Arc'teryx Adahy Hoody Review

The Arc'teryx Adahy is a lightweight jacket with a minimal design. With its thin fabric, it's easy to forget you're wearing this layer until you're hanging out in the hot sun.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

The Adahy earns a low score in our warmth metric. It's thin, and there isn't enough loft (created by the soft microfleece) to hold a great deal of warm air around your body. If you're the type that shivers when it's in the sixties, you should bump the warmth up a notch with a thicker fleece with more pile.

Comfort

Our testers love this jacket for its comfort. We wore it to shady crags, and it fits well under a climbing harness. The fabric is so stretchy that we could easily pull the sleeves up and out of the way for hand jamming, and we felt unencumbered during long reaches. We wore it on early morning runs where we could progress from hood up to unzipped, to comfortably tied around the waist as our heart rates rose, along with the sun.

This versatile piece accompanied our testers on urban missions, too, providing a stylish and comfortable transition from boiling hot Reno parking lots and into the chilly produce section of Whole Foods. Two low profile handwarmer pockets zip closed to secure bars, goos, keys, or a credit card, and are hardly noticeable when not in use. Though not very insulating, the hood can take the chilly bite off your ears, especially when combined with a hat.

Breathability

The Adahy is as light and thin as some base layers; while it doesn't feature a gridded pattern like the Patagonia R1 Hoody, it's more breathable, though not as warm. Because it lacks a hard face like the Arc'teryx Procline Hybrid and the Patagonia R1 Techface, it breathes significantly better, but can't hold up against the wind very well. When hiking with a heavy pack and a sweaty back, we were able to dry out the Adahy fairly quickly, about 20 minutes, in full sun.

Layering Ability

This stretchy, snug-fitting fleece layers great over a t-shirt and underneath a warmer, insulated jacket. Even with the hood, the Adahy is so thin and stretchy that we hardly notice it under there in terms of mobility, while we do notice the extra edge against the cold. There aren't any thumb loops, but the sleeves manage to be tight enough to stay in place while you slide into another layer without feeling uncomfortable and restrictive.

Weather Resistance

Going into battle against the elements wearing the Adahy alone will leave you cold and wet real fast, but weather resistance is an unreasonable expectation for such a light and breathable fleece.

Weight

At 9.9 oz, this fleece is one of the lightest in our review. Our testers had some skepticism about such a thin fleece, but after a month of use, it became their favorite layer between a t-shirt and an insulated jacket, or during exertion in cooler conditions when they didn't want to expose bare skin to the wind and sun.

Style

We feel confident wearing this jacket anywhere. It has the comfort of our favorite cotton hoody; even with the ubiquitous dead bird logo, this fleece doesn't suggest you've come straight from the mountains to the bar.

Value

The price feels a bit steep for a “microfleece” that doesn't keep you very warm, but this fleece has the Arc'teryx stamp of quality we've come to know and love all over it. A great fit and lightweight, reliable zippers don't come cheap. The stretch and elasticity mean this jacket is less likely to rip if it gets snagged on a branch or a sharp rock or wear out on the shoulders underneath backpack straps.

Conclusion