommends this product? Yes

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ABradleyCAP

Sep 5, 2019

Verified Buyer

Love this -want to get the pants

As soon as I took the jacket out of the package, I knew I loved it. It is super light, as advertised, and doesn't feel stiff, scratchy or wrinkly. The material breathes and is so light you can forget you are wearing it. I also like the fact the hood cinches for a better fit. Am taking a trip to Nepal next spring - this will absolutely be in my pack. It fits in its own pocket for packing. I hope to order the pants as well. Great buy, no regrets. Would absolutely recommend to friends.

Recommends this product? Yes

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bywongbooth

May 24, 2019

Verified Buyer

zip hard to operate, may improve after some use, otherwise excellent

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daveinSD

Apr 10, 2019

Verified Buyer

Good jacket that is light weight which means lean on some bells & whistles but it does the job. It is my 3 season rain jacket for backpacking trips.

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TorreySmith

Mar 20, 2019

Verified Buyer

the jacket is lightweight and keeps you dry, can’t complain with that. The jacket fits tight, can’t fit much underneath it. I would size up if get another one in future.

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jtilton

Mar 17, 2019

Verified Buyer

Not happy with the fit, I bought a Medium based on their size chart although I would usually choose a large...should have gone with a large I guess. Fits so tight that it wouldn't work well keeping water out.

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Dimson

Feb 13, 2019

Verified Buyer

DWR wears off fairly quickly. not suitable for long hikes or heavy rain. hood design is a joke and will not stay in place in moderate winds. it's an overpriced and overrated wind shell.

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beerman

Feb 9, 2019

Verified Buyer

I don't like this item at all. I ordered a men's medium, like I do everything else. But this jacket is no medium! It's too tight all around, at the waist, chest and under the arms. Not satisfactory. I've been buying gear forever and I know what fits me. This is no medium, period. I tried to tell your folks that post-haste, but was told you can't do anything. Too bad, because now I'm stuck with thing. Oh well.

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C.rad

Feb 11, 2019

beermanThis jacket has European sizing and has an athletic cut similar other top companies like RAB, Haglofs, Mont Bell, Mountain Equipment, Bergans, Montane, Berghaus....etc. For North Americans, most people will need to size up, also depending on usage and layerings. Also, like all companies in the weight weenie game they’re making there jackets slightly trimmer to save weight and for athletes. This is an extreme jacket shell and just gives you the very minimal of what you may need for a rain jacket. These do not replace or compete with normal GoreTex Pro shells with all the bells and whistles, the two shouldn't be compared except for being waterproof. I don’t like this jacket because it doesn’t have zip pits which I really need, I sweat a lot while running and climbing. It wets out from the inside which I suspect the complaints in reviews about this jacket not being water proof is all about. This jacket is waterproof and can breathe; All rain shells without extreme venting will do this, even a $1,000 jacket will wet out from the inside if your working hard and sweat soaking the jacket even in cold freezing rain and snowing especially if you have a backpack on. It’s not a fault with this jacket, my $500 Arcteryx does the same with zip closed and exerting. This is a emergency rain shell and for extreme weight weenies who will give up all features to save weight. It’s an excellent jacket for that.

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jtilton

Mar 17, 2019

beermanI had the same results...ordered a Medium and there is no way I could layer under it, too tight across the shoulders and at the waist, it would wet through super fast. What a waste of time and money.

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