Review – Rain Jacket – ZPacks Challenger (review Feb 15, updated Dec 17)

Wet Weather Jacket – Zpacks Cubin Fibre Challenger Jacket

     Hood was always work over a cap.            Sleeves up was how I wore this most of the time

Rating: 8/10

Good: Light, comfortable, good ventilation

Bad: Zip Leaked slightly

Description: Constructed from 1.62 oz/sqyd Waterproof Breathable Cuben Fiber material. The material is a three layer laminate consisting of an eVent membrane on the inside, Spectra fibers in the center, and a thin layer of nylon on the outside. It is thick enough to withstand light brush and abrasion from your backpack. It has a full length water proof front zipper, chest pocket, adjustable elastic at the waist, cuffs, and hood. Fitted Hood with stiffened visor keeps water off your face. A small strap on the back of the hood allows you to make vertical adjustment to keep the visor out of your eyes. Packs up a little bit smaller than a soda can. Roll the jacket up and secure it with the waist elastic. No stuff sack necessary.
Weight: 165 g

Comments: I ordered this jacket with pit zips, no chest pocket, no strap on the back of the hood and requested the cinch on the wrist was moved to the outside of the wrist.

I really like this Jacket and will be sticking with it. It was super light, packed up very small and was comfortable to wear. Next time I would request it a bit longer to provide more coverage for my shorts and request a 2 way zip. This would fix the issue of it being a little tight at the bottom.

The Jacket remained waterproof except in some conditions I found my stomach and under arm were wet. This confounded me until I figured out the stomach was leaking where the waterproof zip was bent. As it was a little tight around my hips I had to fold the front up and this caused a bend in the zip. Twice it leaked a little bit on the right side at the bottom of the pitzip.

I wore this jacket in some pretty torrential rain, often where I was fighting through close vegetation. 95% of the time I remained perfectly dry and the 5% it was a small patch at my stomach and 1% of the time a small patch on my right hip. There were several days where on arrival at the hut I removed the jacket to be perfectly dry as those with heavy weight Gortex Jackets were soaking wet.

The white inside of the jacket did get discoloured at the back of the neck, where my pack shoulderstraps went and the bottom of the arm but this did not effect the waterproofness and nothing showed on the outside.

I found the jacket breathed well and the pit zips were great to allow greater ventilation.

I always wear a baseball cap in rain and the hood fitted perfectly over this when I folded the stiffer visor.

I used the jacket when it was windy and it was great as a windshield and I did not overheat when wearing it. I also used it on cold mornings and it was enough to take the chill off.

New Zealand is a wet and windy country and it rains a lot so a good Waterproof Jacket is essential. I was very happy with this jacket and will continue to use it as my main tramping jacket.

Update Dec 2017. This Jacket has been used as my main travel jacket and remains waterproof. The biggest test was on my Mt Stanley expedition where it rained almost continually and I remained dry, when others in their Gortex did not. It looks like it is not waterproof around the neck as it is discoloured but it still works fine. The only reason I will change is I don’t like Black for a rain jacket so will upgrade to the new ZPack Vertice in Blue.

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