Article by Matt Kolat
Cumulus Climalite Full Zip Jacket ($230/£179)
Introduction
Cumulus is a Polish brand specialising in ultralight hiking, mountaineering and trail running gear and clothing. The brand was first established in 1989 and its focus is on down products and making all their gear as light as possible. They have a strong focus on gear development and are a market leader in sleeping bags, hammocks, mattresses and many more items you might find interesting. Today I will be having a closer look at their synthetically insulated jacket – the Climalite.
Features
Okay let’s start with what I did not like about this jacket, which is easy because there is only one minor minor feature – the stuff sack. It’s not all bad, it packs really small and that’s useful. But that said the sack is simply too small. It’s very hard to stuff the jacket in or pull it out especially while wearing thick gloves or mitts in difficult conditions. There is a simple solution to this – don’t use the sack and stuff into one of the jacket’s pockets. The jacket compresses so well it’s really no bother at all. But for Climalite 2.0 I’d love to see the sack maybe 5-10% larger.
Price is one of the biggest features of Climalite. The RRP is £179 ($230) and that is just superb. It’s nearly impossible to find a very feature rich, warm enough for winter, synthetic insulated jacket for less than £220 ($285) and as we all know some brands ask for £400 ($520) plus. This is a massive thing as I believe outdoor sports should be accessible to everyone. Well done Cumulus!
The Climalite is also extremely lightweight for a fully featured, insulated winter jacket. In the stuff sack, my size XL weighs 391g (13.8 ounces)
In hiking jackets the hood is normally one of the make-or-break elements I tend to judge on. I have to say that at first I had slight reservations because the Climalite hood only got one draw cord on the back, none in the front. That said however it synched very well and tight (notice the crevice on the hood just above my eye line in the pic below). All smiles, I felt very well protected even on the day pictured below, despite the sunshine the windchill was pretty serious.
Another small feature that I really appreciate in winter jackets is the double zipper. What that allows you to do is grab items from the internal pockets without having to unzip the jacket from the top all the way down.
That brings me to my next point. The shape of the internal drop pockets is asymmetric, something I’ve never seen before. What that does is lets you use those pockets very easily while unzipping the jacket only a little, using the bottom zipper in tough winter conditions, therefore limiting your exposure to unfavourable conditions. Brilliant design idea.
Apart from the drop pockets,the Climalite comes with three traditional pockets, two hand warmer pockets (unlined) and one chest pocket which doubles down a secondary stuff sack and I am happy to report that it is much easier to use than the stuff sack itself, happy days, see below.
Another awesome feature of the pockets are the massive zip grips. They really do make a difference while in windy conditions and/or with thick gloves on when our dexterity is compromised.
The hem cinching mechanism is also very well thought through as it is positioned on the front stitch of the side panel and together with big plastic release buttons it’s super easy to use with gloves or even mittens to achieve that enclosed fit we crave while the conditions are poor.
The shell of the jacket is made of Pertex Quantum in a 15 denier ripstop, which by comparison is a step up from for example Patagonia Micro Puff which is 10 denier. And you can really feel that difference, the Climalite feels sturdy despite being so lightweight.
The synthetic insulation is called Climashield Apex and comes at 67g/m2 and I have to say it works really well even during high output activities as a standalone jacket or midlayer while resting. Finally the jacket comes with a lifetime warranty which only adds value to the already competitively priced product.
Fit
This was the trickiest feature of Climalite, while picking the size I really had to scratch my head to figure out the right fit. Lucky for me I decided to size up. I just had a feeling that my usual size Large would be a bit trim if I was to wear multiple layers underneath the Climalite. So I opted for an XL and it fits me very well.
I would describe the fit as very ‘Nordic’ ; it’s slightly longer than usual and very slim fitted. The most similar jacket I own is a Patagonia Micro Puff. Albeit not the same category, but relatively similar, it is almost a half size larger than the Cumulus (XL) while being a size smaller (L). Something definitely to consider when picking your size.
Performance and Conclusions
I’ve tested this jacket on three very long winter mountain outings here in Scotland and I have to say I was very impressed. Most of the time the weather, due to windchill, was between -2 and – 11 Celsius (28-12 F).
The jacket performed very well as an outerpiece during high output activities and as a mid layer while stationary.
The hood stays in place amazingly well even during high winds and all the features I’ve described in the previous section do come in handy. This is a very feature rich jacket at an extremely affordable price. There is not much to wish for here, it was a pleasure testing the Climalite and I am looking forward to testing more Cumulus items in the future
Happy faces all day in my brilliant Cumulus jacket.
Shop for the Climalite and all of Cumulus
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Maciej ‘Matt’ Kolat- 38 years old, hailing from Poland but pounding Scottish pavements and trails on the run and hiking since 2007. Mainly runs shorter distances on pavement 5-10 km and reserves longer runs and hikes for beautiful Scottish Glens. Matt’s opinion sometimes may differ from other RTR testers as he is the slowest of the bunch (5k at 25:38). Matt also uses running as a way to stay healthy having shed 100 lbs so far (and counting).
