My dad has one. It doesn’t vent all that well although it does breathe well. Sitting at a stoplight or stuck in traffic you’ll be okay as long as it’s not above, say, 85 or so, but moving you won’t get all that much airflow. He regrets buying it because he bought it exclusively as a hot weather riding jacket and it doesn’t vent well enough to fill the role. He still wears it when it’s cooler or mild out but when the temperature gets into the 80s he’ll go jacketless because he’s too cheap to spring for a mesh jacket.
If you want something that breathes and vents well enough for super hot days but actually protects fairly decently, then you should consider getting a hybrid mesh/leather jacket. There are a few out there. Alpinestars makes one called the Alloy if you’re willing to spend $400 on a jacket. If your budget won’t allow for that, ICON makes one called the Arc mesh jacket (about $230 or so), and Joe Rocket makes one called the Reactor 2.0. The best one on the market, however, as far as I can tell, is the RS Taichi Team Leather Mesh jacket ($299.00 from Sportbiketrackgear.com).
If you don’t want the hassle (or expense) of leather, you’ll do just fine with a plain mesh jacket as long as it still has ballistic nylon/textile in the high impact zones. Good examples of this are:
Scorpion Cool Rod (currently $99.00 on sale from sportbiketrackear.com and newenough.com)
Speed & Strength Moment of Truth mesh jacket (currently $125.00 from sportbiketrackgear.com and newenough.com)
Joe Rocket Phoenix 5.0 (about $135.00 from newenough.com)
Fieldsheer High Flow mesh jacket (currently $90.00 on sale from newenough.com)
RS Taichi Armed High Protection mesh jacket ($249.00 from sportbiketrackgear.com–expensive for what it is but trust me, you get what you pay for)
And then finally we have the oddballs of the bunch:
ICON Contra ($195.00 from virtually anywhere, but sportbiketrackgear.com sells all ICON gear for 20% off retail). This is basically a textile jacket that features a ton of motion panels and mesh in various areas as well as mesh and stretch panels in various areas. I’d say about 40% of the jacket or so is mesh. Because of this, it will flow and breathe better than any vented textile jacket but not quite as well as a mesh jacket, but you’re not sacrificing any of the protection you would with a mesh jacket.
Joe Rocket Super Ego (about $350 or so–not sure of exact price). This is basically an all leather jacket that looks and performs like a conventional old school leather jacket. However, it has one interesting feature: The leather shell zips off to reveal a mesh jacket underneath. And because the leather portions that cover the shoulders, elbows, and forearms don’t come off with the rest of the leather shell, those areas are still protected by rugged riding-grade leather even though the rest is now essentially a mesh jacket.
Another note: Perforated leather WILL keep you nice and cool even in the extreme heat as long as you keep moving at a respectable pace. But whenever you come to a stop you start to feel like you’re inside of a microwave oven, so if your commute involves a lot of stoplights or sitting in traffic you’ll just about die. But if your route allows you to maintain a respectable pace, I’d strongly consider buying a full perf leather jacket over any of the jackets I mentioned above. There’s a variety of good ones on sale in the neighborhood of $150.00 from various online retailers.