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Mountain Hardwear Ghost Lite Review

A great idea that doesn’t come off nearly as well as its competitors
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mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review
Mountain Hardwear Ghost Lite
Credit: Mountain Hardwear
Price:  $100 List
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Manufacturer:   Mountain Hardwear
By Andy Wellman ⋅ Senior Review Editor  ⋅  Oct 20, 2016
69
OVERALL
SCORE
  • Wind Resistance - 30% 7.0
  • Breathability and Venting - 30% 7.0
  • Weight and Packability - 20% 9.0
  • Fit and Functionality - 10% 5.0
  • Water Resistance - 10% 4.0

Our Verdict

The Ghost Lite Jacket by Mountain Hardwear is a super thin, super light, minimalist wind jacket similar in character to the Salomon Fast Wing Hoodie or the Patagonia Houdini. While it certainly does a good job of protecting from the wind without adding weight or bulk to the pack, its many design flaws mean it is not as nearly high performing as those two jackets. Our biggest complaint was that the fit was bulky and baggy, not hugging the form at all and constantly riding up above our waist, and the elastic cuffs around the wrists and the hood did little to keep weather out. The crinkly and loud nylon material allows water to penetrate straight through, ensuring that in all but the lightest of drizzles you will be getting wet. We love the idea of a ridiculously lightweight wind breaker, and indeed find ourselves using one seemingly all the time, but just not this one.
REASONS TO BUY
Very lightweight
Compact pack size
Affordable
REASONS TO AVOID
Poor fit
Material is annoying and not waterproof
Poor functioning features
Mountain Hardwear Discontinued the Ghost Lite in the Summer of 2018

Our Analysis and Test Results

The Ghost Lite Jacket ranked near the bottom of the pile once our testing results were finally tabulated. It ended up with the same amount of points as the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Lite Pro, although due to the design and fit we enjoyed wearing that jacket more. We took this thing on many adventures, as it is so light and packs so small that it is hard not to simply throw it in the pack, but we always ended up slightly annoyed. The biggest issue for us was the fit around the waist, which would ride up above our waist absolutely constantly, over and over again, even if the draw cord was pulled tight. We also found it to be very baggy around the torso, which is nice if you want to layer underneath it, but for us just seemed to flap around a lot in the wind. Other positives and negatives are described below, but our consensus on this jacket is it just isn't nearly as fine tuned or high performing as its competition.

Performance Comparison


mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - the ghost lite jacket on top of dallas peak in the san juan...
The Ghost Lite jacket on top of Dallas Peak in the San Juan Mountains on a beautiful sunny summer day.
Credit: Andy Wellman

Wind Resistance


Wind resistance is a selling point for this jacket, which is good, because that's what it's designed to do. The material has a very slick and slippery feel, prompting us to wonder if perhaps the extremely low friction forces wind to just slip right off of it. While it didn't score as high as the two jackets that included a sewn-in liner, like the Marmot Ether DriClime, we did feel that it was equal if not slightly better than its most similar competition, the Patagonia Houdini. Seven out of 10 points.

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - the ghost lite jacket was one of two wind breakers that came in...
The Ghost Lite jacket was one of two wind breakers that came in around 3.0 oz. It is obviously very thin, as evidenced by this photo of the jacket in a very strong wind.
Credit: Elizabeth Riley

Breathability and Venting


The 15D nylon ripstop that this jacket is made of is very thin and somewhat air permeable. Given how permeable we found it to be, we were surprised that it was so wind resistant. The ability for air to move through the jacket is certainly a bonus when it comes to breathability. There is really no accommodation for venting though, and our black-colored test model was rather warm as it easily absorbed heat from the sun. We thought the overall effect was about the same as the Ghost Lite Pro, or the Houdini, and rated it seven out of 10 points.

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - standing on the summit of north apostle peak in the sawatch...
Standing on the summit of North Apostle Peak in the Sawatch Mountains of Colorado in the Ghost Lite Jacket. We found that this jacket constantly rode up above our waist while wearing a pack or not, and we didn't really enjoy the fit for that reason.
Credit: Paulo Wellman

Fit and Functionality


The fit of this wind breaker was one of our biggest complaints and reason that we didn't like it as much as others. It is spacious enough to layer underneath, but for a lightweight running or aerobic wind breaker, we really wish that it wasn't so baggy. The bagginess is what led it to bunch up on our back and ride up over the waist, time and again. The trim and athletic cuts of many of the wind breakers we tested fit so perfectly and were obviously highly tuned for that purpose that in comparison this jacket felt a bit like we were wearing a garbage bag (the look, sound, and feel of the material certainly enhanced this effect!).

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - the fit of the ghost lite jacket felt unnecessarily baggy to us...
The fit of the Ghost Lite jacket felt unnecessarily baggy to us, with too much extra room all around the mid-section. It isn't a jacket we would want to wear as an outer layer, feeling it does better as a stand alone, so why the extra large fit?
Credit: Elizabeth Riley

In terms of functionality of the features, we again had complaints. The cuffs around the wrists and lining the hood are made of elastic that simply wasn't nearly tight enough, especially around the hood, which had no ability to fine tune the fit with a draw cord. The hood was very wide open and would even blow off in the wind. We liked that it included a hood keeper that consisted of a hidden Velcro strap, but noted that this feature was impossible to deploy with the jacket on. It has one chest pocket that it stuffs into, and no hand pockets. We loved the hem draw cord, and think that Mountain Hardwear really has this cinch buckle figured out. Complaints abound online about issues with the zippers jamming or sticking, but we never experienced this problem. Compared to the features and design of the technically impressive Salomon Fast Wing Hoodie, this jacket leaves a whole world to be desired. Five out of 10.

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - to save weight, the hood and facial opening does not have the option...
To save weight, the hood and facial opening does not have the option of a draw cord to cinch it up. Like a few others that we tested, it instead uses only elastic around the opening. However, we felt that the elastic was too loose and the opening too large, leaving us exposed compared to other wind breakers that also employed this method.
Credit: Elizabeth Riley

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - the hood stowaway method of the ghost lite jacket uses two flaps of...
The hood stowaway method of the Ghost Lite Jacket uses two flaps of Velcro-lined material on the inside and outside of the jacket to hold a rolled up hood. We certainly appreciated this feature in a light wind breaker.
Credit: Andy Wellman

Water Resistance


Upon first inspection, it looks from the outside like the material used in this jacket does a great job of forcing water droplets to bead up and fall off. There is no doubt that this happens. But somehow water also manages to permeate straight through the material as well, because after one very quick pass in the shower, we had water running down the inside of the jacket on the shoulders, arms, hood, back, everywhere. We are confident that you will not stay dry for more than a few minutes at most in a rain storm, and although we didn't encounter these conditions in our field testing, online reviewers have backed up this assertion. This was easily one of the lowest performers in this department, so four out of 10.

Weight and Packability


Our scale showed this jacket weighing 3.3 ounces, ever so slightly more than advertised on Mountain Hardwear's website, and slightly more than the Salomon Fast Wing Hoodie. This was good enough for nine out of 10 points for weight. When it comes to packability, this jacket easily stuffs into its chest pocket and includes a clip-in loop. However, we didn't award it any bonus points because the stuffed package was unnecessarily large and bulky; it could have packed down much smaller.

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - the ten wind breakers in this review stuffed into their pockets'...
The ten wind breakers in this review stuffed into their pockets', from left to right: Sierra Designs Exhale Windhirt (green) does not fit into a pocket, Marmot Ether DriClime Hoody (orange), Mountain Hardwear Ghost Lite Pro (light orange), Patagonia Alpine Houdini (navy, discontinued), Mountain Hardwear Ghost Lite Jacket (glossy black), Salomon Fast Wing Hoodie (neon green, discontinued) Patagonia Houdini (black), Rab Windveil (white mesh), Arc'teryx Squamish Hoody (brown), Outdoor Research Tantrum (neon yellow).
Credit: Andy Wellman

Best Applications


This jacket is designed as a take-it-anywhere, lightweight wind and emergency layer. We used it primarily for long hikes and peak bagging missions. In theory, it should be good for biking and running as well, but due to the fit we didn't enjoy using it for that purpose. We wouldn't recommend it for backpacking due to its lack of water resistance. If you find that it fits your body well, then the range of use could expand, but for us it was quite limited.

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - testing the ghost lite jacket in a wind storm on a ridge at the top...
Testing the Ghost Lite Jacket in a wind storm on a ridge at the top of Red Mountain Pass in the San Juan Mountains. The greatest advantage of this jacket was its extremely light weight, but we found the fit to be a bit troublesome.
Credit: Elizabeth Riley

Value


This wind breaker retails for $100. In the context of this review, that ties with the Patagonia Houdini as the most affordable option. However, we don't think this is a very well designed product, and there is no doubt that the Houdini performs much better in almost every circumstance. For this reason it is not really a very good value.

Conclusion


Designed as a lightweight emergency wind shell for aerobic activities such as running and outside training, the Ghost Lite Jacket by Mountain Hardwear has a lot of promise. Unfortunately, it doesn't deliver on this promise as it fits poorly and lacks the well thought out design features that make a high quality wind breaker. It is also a disappointment in the rain, limiting the situations where it can be used. As one of the lower scorers in our review, we would recommend purchasing other Top Picks or award winners over this jacket.

mountain hardwear ghost lite wind breaker jacket review - our glossy black ghost lite jacket collected solar gain to warm us...
Our glossy black Ghost Lite jacket collected solar gain to warm us up in the sun. Unfortunately, its texture, look, and feel reminded us of wearing a plastic bag.
Credit: Elizabeth Riley

Andy Wellman