Altura Vapour Jacket Review

Let me start with an apology for the recent hiatus in blogging. I've been on holiday! I had hoped to have this jacket review lined up for while I was away, but despite owning the Vapour for 5-6 weeks there had been a surprising lack of rain to test its water resistant properties. Anyway I've been greeted by more traditional British weather upon my return, so here we go!

No that isn't a pond behind me - it's the road!

The dry weather in September did however give me the chance to test some of the other properties of this jacket. Several times having watched the weather forecast I set out on my hour commute wrapped up in the Vapor, prepared for the worst. As is frequently the case the weatherman was wrong and it remained dry all the way to work. What really impressed me about the Vapour was that when I arrived at the office the inside of the jacket was as dry as the outside. The breathablity of the material is excellent, I would normally have expected to slowly steam cook in a waterproof on a mild dry day. Not so with the Vapour. The strangely rubbery material doesn't feel clammy either, even with short sleeves underneath. 

On the ride home I folded the jacket up and stuffed it comfortably into my jersey pocket.

On another dry, but cold evening I picked up the jacket and it did a superb of job of blocking out the chilly breeze. 

Other details:

• The jacket has a useful zipped pocket on the back. It might not be as large as some, but I used it for transporting my phone, wallet and keys. A mini pump and spare tube also fit comfortably.
• I have the black version which features some nice reflective trim.
• The clue is in the name, the first thing everyone says when they pick up the jacket is "Wow, isn't this light!"

After a month I was loving this jacket, but still hadn't tested its most fundamental credential - its waterproofness! Well this week has seen to that! Today I splashed home for 90 minutes in torrential rain, along flooded roads. Dripping on the doorstep I took off the jacket and checked for signs of leaks. My base layer was totally dry, not even any sweaty marks despite the mild 15 degree temperature.

So in summary this is a fantastic jacket and I can highly recommend it to those looking for a lightweight, breathable waterproof. I bought mine with a considerable discount which perhaps suggests a new iteration is on the way,  but Altura got the recipe spot on with this jacket.