What's It For?
DIAD stands for 'Done In A Day' and the first DIAD jacket - was a minimalist, 202-gramme waterproof with a very basic hood, no stretch and no venting. It was part of the ultralightweight 'Flite Series'.
Fast forward to 2009 and the DIAD has put on around 100 grammes in weight, but now uses a stretch 2.5-layer fabric, has core vents and hand pockets and a far more developed hood which can take a climbing helmet.
It's also been promoted to the Summit range of technical mountaineering kit and reborn as a very lightweight alpine shell jacket, though you could also use it for more general lightweight stuff.
The Techy Bits
The DIAD uses stretch 2.5 layer HyVent DT fabric, though the stretch is only two way and not massive. HyVent DT is based on original HyVent but with a tactile, microgrid print on the inside of the PU coating instead of a full liner to both save weight and protect the coating. The PU itself is a sophisticated tri-component, multi-layer effort with each layer having different properties to give a combination of waterproofing, breathability and durability.
Otherwise it's mostly about minimalism, though skinny tape is no longer used. One neat touch is that the pocket and min core vents use a single opening with two zips and because the pockets vent, you effectively have a fair amount of core ventilation.
How It Performed
There's no mistaking The North Face fit, even the Performance fit used here, is slightly boxy with plenty of spare room for underlayers and the cut is on the short side meaning it works best with some sort of shell pant, soft or hard if you don't want soggy crotch syndrome.
That short cut works fine with harnesses and keeps the hand pockets clear of waist belts as well. We like the way the core vents and pockets combine to give a single larger vent albeit with separate zips and we could also just about roll up the sleeves for some forearm cooling as well.
The fabric feels nice against the skin and is somewhere in the middle of the scale for breathability which means those venting options are welcome if you run at the warm end of the scale. We'd also tend to use it as a stow and go sort of jacket rather than subjecting it to heavy pack use, which we suspect would eventually take its toll on the lightweight fabric. We couldn't really detect the stretch in normal use, so we wouldn't worry too much about it either way.
Hoods and peaks in particular have always been TNF's Achilles heel in the UK, so we had a long, good look at the DIAD's offering. It's built to take a helmet, though we found it a little tight teamed with a tall-ish Black Diamond Half Dome, particularly in the chin area. Used like this, the peak doesn't really matter.
Without a helmet, everything snugs down easily enough and the hood moves with your head, but the peak -althought laminated - is still a tad floppy and we'd have prefered a stiffer construction. In stiller conditions it's fine though.
Finally cuff and hem fastenings and adjusters work easily as do the venting zips at the sides of the trunk.
Initial Verdict
The Stretch DIAD may be heavier than its predecessor, but then again, a helmet-compatible waterproof jacket with core vents weighing 300 grammes is still pretty damn light. Breathability is adequate rather than outstanding and the hood has a floppy sort of peak, but used with a helmet, that doesn't really matter. Finally cut is on the short side, so team with shell pants for good protection.
Buy if you want a very light, short-cut, alpine jacket that you'll be wearing mainly with shell pants and a helmet.
