Arc’teryx Beta AR Jacket – Performance

It would almost be nice if Arc’teryx occasionally produced something that was absolute rubbish so we could slate it. However, as you might have guess, the Beta AR isn’t it. The AR, if you were curious, stands for ‘All Round’ and the jacket is intended as an all-round, all-day mountain shell.

‘The cut is nicely fitted, but not overly tight, so there’s room inside for some added winter-weight insulation.’

As ever, it’s a beautifully-made thing using top Gore-Tex Pro fabric and characteristically meticulous micro-engineering. The cut is nicely fitted, but not overly tight, so there’s room inside for some added winter-weight insulation. No restrictions on movement, no pulling up of cuffs or sleeves. length is medium.

The Pro fabric does its normal noisy, but tough and reliable ‘mobile fortress’ gig and as ever, is breathable enough to cope unless you insist on overcooking things, when the easy-to-use, laminated pit-zips come into play for additional cooling.

Hood Engineering

What is a little bit different is the AR’s hood design. As you can see from the images, the jacket has a separate, laminated collar that gives great protection up to chin level during normal use. It’s not adjustable, which seems a slight weakness, but gives a fair bit of protection even with the hood down.

The hood itself does good job with or without a helmet – there’s a volume/height adjuster than controls the height when you’re neat lidded – but doesn’t cover the face at all. In really gnarly conditions that’s a potential problem, so for classic Scottish winter days, you’d be well advised to supplement with something like a Neoprene face mask or windproof balaclava.

Ideally we’d have a liked a little more coverage there and if you want an Arc’teryx shell with more facial protection, you’ll be looking at the updated Beta SV with it’s more conventional hood design.

The laminated hood peak seems marginal when not tensioned up and deployed, but actually works just fine for us.

Fully Featured

Otherwise stuff ‘just works’. Pockets are well sited – there’s an internal phone-sized one that sits below chest-strap level for example – adjusters, erm, adjust, with minimal fuss and the whole package feels reassuringly tough and protective without being overly heavy at 460g for a medium.

If want an Arc’teryx shell but tougher or lighter, you’ll be looking 485g for the gnarlier Beta SV or 355g for the lighter weight LT. Unfortunately the bill for the SV is an additional £130 – ouch…