In reply to Denni:
I had one of those Patagonia mid-layers with the grid fabric and loved it to death (death being about 3 inch wide holes in both elbows), I still highly rate the sort of grid fabric like that that seems great at balancing insulation with avoiding sweatiness. But nowadays quite a lot of different companies offer tops with a similar type of pattern on the inner insulation layer so I'd say the best plan is to try a load of different ones on and buy the one that fits best. I think that in the past for this type of item maybe some companies were behind the curve but in modern times, unless you are buying a really, really cheap no-name, the style and fit is the main thing to pick between them.
Sorry if that isn't as specific advice as you wanted but my experience with tops has been that every manufacturer has a slightly different shape and how long your arms are, how wide your shoulders are, how much your stomach is, er... naturally insulated! and so on are specific to you so you are better off just trying a load of different tops on and then picking one of those that fits and you like the look of. For comparison, I currently have 3 different tops - from Sherpa, Norrona and Patagonia - and they have all lasted well and functioned well although they are also all make from different fabric types and have a mixture of hoods, pockets and thumb loops.