I have the Arcteryx Atom LT without hood. The AR is a heavier coat. (I actually have 3 of the LT coats.) I pretty much wear one constantly fall through spring and really get my moneys worth out of them. I wear it to work, at the office, when riding (I have one set aside for that), and am wearing one right now around the house which is about 65 degrees inside. Extremely versatile, comfortable and great for a wide range of temps. When I used to wear fleece I always could not wait to get it off and if I started comfortable and did some light exercise I found I overheated quickly and I got sweaty and wanted to find a way to cool off soon, but could never seen to get it to ventilate well. The Atom jacket made me retire the fleece. I bought two of mine on ebay, each for around $150 - $175, but you have to bide your time to get a deal as they retail for about a hundred bucks over that. I bought my other one at spring closeout sale at REI for $125 or so, which was a great deal.
Here are some omments I made in another post:
The Arcteryx Atom LT is an outstanding coat. I have 3 of them actually and I bought a fourth for my son who was always stealing one of mine. I have my brother in law wearing one now too. It is extremely light and packable and dumps huge amounts of excess heat and sweat from the vented side panels when you need to cool off. It has a very wide temp range (unlike fleece) and is easily adjustable. Nylon sleeve liners make it easy to layer over other things. Here is my earlier post on it from this thread:
Wow, looks like one of everything on here! Here is my mix: Long sleeve poly undershirt; Arc'Teryx Atom mid layer; Showers Pass Elite 2.0 wind shell. The inner and outer layers are pretty standard and many products I have tried do well, but the incredible piece that I find to be magic is the Arc'Teryx Atom mid layer.http://www.backcountry.com/arcteryx-...ed-jacket-mens This is an extremely flexible mid layer that is REALLY light, warm, packable, breathable, and extremely comfortable. Nylon inside and out means it slides over or under anything easily and does not bunch up like fleece. It is very usable from 15 degrees as a mid layer to 65 degrees by itself. It is water repellent too if worn alone. It does not look like a bike-specific jacket so it is turning into something I wear almost daily. I wear it to work, I wear it around the office when it is a little cool, I wear it biking in any weather below 70 degrees. It seems to regulate for a wide range of temperatures without needing to make adjustments and ventilates extremely well when you are working hard, yet when you stop and make a decent you are not wet and clammy inside. It is wonderful! Outer and inner layers are pretty easy to find something that works, but the Atom mid-layer is a real versatile gem which I have found to be better than anything else I have used. The versatility of it also makes it easier to shell out the bucks for it because I wear it so often. It also washes very easily and comes out still looking new (not ratty like fleece gets after you wear it for a while). A size large can compress into the size of a 12 oz. coke can too so it has become a standard piece of my summer touring gear too. And I agree with the poster above who said the Showers Pass is not worth the money. It is a great jacket.