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Patagonia no longer makes the Traverse. Our current softshell jacket review provides comprehensive comparisons of today's top contenders.
The Patagonia Traverse has been discontinued; because of this, you may want to consider the Patagonia Intraverse, $119, which our testers are hard at work testing. The Intraverse has two different types of water-resistant fabrics and is a stretch softshell, complete with hand pockets and reflective materials. The Patagonia Simple Guide Hoody also falls in the same price range and wins our Best Buy Award.
Like a fantastic Swing dance partner, the Patagonia Traverse jumps, jives, and jitterbugs with you until the early hours of the morning. Or until the end of your hike, ski, run, bike ride, or walk around town. This jacket moved with our testers' bodies more smoothly and easier than any of the other 19 we tested. It's a brilliant choice for when you need a balance of breathability, weather protection, and unrestrictive fit.
Being lighter and more comfortable than the average softshell tested, the Traverse is perhaps the most versatile jacket we tested; it works well not just in winter, but also in spring and fall conditions. This jacket wins our Editors' Choice Award because it's one of the highest performance softshells we tested and because it's commonly available for around $100. Great jacket + great value = two thumbs up.
Our testing shows that softshells perform well for specific applications. Although the Traverse is top notch, there is no single best all-purpose softshell. Furthermore, our testers view softshells as a luxury layer. They are a relatively poor value. We generally recommend purchasing a hardshell jacket and a wind jacket before a softshell.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Lightweight softshells are the best type of jacket for cross-country skiing. Here Meghan, Sarah, and Dan ski in three different softshells. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan.
Credit: Max Neale
Weather Protection Versus Breathability: You Can't Have Both
As softshells go, the Traverse is highly breathable and adequately weather resistant. There is a direct tradeoff between the these two attributes in softshells and all other types of outdoor apparel. Manufacturer's marketing efforts may try to convince you otherwise, but you can't have both a weatherproof jacket and a super comfortable, highly breathable jacket at the same time. It's just not possible yet.
The question is: What balance between weather resistance or breathability is best for you?
There are multiple ways to answer this question. One approach is to try to find a softshell jacket that lies in the middle of the breathability-weather protection distribution—find the jacket that splits the pack in the middle. (An example of this type of softshell is the Arc'teryx Gamma MX.) Another approach, the one favored by our male softshell testers because we feel it is the best bang for your buck, is to go with a softshell that lies closer to the highly breathable end of the spectrum. A lightweight softshell.
The rationale for a lightweight softshell is: you likely already own a waterproof rain jacket or hardshell jacket and can use that in frigid cold, high wind conditions because it's windproof. If you don't own a softshell jacket, or are looking to upgrade, we recommend a highly breathable model so you can go outside in greater comfort and not sweat your brains out in your waterproof jacket. The combination of two layers at opposite ends of the weather resistance-breathability spectrum provides the greatest performance for the greatest number of applications—it's the best value.
Now that we've put the Traverse in context with other types of jackets let's dive into how its performance compares to other jackets.
Patagonia Traverse softshell and Patagonia Capilene 4 balaclava in light “wintry mix”.
Credit: Max Neale
Performance Comparison
Weather Resistance
The Traverse scores second to last in this category because it prioritizes breathability over weather resistance. Through more than 200 miles of cross-country skiing, a couple dozen miles of running, some hiking, and jaunts around town we found that the Traverse resists brief (less than one hour) exposure to light rain, moderate exposure to wet snow, and, like all softshells, it easily sheds dry snow. A durable water resistant (DWR) chemical coating allows water to bead up and roll off this jacket. Unfortunately, DWR coatings are not very durable. Treating the jacket regularly (we like to use a spray-on coating such as ReviveX) maintains water resistance and breathability.
The Traverse does not have a hood so a hat or balaclava can be useful if it's cold or windy. Although the model we tested has a different color fabric under the arms, the jacket is constructed entirely from the same fabric.
Breathability
The Traverse is the second most breathable jacket we tested. (The Rab Zephyr scores higher with its superlight softshell fabric.) We LOVED how breathable this jacket is. It's a joyful feeling to be out in a light snow or freezing drizzle and feel completely comfortable—not too hot and not too cold—and watch the precipitation fall off the jacket as move through a landscape.
Mobility
10 out of 10 points. Need we say more?
It's incredibly comfortable. Super stretchy. Puts almost all other softshells to shame.
Max in the Patagonia Traverse softshell, right, a highly breathable and comfortable lightweight jacket.
Credit: Gavin Taylor
Weight
This is the second lightest softshell we tested. If you need to take it off and carry it, the jacket takes up less space in a backpack and is less burdensome to shoulder than all of the other softshells we tested.
Features
This is a very simple jacket. It has one excellent feature and one very poor feature. The excellent being the wrist cuffs, which have a clever closure that allows you to curl your fingers up inside the cuff and comfortably leave them protected from the elements. This is a running specific feature that also works well if you're walking around town with your pockets full or if you simply don't want to bother putting your hands in your pockets. The stretchy closure is also effective at creating a seal around a lightweight glove. However, in order to keep snow out, a gauntlet style glove is best for activities like ice and alpine climbing, when your hands are consistently overhead or in the snow.
Patagonia Traverse
Patagonia Traverse
The very poor feature is the handwarmer pocket zippers. They are tiny and hard to pull, even with thin gloves on. We much prefer zippers that have longer pull tabs or pull cords on them so you can find them easily while on the move and grab them easily with gloves on. The author added a small piece of cord to the Traverse pocket zippers, which largely solved the problem. Although this is a relatively small drawback that's far overshadowed by the Traverse's excellent performance in other areas, we find it disappointing that Patagonia didn't look beyond runners (who might not want the dingle dangle of a cord style zipper pull) when designing this part of the jacket. Consider adding a piece of cord if you find the zipper pulls too small.
Additionally, like many of Patagonia's full zip jackets, the Traverse has two interior drop in pockets. If you need to carry a bunch of things you can slide gloves, a water bottle or more into these. It's not particulalry comfortable to carry heavy items in the interior pockets, but know that it's an option.
See the video at the bottom of this page for more info about the jacket's features.
The Patagonia Traverse pocket zipper pulls are very small for a softshell. Adding a bit of cord makes them easier to grab, especially with gloves on.
Credit: OutdoorGearLab
The Patagonia Traverse's interior drop-in pocket.
Credit: OutdoorGearLab
Style
Very simple aesthetics. Not obtrusive or arrogant. We like it.
Best Applications
The Traverse is amazing for cross-country skiing, and good for winter hiking and running. The more breathable fabric increases versatility because you can add a fleece underneath for super cold days or just wear a thin shirt underneath for aerobic pursuits in cold weather. The jacket works fine for around town, but casual style windproof jackets like the Patagonia Adze are better if around town use is your primary objective.
Value
Softshells are a poor value because we feel it's better to buy a wind jacket and a waterproof rain jacket or hardshell jacket before a softshell. If you have the cash for a super comfortable jacket the Traverse is one of the best value models we've tested. See our Price Versus Value Chart!!
