Rab Momentum Jacket Review (Men’s)

The Review
The Rab Momentum is a lightweight 3 layer eVent waterproof jacket. It fits snugly but without restricting, has minimal fussy features and a great helmet compatible hood. The fit is definitely for the slim but does allow good arm movement – something not seen in as many shell jackets as it should be.

The two napoleon pockets are accessible when wearing a harness or rucksack and are a good size (not quite big enough for a normal sized OS map). The wired peak helmet compatible hood provides good protection with or without a helmet on and is easy enough to adjust.

The lightweight 3 layer eVent fabric of the Momentum breathes as would be expected from a fabric of this type. Its face fabric has proven itself to be durable enough (within reason) for most things. However, the scrim backer on the eVent does wear easily, so beware of any jackets you wear underneath with zips and toggles etc. rubbing against it. This is a problem I have seen on most eVent fabrics – including seeing the scrim on a jacket being completely worn through in two days due to a savage zip.

All of the above makes the Rab Momentum a great jacket; however it does have a fairly major problem – the main front zip.

The baffle behind this seems to have an excessive amount of fabric which predictably catches when you operate the zipper. This means you cannot operate the zipper single handed, instead requiring one hand to pull the baffle out of the way and the other to operate the zip. Whilst this may seem insignificant it rapidly becomes irritating, especially when wearing gloves.

The good

• The hood – fits well with or without a helmet and offers good protection.
• The napoleon pockets (some may want handwarmer pockets – personally I just use the pockets on my shell jacket to stash things away).
• The cut – the snug but unrestrictive cut works well allowing full range of movement without excesses of fabric.

The bad

• The main zipper catching on the baffle is extremely frustrating.
• The scrim on the inside of the fabric is prone to wear and tear quite easily.

The verdict
A well fitted and mostly slick functioning jacket, just a shame they couldn’t have sorted the main zip and baffle combination out to prevent it from catching.