Montane £185

Excellent hood, great cut No pit zips

As the name suggests, this jacket employs Gore-Tex’s Paclite Plus technology. This is a 2-layer construction, which might sound a bit old school, but this isn’t like the old hillwalking waterproofs that had a clingy mesh drop-liner. Well, actually it is like that, except that by adding a new dry-touch, abrasion-resistant inner treatment to the membrane, there’s no longer any need for a liner at all. This results in a much lighter jacket, with Gore-Tex’s reliable waterproofbreathable performance but no clammy feel. Like most membrane-based shells, it does still rustle a bit but this is a minor drawback. It also uses a hard-wearing 30-denier nylon face fabric, so the extra crinkle is a price worth paying for added toughness. The overall cut of the jacket is spot-on, with a streamlined fit, drop tail, drawcord hem and Velcro-adjustable cuffs for good coverage in all the right places. In terms of other features, you get a superb, fully adjustable hood that feels very protective, plus meshlined hand pockets that offer either storage or cooling, acting as a passable substitute for pit zips. You will need to make sure they’re zipped up in heavy rain though. It’s also very packable and stuffs neatly into its own right-hand pocket.

Men’s sizes S-XXL Women’s sizes 8-16 Weight 298g (men’s L)

Packability, performance and durability – this excellent hillwalking jacket punches well above its weight.