Product

Marmot Zeus Jacket

Promise

The Marmot Zeus jacket is made from an ultra light fabric and is filled with goose down. It has zip handwarmer pockets, elastic draw cord hem, and zips up to the chin.

Performance

The first thing we loved when we road-tested the Marmot Zeus was its portability. This jacket is fantastic if you’re looking for a warm coat to take backpacking. It’s so lightweight that it scrunches up into a small grapefruit-sized bundle, so you can stuff it in a pocket of your rucksack until it’s needed. But there’s better news: not only is it incredibly lightweight, it’s also warm enough to wear as your only winter jacket when the temperature reaches freezing. If you’re heading somewhere REALLY cold, you may want to use it as a mid-layer – ideal due to its minimal bulk.

We put this jacket through its paces in both snow and rain. It’s definitely water resistant, but after a while those little beads of water that have been gathering and rolling off like, er, water off a duck’s back, can begin to soak into the fabric a bit. That said, we wore this in the rain for a good few hours and it didn’t come close to soaking through to the skin. It also dries in lightning time.

Another thing to note about this jacket is that if you’ve been hiking a while and you’re starting to get a bit hot, just unzipping the front is enough to allow the breeze in and it’ll air out your sleeves as well – so you don’t need to stop hiking in order to shed layers.

We’re tested a lot of winter coats at WideWorld, and while this may not be the warmest or the most water-resistant, if you’re looking for a good-looking coat to keep you warm but that you can also stuff into your pack and not even notice it’s there – the Marmot Zeus is for you.

Verdict

We love it. A very big WideWorld thumbs up.