Tenn Outdoors Crystalline Pro Cycling Jacket Clear

One of the great things about cycling is that there are different iterations of the same product at different price levels, and generally the old adage of getting what you pay for is true. The clear Tenn Outdoors Crystalline Pro Cycling Jacket comes relatively low down on the cost side, and whilst it's by no means a great jacket, it does a reasonable job of keeping you protected from the worst of the weather outside.

At a penny under £50 you are getting a clear, wet weather jacket that packs down small, weighs very little, and does a reasonable job at keeping you dry.

I've just realised I've written 'reasonable job' twice in 30 words, and that kind of sums up the jacket in a nutshell. It's no way near the best, but it's also not the worst I've ever worn, it's... reasonable.

Visually it's actually pretty good, a clear race-cape style, with very little adorning it to add to its weight, and the clear material allowing logoes and reflectivity to be visible through it. It has one small pocket on the side, ideal for a set of keys or a credit card, but too small for a modern smartphone. Reflective tabs are to the rear, so that box has been ticked off.

In use its flaws do start to become apparent quite quickly. Pausing in the middle of a mid-tempo ride it's clearly evident that you have steam escaping from the cuffs. The wearing experience is akin to a boil in the bag packet with the jacket being unable to cope with sweat and heat generated during mild rides.

This is a bad thing but on days when you know it's cold out the extra heat retention can be of use. If you know you are going to be getting moist then you can layer accordingly, but it's by no means ideal.

So what about keeping water out? Well, that side of things the jacket does a reasonable job (dammit, there's that word again). In light rain and drizzle and you are fine, when the heavens open you will be getting wet. Give it 15 minutes of proper rain (the Northern stuff) and you will be wet inside.

The whole jacket is made of a woven fibre combined with a clear plastic membrane. It's 50% polyester and 50% TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) and packs down into its own pocket, small enough that it won't bother a jersey on those days you take it out, and it's light enough that you won't feel encumbered by it being in the pocket either. The material itself is a bit, well, naff to touch, feeling akin to plastic bag. It's not a great feeling against the skin - clamminess abounds quickly.

This review is a bit of a mixed bag. The jacket doesn't perform as well as it could or should, and it clearly does have some flaws, but it's not as bad as it may sound. Its light weight and packability do certainly help in bringing its rating up, and despite its shortcomings I find it being put into my jersey pocket frequently when the weather looks like it might change because its size and weight prove no burden.

On properly wet days it stays at home as performance-wise it doesn't cut it, but on the days when you are not quite sure (and we have a lot of those in the UK) then it comes out with me. At full RRP I don't think it's necessarily worth the money, but there are plenty of places to pick it up at a discount and when you've taken those prices into consideration it becomes a reasonable option for a lightweight race-cape.

Verdict

Lightweight, very packable, transparent race cape, sadly not that good though