Thanks for writing up this review. I hadn't heard of them before and a few of their items are pretty intriguing. Their Ridgeline Heavy Baselayer Top looks pretty nice. I might have to snag one and try it as a late season base.
First Lite seems to be inconsistent for me, but compared to Kuiu generally runs much larger. My kiln hoody is big, my furnace henley is giant, my catalyst jacket is perfect, and my source jacket runs small. It's a little frustrating when ordering pieces.
I have found that the Guide jacket is not very windproof at all. It seemed like the Axis Hybrid was much more windproof. Are you sure the guide jacket is more windproof than the wind pro?
As much as you say you don't want a pair of bibs.. it's going to be the warmest and best option imo. If you have space to pack them while you're moving you can easily slap them on when it's time to sit.
There's a large First Lite gear group on Facebook that always seems to have a few Solitude jackets up for sale. Maybe they have the pattern you're looking for and will do a trade. The Black Friday deal is pretty solid though. Can't go wrong there.
Same on the extra clothes. It's nice to have extra room for layers if you need to tuck them away or carry them in without wearing them. The rest of the backpack is filled up with the same stuff everyone else on this thread has mentioned.