REASONS TO BUY
Lightweight
Minimalist
Great soft bottles
REASONS TO AVOID
Uncomfortable
Expensive
No secure pockets
Ultimate Direction Halo - Women's Review
A less comfortable minimally-minded hydration vest with a great volume to weight ratio but not much else
Credit: Ultimate Direction
Our Verdict
The Ultimate Direction Halo fell short in some of our most important metrics. This is the hydration vest we wanted to love due to its other-worldly volume to weight ratio, but at the end of the day, we couldn't see past the abrasive and uncomfortable knitted monofilament mesh. If you're motivated by a low weight and are looking to shave seconds of your time without emphasizing comfort, you should check out the Halo. Otherwise, we recommend hauling a bit more and focusing on the extreme comfort that other options provide.
Our Analysis and Test Results
This expensive hydration vest boasts a 10L storage capacity for only 4.94 oz. While this is impressive, the lack of comfort lowered our ratings significantly.
Performance Comparison
Taking a moment to enjoy the scenery while wearing the Ultimate Direction Halo.
Credit: Ally Meller
Comfort
The Halo is the hydration pack we wanted to fall for. We unboxed it and were surprised and delighted by the minimalist profile and sneakily smart storage. However, every testing run yielded the same unfortunate results. The stiff upper mesh rubbed the back of our neck time and time again. Running is already uncomfortable, and wearing the Halo feels to us like wearing an ill-fitted sports bra — you know, the one you hang onto because it's cute. The upper portion of the vest cannot be customized, leading to its high-riding, neck-chafing fit. It sits so high up on the back of the neck that it almost felt, at certain times, like it was subtly encouraging us to round our shoulders forward in an ergonomically improper way.
This unforgiving upper chafed, rubbed, and bothered us through every run.
Credit: Ally Meller
The elastic loops are flexible and customizable, which is a plus for this generally uncomfortable pack. There are two adjustable front straps to secure the vest to your chest and a set of underarm bungees on each side to ensure a cinched fit. We could easily cinch and change the size of the vest depending upon how much gear we wanted to carry. However, when fully loaded, the weight doesn't feel very well distributed, which we found distracting on our long days.
The lower bungees are easy to adjust on the go.
Credit: Ally Meller
Features
We have to hand it to the Halo here. It offers quite a few features for an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, minimalistic vest. The mesh is breathable, albeit scratchy, and as mentioned, the options for a customized fit are vast. This is due to the Comfort Cinch 2.0 technology. There is a stealthy-included safety whistle attached to the left chest panel, an excellent addition in case of emergencies.
Here we are again, trying to make sense of this vest's comfort.
Credit: Ally Meller
This hydration pack even has pole holders! We were surprised to discover this because of its tiny profile. Unfortunately, the pole holders are inconvenient. The poles can be secured with snap closure loops, so they don't bounce, which is good because they might bounce right into your eye if they did. In general, this vest rides higher up on the body than what we are used to, and the pole holders are no exception. We found ourselves wanting to ditch our (admittedly large) trekking poles while out with this vest because the whole configuration was intolerable.
The lack of smooth, spacious surfaces doesn't leave much space for seamless trekking pole storage.
Credit: Ally Meller
Hydration System
The Halo is a reliable choice for runs when you want to bring water and only a few other essentials. Thankfully, the hydration system delivers. This vest comes equipped with two 500mL soft flasks that can be seamlessly stowed in the deep chest pockets. Because this pack sits high, the bite valves truly sit within mouth's reach. You pull the mouthpiece up to release water and push it back to close it. We never had any trouble with these valves leaking.
Ultimate Direction does make some of the best soft flasks we've had the opportunity to test.
Credit: Ally Meller
The Halo also offers the option to use a 2L hydration bladder instead of, or in addition to, the soft bottles. The stretchy back panel expands to accommodate a full bladder, and the snap loop atop the back pocket can secure your hydration hose in place. There are bilateral elastic loops to guide the hose as well. We prefer the feeling of running with the weight of our water on our backs, as opposed to our fronts. While using a hydration bladder, which did not come included, we found this vest to be mildly more comfortable. Unfortunately, no matter how we stashed our water, the weight of it never evened out.
This vest is so small that you can barely see if from a distance.
Credit: Ally Meller
Volume to Weight Ratio
This is the metric in which the Halo truly shines. It weighs in at a super low 4.94 oz and can hold up to 10L of gear. While this is notable in the world of hydration vests, we can't help but feel like this is the first version of a vest that has so much potential. We hope that Ultimate Direction can take the Halo from an uncomfortable minimalist vest to a high-tech, ultra-light hydration system that runners won't want to live without.
Though not our favorite hydration vest, this super lightweight option didn't slow us down.
Credit: Ally Meller
Pockets
There are 10 total pockets on the Halo, including the pockets intended for a hydration system. The back of this vest has a long, narrow pocket for holding a hydration bladder with three additional pockets on top of that. Two of these pockets are hand-sized and offer the most basic and untrustworthy elastic closures. The most superficial pocket is about the same size as the other two mid-sized pockets and has a cinch strap closure. Each underarm panel has a small, Velcro-closure pocket that is the perfect size for your gels, lip balms, and other small items.
There are quite a few back pockets available, but none of them have secure closures.
Credit: Ally Meller
The front panels of this hydration pack have two deep pockets for holding soft water bottles, and each has a small pocket atop that. These pockets are difficult to access with full bottles and simply do not offer enough space for our essentials. We were disappointed that we were unable to carry our smartphone in the front pockets. While we understand that this isn't necessary, we like having quick access to our maps on the trails or song changes on the roads. We remain disappointed by the lack of secure closures available on this pack. We truly do not know where the safest place to store our car keys is.
The front pockets are maxed out with full flasks inside them.
Credit: Ally Meller
Value
The Halo is by no means a bargain buy. It's less expensive than others we tested, but we'd rather not cough up this much cash for a hydration system that ultimately doesn't meet our needs.
For the price, the Ultimate Direction Halo just doesn't do it for us.
Credit: Ally Meller
Conclusion
As much as we wanted to go minimalist and love the unique profile of this vest, we didn't. Its lack of comfort, secure pockets, and weight distribution didn't live up to our expectations. If you are an experienced, gritty trail runner looking to shed weight, carry nothing but the basics, and throw comfort to the breeze, then the Ultimate Direction Halo is the pack for you. For the rest of us, running presents plenty of discomfort and challenges in itself. We'll stick with silky smooth, well-fitted vests for now.
It might look subtle and oh-so fly, but we couldn't wait to get home so we could shed this vest.
Credit: Ally Meller
—
Ally Arcuri
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