MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT Men's Rupal Waterproof Jacket

I was in need of a new winter jacket having in the previous year tried to get away with a lightweight one. I have always been a fan of mountain equipment as a brand and this jacket has not disappointed . Through what has been a rather wet winter on the Scottish hills, it has been bombproof and survived some prolonged deluges. It has good arm movement, the hood works well and it feels comfortable on. Durability looks good so far. Only on a couple of occasions did I feel a little clammy and the front pockets quickly seemed to get filled with water, no good for cameras or phones. However , if you want a guaranteed to keep you dry jacket with decent breathability, this one ticks the box.

Bought this for the winter season which has just ended. It is A1 kit for both Welsh mountains and the Alps. Movement is not compromised even with Rab pull-on and base layer, plus Montane Prism jacket underneath. It has been out in the wind, rain, snow and cold clear days and performed faultlessly on all occasions. It has taken the worst weather I have been daft enough to be out in and has kept me dry and warm. Noted some people say the pockets leak.... I have not had this issue. I spent considerable time weighing up which ME hard shell to get and am very pleased with my choice. I have to add that the lady in GO at Hanley .....Rosie??........was very helpful, knowledgable and patient! A credit to the store. No hard sell and even suggested a Berghaus product considerably cheaper while I was trying to get the “fit” sorted over many layers. This garment is a good example of “you get what you pay for” when wanting to be warm and protected. For those considering it my only observation is that once you have worn it a couple of times with a heavy sack on, the beading of the water on the shoulders does not happen as per the rest of the coat. That said, there is no ingress of water through the coat on the shoulder straps area despite the coat looking as though it has absorbed a lot. If you want a hard shell for climbing/ mountaineering, this is very much a contender at a reasonable price.

A really excellent hardshell. Purchased with winter in the uk in mind and no complaints whatsoever. So far tested out in pretty hectic Welsh conditions and proved outstanding.

This is the best hardshell i've ever owned and i've had gore tex pro jackets before, the fit is great, quite slim but still plenty of room for layers without restricting movement and the hood is the best i've ever had on a hardshell it doesent restrict vision at all and turns with your head while still being fully protective, i also really like that the face fabric is a 75 denier plain weave as iv'e had issues in the past with grid weave fabrics de-laminating from the membrane and 40-50 denier fabrics are a bit thin for my liking, im not a weight warrior so i'd rather have the extra grams if it means extra protection all the zips are very water resistand (almost waterproof) and all the drawstrings are easy to adjust, i really like the 2 tone blue colourway aswell, i took it out for a test in the rain the day after i bought it and the rain just beaded up on the DWR, the only changes i would make to the jacket is to put storm flaps behind the pocket zips like mountain equipment do with some of their other jackets and an inside pocket would be nice too, mountain equipment have done an amazing job as usual and the service from go outdoors was great