I knew when I purchased this jacket that it would rarely be used because I live in Southern California and the weather doesn't call for such a heavy duty jacket very often, but I figured it would be good to have for my snowy trips to Big Bear once or twice a year. Once I actually took the smaller inner coat out, I realized that it was perfect for chilly to cold days/nights and is VERY light in weight and can be compacted very small so as to not take up too much room in a backpack. I use it all the time now and in the rare instances where I've used the second top layer coat, it has kept me very warm and dry in the snow. Two wonderful jackets for the price of one!