The whole jacket has washed well without any special treatment, retaining its weather resistance. Equally, when shoving it unstuffed into your pack, beware that the light outer is at risk of getting caught and munched by heavy duty pack zips. When packed tightly into the stuff sack, the surface is extremely taut, so the fabric quickly rubbed through on the back of my harness on a squeezy trad route. However, I've found it slightly more abradable/snaggable when not being worn. When the jacket was being worn, the outer fabric held up to the abrasion of pack straps, harness rub and Cornish granite, also emerging intact from a traumatic bramble-snagging incident while blackberrying with my grandma. Tension on the stuff sack means the outer is vulnerable to rubbing through when racked on a harnessĪfter nine months of testing the upper is doing pretty well. ARC TERYX HYPERSPACE SKINIn terms of feel, I'd call it shiny soft – okay next to skin and slides on and off over other layers well, while definitely not as clammy as some other lightweight outers. The superlight 10D Arato nylon upper is very thin, but objectively tougher than the outer on the previous Nuclei FL, offering good durability and weather resistance for its weight. (The combination of soaking wet and sub-zero has yet to be tested - sounds like Type 2 fun.) I certainly found it warmer than any other remotely carriable synthetic layer both in sub-zero winter conditions and when soaking wet - two situations where I definitely feel the cold. You will particularly notice the loft and airiness when you try to get it back in the stuff sack and end up with a windsock for a sleeve. This means it gets puffy and traps warmth super quickly (I've personally found it warmer than similar weight PrimaLoft Gold). These not only trap, but also somehow suck in/inflate with air, even when deployed from bunched up in the stuff sack. The CoreLoft insulation is really good, consisting of fibres randomly tangled in sheets to mimic down. You may start a walk-in with it on, but unless in winter conditions, you will most likely have it off within a few minutes. If you were to wear it on the move you would get sweaty pretty quickly. However, breathability is relative, and as this jacket doesn't let much in, it also doesn't let much out. The looser weave also makes it more breathable than the original. This structure is important - fewer panels and no baffles means no clumping (which can lead to cold spots) of insulation, and fewer stitching points where the wind can sneak in. The technology behind this is Coreloft Continuous 65 (65g/m²) synthetic fill combined in panels with a windproof ripstop Arato 10D nylon upper. This should be where synthetic insulation comes to the fore, and I was really pleased that the Nuclei FL fits the bill.Īt 294g on the scales (women's size M), the Nuclei FL is pretty light for a warm hooded jacket. While many lightweight insulation jackets deal with dry cold at altitude, fewer provide enough warmth in the delightful bone-chilling wet air factor of the British climate. As someone who makes heat slowly and loses it fast, I am always looking for warm layers that can loft up and be put on quickly so I can retain as much heat as possible. "What's in there?" "Only what you take in with you". Insulation is like that scene with the cave in The Empire Strikes Back where Luke is training on Dagobah.
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