Paramo Velez Rain Jacket Review
The Paramo Velez Rain Jacket is a waterproof/breathable rain jacket without a waterproof/breathable membrane like Gore-Tex. Rain jackets with membranes can only vent water vapor in a gaseous state, while Paramo clothing like the Velez Jacket can vent water vapor and liquid in the form of condensation or perspiration, leaving you much drier.
- Gender: Men’s (women’s available)
- Pockets: 4
- Piz Zips: No (but there are upper arm vents)
- Velcro Cuffs: Yes
- Adjustable Hood: 2-way, with bendable wire brim
- Hem Adjustment: Yes
- Zipper: 2-way
- Weight: 24.2 oz (Men’s L)
- Pros: Stay drier because the jackjet can vent liquid, not just water vapor, warmer than jackets with waterproof/breathable membranes
- Cons: Heavy, too warm in hot weather, Expensive
How does the Paramo Velez Rain Jacket work? It has a soft, quiet microfiber exterior fabric and an internal mesh backer that lines the torso and sleeves. This makes it a comparatively heavy rain jacket to wear, weighing 24.2 oz in a men’s Large. The exterior of the jacket is treated with PFAS-free Nikwax DWR so it sheds rain, which beads up and rolls off the jacket’s exterior surface.
The mesh backer hangs loose inside the jacket and absorbs water vapor, liquid condensation, and liquid perspiration. It also insulates the jacket by trapping warm air inside and creating a temperature differential that helps transport moisture through the microfiber exterior in gaseous or liquid form. The Jacket can still release moisture when the DWR coating wears off, but at a reduced rate through the microfiber surface or through vented pockets. Paramo’s marketing spiel likens this process to animal fur, calling it directional venting, but I think it’s far less mystical or magical than they try to make it out to be.
There’s no reason why you can’t wear the Paramo Velez Jacket when it’s not raining, like winter, but I’ve found that it becomes uncomfortably warm as the temperature approaches the mid-50’s Fahrenheit. When I wear it in colder weather, I usually take off my mid-layer because the jacket’s mesh liner makes it too warm to continue wearing.
Temperature Regulation
While the Velez Jacket doesn’t have pit zips, it offers several very effective venting options. These can help reduce the jacket’s internal temperature when worn, so you perspire less.
- The jacket has a two-way zipper so you can be vented from the front. Two snaps at the base of the zipper help keep the zipper tracking properly.
- There are two mesh-lined chest vents that, when opened, lead to zippered handwarmer pockets, which are hipbelt compatible and also made of mesh. You need to be careful when using these to store items so they don’t accidentally fall out, although this quickly becomes second nature.
- Instead of pit zips, two vents over the biceps can also be used as pockets. Items stored in them can drop down your sleeves into the gap between the mesh liner and microfiber shell, but are easy enough to retrieve.
- Both sleeves have velcro cuffs, so you can pull them up your arms to dump excess warmth.
Velez Jacket Hood
The Paramo Velez Jacket has the best hood I’ve ever used on a rain jacket, and one that is designed first and foremost for hikers and not climbers or skiers. It has a rear volume adjustment and buried cords in the front that let you adjust the size of the face opening. There’s also an extended brim with a thick, shapeable wire and a high neck to protect you from driving rain and wind. My head sits in the back of the hood, well protected, even in driving rain. Rain jackets made in the UK frequently have great hoods, but this one takes the cake.
Performance
The Velez Jacket is great to wear in colder weather and during the shoulder season months between winter and spring, when it can snow or rain. It sheds extended rain quite well but shows some signs of wet out where the DWR coating has worn off and the exterior fabric has become saturated. Despite that, the interior of the jacket where it touches my baselayer, remains dry and comfortable. That’s very different than when I’m wearing a waterproof/breathable jacket with a membrane, where the interior will become cold and wet due to condensation, soaking the clothing underneath.
Is the superior performance of the jacket due to the mesh liner or the lack of a breathable membrane? That’s a hard question to pin down, but I think it’s both. The mesh liner is good for wicking moisture to the exterior fabric where it can evaporate, while the lack of a membrane means that the jacket can vent liquid condensation or perspiration, something that waterproof/breathable jackets with a membrane can’t do. The combination means that you will stay warmer and drier longer with the Velez jacket.
Recommendation
The Paramo Velez Jacket is a waterproof/breathable rain jacket that does not have a waterproof/breathable membrane like Gore-Tex, which gives it the ability to vent liquid condensate or perspiration, in addition to water vapor. Lined with a wicking mesh, it creates a temperature differential that moves moisture from your skin to the exterior of the Jacket where it can evaporate more effectively. While comfortable in cooler weather, the Velez Jacket becomes too warm to wear as temperatures increase into the high 50’s or higher.
Disclosure: Paramo donated a jacket for review.
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I’ve been told (by someone working in a respectable outdoor shop) that the jacket may wet through locally (hence effectively leak) where a large external pressure is applied, e.g. under the shoulder straps of a heavy pack. What’s your experience?
The jacket’s outer layer will absorb water when the DWR wears off. But so does a waterproof/breathable jacket with a membrane. It’s called wet out. The tendency to do this is usually a measure called hydrostaic head
Thanks – my question was about the physics of the jacket: If it lets water through (from the inside) in liquid form, the hydrostatic head must be low (unless there is some miraculous one-way asymmetry). So, applying enough pressure from the outside (e.g. under the shoulder straps) may cause leaking…
I think the main reason you get leakage through shoulders on any waterproof/breathable rain jacket has to do with abrasion, when the DWR coating gets rubbed off.
On a related note, I once tested a Nikwax DWR product designed to make fleece waterproof. It worked great until the DWR rubbed off. Fleece has an even lower HH than any rain jacket and it just goes to show how much rain jacket manufacturers rely on it.
Yes, you can get water seeping through when the pump liner is compressed (under pack straps, or if you have something bulky in a trouser pocket). Well know characteristic (flaw) with Paramo. In my experience it has to be raining hard for several hours (Paramo quoted 4 hrs at one point, several years ago) in driving conditions for this to be an issue. You will stay drier much longer in this than something like a Rab VR, as long as it is well proofed. Paramo advertises itself as waterproof. It shouldn’t do really, but it works well in certain conditions (cold and unpredictably wet) and will usually keep you dry.
Thanks for reviewing this. I’ve always wanted to check them out and I always appreciate your pictures being actually informative. (Why do so many brands not have useful photos?)How does this compare to something like a Rab summit Vr? It’s still the pertex and pile philosophy. Is the Velez an actually waterproof or is it sort of a better softshell?
Because the people taking the pictures have no idea how to use the clothing…
I’m not familiar with Rab’s Summit VR.
The outside of the jacket will absorb water when the DWR wears off (as will any waterproof/breathable jacket with a membrane). What matters is that 1) you’ll stay warm inside because the jacket is lined with something that creates large air spaces, and 2) the temperature differential caused by the liner dries the exterior fabric continuously and more quickly, even while you’re wearing it. It’s why I always recommend wearing a fleece (whose air pockets trap warmth and air) even when wet) under a rain jacket in the rain. Perhaps a simpler way to understand it is to compare it to the difference between a single wall tent and a double wall tent. In a double wall tent, there is a fabric and air space between you and the outer wall, while in a single wall tent there is none.
I realize this jacket is a hard thing to get your head around, but there’s no magical membrane at work here. The DWR is critical to making the system work as well as it does. If anything, you need to refresh the DWR much more frequently. Personally, I can’t be bothered with that and just get by with a fleece and an outer jacket, often one with a membrane.
Ok I think it’s a similar design. It’s pertex quantum air and octane loft with no liner. I wonder if part of what makes the Velez effective is the heavier shell fabric? I’ve used the summit v/r this past winter and really like it since it seems to dry fast and breathe really well and offer a bit of warmth and wind protection.
I didn’t get the impression that the summit v/r was ever intended as a rain jacket.
If it allows liquid water to vent out what keeps liquid water from soaking in? Seems to me the net transfer of water will always depend on inside vs. outside humidity and anytime its wetter outside than inside water will transfer in. Sounds like this is just an ordinary jacket with a layer of DWR.
DWR. This jacket makes heavy use of DWR. They call their system “Nikwax Analogy” for a reason.
Is it your experience that the change in DWR coatings to avoid fluorocarbons has made them far less effective ? It seems that most manufacturers, exception of Mont Bell, have switched to them. They seem to rub off very rapidly allowing wet out. I think for Scottish conditions of rain and low temps it may be best to have a non breathable outer surface that allows proper beading. Wet out from rain causes temperatures to drop due to evaporation off the surface, this was a major issue with early wet suits when a cloth face was added to the shiny neoprene layer.
By definition, they’re less effective from a purely chemical basis. But they never were very good to begin with, were they? Interesting fact about wetsuits. Thx.
well dennis i have had two alteas jackets did the west highland way got to kinloch leven wearing paramo jacket and trousers when i arrived at the bunkhouse i had a right soaking i could say i had loch leven in my underwear
While the jacket might be a harder sell the pants would seem to offer some benefits for cold and humid hikes.
I didn’t review them, but their cascadia II pants have full length size zips, they’re very warm, and run small. They also don’t have the mesh lining that the jacket has – it’s something else – not sure what exctly.
I had a tent made of todd tex, a fuzzy inside membrane which wicked water out through the membrane very well, as long as the DWR was fresh and beading up. After years, the DWR could not be effectively renewed, and it flooded the tent, pulling water in reverse…
So I wonder if this won’t be just the same.
I think a totally waterproof, highly vented and meshed jacket is probably the best bet. Will research again when my replacement arcteryx bites the dust.