

The new Houdini fit over a t-shirt, but when I tried layering it over an R1 top the arms were too tight. When it arrived I realized that I had the wrong size. Thanks!Īfter a little deliberation on color I ordered a replacement jacket. Patagonia came through with top-notch warranty service.

In similar situations with other manufacturers I’ve had mixed results. The credit was big enough to replace the Houdini and cover shipping and tax. I had a digital gift card that could be used online on the Patagonia site or in any Patagonia retails store. The Houdini was essential gear, something I used almost every day, and I didn’t have a hundred bucks to run out and buy another one.Ībout six weeks later I got an email from Patagonia. On the other hand, I was just off several months of travel, sitting a few grand in the hole and working a retail job to cover the bills. On the contrary, I was very happy with the service that I got out of my Houdini for all those years. Now, I’m not saying that this jacket owed me anything. Send it back to Patagonia to be evaluated. Maybe it was just wear and tear but maybe there was something wrong with that batch of fabric. It seemed strange to me that the fabric on the Houdini would shred like that, when a much older jacket was still holding together. What I did know is that Cristi has a Patagonia windbreaker from the early 1990’s that is still going strong. No wonder I had been getting all those rips over the summer. What’s more, the fabric of the jacket seemed really weak. There was no way I was going to get tape to stick to that.

When I got back to Alley 3 and pulled off my sprayskirt I saw a rip in the front of the jacket about 8 inches long right next to the zipper. On a hot fall day I wore the Houdini for sun protection on a kayak tour to Little Tybee Island. We finished our western road trip and ended up in Savannah, GA for the winter. My Houdini was starting to get a sort of patina of legitimacy that only comes with extended use.
#Patagonia houdini jacket reviews Patch#
A patch inside and outside fixed the problem. Holy Crap! I didn’t think I was THAT close to the burner! Oh, well. The Houdini was starting to look pretty authentic.Ĭooking breakfast over the two-burner I got the arm a little too close to the flame and “whoosh,” I melted a fist-sized hole through the fabric near the cuff. OK, I thought, I must have rubbed up against something sharp. My Houdini, which had been remarkably bombproof up until then, started to rip. Long live the Houdini.Ī strange thing happened this summer. It logged countless backcountry days and city nights. My Houdini was wind resistant, breathable, bugproof, water repellent and compact. She was an immediate fan and eventually ordered a Houdini of her own. I introduced Cristi to the Houdini on a windy afternoon in downtown Asheville as we walked from our car to the Early Girl Eatery. It travels with me almost all the time ready to block a cold urban wind or backcountry bugs. Since then the Houdini jacket has been the single piece of outdoor gear that I’ve used the most. The Houdini was feather light and came in a light color that would be visible at night. I was trying to increase my running mileage, and I needed a breathable windbreaker. My friend Mark and I were house sitting for the former dean of the UW School of Engineering in a big house up on Highland. Memory fails, but I know I was working at Rutabaga at the time. I bought my Patagonia Houdini jacket sometime back in the mid-2000s. There are a handful of pieces of outdoor gear that legitimately qualify as classics.
