Rab

Borealis Jacket - Men's

Excellent Lightweight Softshell

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

Size Bought:

Medium

I purchased this as a softshell to wear over my fleeces or puffer jackets. I have worn it quite a lot since I purchased it and it's fantastic. This shell works perfect over a fleece and/or puffer when it's 30-50* F. This would be a fantastic light jacket to wear in the spring/fall/summer as well. It does a pretty good job at repelling rain although as most know I would not use this for heavy rains. But in the PNW mist/drizzle it does great. The only thing to know is it runs small, and by small I mean very small. I have worn a Medium on everything for 20 years, and if I didn't want to layer under-neath I would rock a Medium in this. However, with a puffer or fleece, or even a flannel under-neath I got a large. I am 6'0-6'1 and 175lbs. I ended up buying a Medium and Large to make sure one fit and I am going to keep both. The medium I'll wear in the summer as a stand alone jacket and the Large I am wearing all winter.

Lightweight material with excellent stretch.

Lightweight material with excellent stretch. Fit is true to size and with the hood up visibility is still good.

Brilliant garment

Lightweight, stretchy, big pockets in the right place, breathable and windproof. Well designed hood, 4 season use. Recommend

The Borealis Delivers

Familiarity:

I've used it several times

Size Bought:

Men's Medium

I've had friends much more experienced in the outdoors put me on to Rab's Borealis. This is an extremely versatile, lightweight jacket perfect for fast and light missions in the Mountains. I've used it as a layer for climbing and it fits comfortably with a harness. The jacket is made of a material that's flexes and moves with you allowing for great range of motion in the shoulders. I've climbed on plenty of rock variation and its held up to the abrasion and abuse at camp. Looking forward to many more years of adventure with this jacket.

Water resistant it is not

Bought the jacket approximately 6 months ago, fit is good (38 chest and size medium), lightweight, breathable, good amount of stretch making if comfortable and packs down reasonably compact. I've worn it perhaps a dozen times for short trips to and from the office when weather has looked unfavourable. Today it rained (not what I would describe as hard), and although I was only out for about ten minutes my shirt and shoulders were soaked, also down the inside of my arms where the jacket flexes. Slightly disappointed considering the matrix fabric is described as providing weather protection and in Q&A below the jacket is described as water resistant. I accept it isn't a water-proof jacket but I'd expect more protection for the odd shower than what the jacket provided.

Great trousers, light, comfortable but

Great trousers, light, comfortable but also surprisingly warm.

Finally XS size!

Had been hoping you would release this in XS. Jacket is a perfect fit (1.70m, 60kg). Material is really comfortable. Ink colour is nice, but would buy again if you offered a more “hi-vis” shade in the smallest size.

Used with thermal vest and

Used with thermal vest and Nexus fleece it provided excellent layering so much so I bought a second one.

One of the best pieces

One of the best pieces of kit I have bought in a long while.

Extremely light and windproof jacket,

Extremely light and windproof jacket, close fitting in size.