Women's Paramo Viento Jacket Tested

Price: £200

Weight: 785g

Features: Nikwax Analogy Waterproof System, hip belt vents, upper arm vents, two large venting chest pockets plus secure pocket for compass/GPS storage, wired and roll-away/detachable low profile hood, articulated shoulders and sleeves, reversed zip with poppered internal storm flap, easy adjust wide cuffs with 'bite tab' velcro closure, internal 'dry' pocket, removeable foam insert strips for load carrying, single handed hem and waist drawcord pulls, tailored fit for women through redesign of the shoulder, arm, waist and hip.

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What's It For?

This is a jacket designed for changing conditions or changing work rates. It's warmer than average, so if the weather's turned arctic, or you've stopped to rest, you won't cool down too fast. At the same time, there are so many vents you can still keep cool if you up your work rate or the sun appears out of nowhere. The shell's windproof and proofed with TX10 so it's reasonably water resistant as well.

Paramo insulated clothing tends to be quite warm, so it's primarily cold weather wear, unless you run cool, but with the added flexibility of ventilation by the bucket load.

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The Techy Bits

Firstly, the fabric. The Viento jacket is what Paramo calls a 'directional' waterproof ie. it 'directs' the water vapour to where you want it. It uses the Nikwax Analogy System, which combines three layers - the hard shell outer, a pump which moves moisture away from the body and traps air for insulation, and the liner next to the skin. The idea is to mimic the way animal fur works - basically, the moisture seeps out and the warmth stays in. Simple really.

The Paramo venting system is the other striking feature of the jacket. While under arm vents are fairly common, hip belt vents are almost unique to Paramo. They're made up of two vertical zips up the lower half of the jacket to give you a breeze in place of a tight waist belt.

The arm vents are also positioned differently - on the front of the shoulders rather than under the arms. They're not as close as they could be to the areas where you sweat the most, but as they're more accessible to the air, they 'vent' more.

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How It Performs

We had mixed feelings. On the plus side, the Viento's a very warm jacket - a bit too warm for when we first tested it, back in the spring. If you run cold, you're belaying, or you're out for a leisurely walk in cold conditions, it would suit you well.

The other bonus was the ventilation - we found we could keep wearing the jacket through a much larger range of temperatures and work rates than normal, simply by opening and closing the vents. It saved us stopping to add or remove layers on a regular basis, which has to be a good thing.

The extra ventilation came at a price though. The jacket's bulky and far from light, partly because of all the features. At 785g, we wouldn't take it with us on any trip where weight was an issue, so it's one for day hikes, camping out of the car, or consistently cold conditions only.

We minded the weight of some features more than others, according to how well they worked. Amongst those we minded were the shoulder vents, which didn't let in as much air as we'd hoped, and the hip belt vents, which would have been better described as 'half way up your body' vents. True, they let the air in and removed some of the bulk from around our waist, where the rucksack hip belt rests, but they also extended a long way above that, so you could unzip the whole of the bottom half of the jacket. We kept mistaking them for pockets and automatically putting our gloves inside, only to find them fall through the bottom again:-)

In some ways, it was the fabric itself - rather than the numerous vents and gaps - that did the most to keep us cool. We couldn't complain about the breathability, which was very good. We also liked the generally soft, rustle-free feel, which is quite different from most shell jackets out there. It's also worth noting that Paramo fabric is easier to repair than most, if you do manage to snag it. Simply stitch it up and it still works as normal, without having to worry about patches or professional repair jobs.

Back to the features again... The zips - both on the vents and pockets - were all well-reinforced, with an extra layer of fabric either above or beneath them. Using poppers for all the flaps added unnecessary weight though, and also gave a jangly, percussion-band effect. A more streamlined means of protection wouldn't have gone amiss.

We liked the idea of the cuff tabs. Velcro fastenings often get clogged up with all kinds of rubbish and stop working properly until you've pulled it all out, but the Paramo system protects the velcro underneath a layer of fabric. The only trouble was that once we'd gathered in all the slack, we had to release it all again to fasten the velcro forwards, instead of folding it back on itself.

Another feature we weren't convinced by was the foam padding in the back. There are two strips of this, either side of the spine, to offer protection when load carrying (and you can remove them if you aren't carrying a big backpack). In principle, this offered protection without adding the extra bulk you'd have if a greater area were padded. The strips didn't extend as far up the back as a rucksack backrest though, so they only offered partial protection. Also, with a decently padded back system we couldn't really feel the extra padding in the jacket anyway.

In case it sounds like it's all doom and gloom, we should point out that we did really like the hood. It fitted snugly, adjusted at both sides and the back, and had a good solid wire in the peak that genuinely held its shape, whatever the battering. Where some hoods have a nominal peak that only extends a short way over the face, this one protruded far enough to keep off the elements good and proper.

The rest of the jacket wasn't so well fitted though. We're a fairly standard XS, or size 8, but the Viento XS jacket was roomy to say the least. It's worth bearing in mind that Paramo fabric works in the opposite way to most fabrics ie. it functions best when it's a bit loose, rather than when it fits really snugly. Even so, we reckon a jacket that claims to be XS should still be pretty small, and this isn't.

We're told it's been specifically designed for women, with adjustments in the shoulders, waist, and hips to fit a woman's body. We aren't sure where they found the woman they modelled it on though:-). The fit around the lower body was fine, but the upper body was voluminous. Unfortunately, this meant that the technical stitching on the upper part of the jacket didn't have the effect it should have had. Seams have been carefully placed across the shoulders to mirror the upper body's movements, and if the fit's right, these should help ease of movement quite a bit. We'd recommend trying it on carefully before buying though if this is to work for you.

Finally, pockets. There's one of these each side of the chest - they're cosy but uncomfortably high. The dry inner pocket is good for valuables, but if you want to stow away a map, look elsewhere.

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Verdict

A mixed bag. On the plus side, the hood fits snugly and gives great weather protection, with a properly protruding, stiffened peak. In cold conditions, the jacket also offers plenty of warmth and - paradoxically - vents well at the same time, so you can avoid all the irritating addition and removal of layers.

The fit isn't that great for a woman though. The lower body is fine, but the upper body is much larger. This spoils the technical design around the shoulders which could otherwise combine ease of movement with a close fit. The weight and generally jangly nature of the jacket, with zips and prestuds coming out of your ears, is also excessive - we wouldn't want to carry it too far.

If you're out in variable conditions, the Viento offers a lot of flexibility. Otherwise, a more traditional layering system might suit you better.

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The hood. Loads of warmth and loads of ventilation - at the same time. Weight, over-sizing, and over-kill on some of the features.

Performance
Value

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Paramo web site

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