Santini Guard Nimbus Jacket

The Santini Guard Nimbus rain jacket is great – slim fitting, almost entirely flap free, comfortable and effective. The sleeves and tail could be just a smidge longer, and while it's entirely pocketable it's not the smallest when scrunched, but otherwise there's really nothing to complain about. I'd say it's up there with the best waterproof cycling jackets if you're looking for high performance and packability without paying premium prices.

Santini says this is for mild, wet days, and the autumn test period was exactly that – so mild, in fact, that it rarely reached the 5°C minimum the company recommends, and spent far more time up towards the 15°C max. Meanwhile, the showers came and went almost as quickly as prime ministers.

This jacket, however, delivered everything it promised to, which leaves relatively little to say about it – it just works, and very well too.

The fabric is very stretchy and completely unrestrictive, and the overlocked, taped seams are impressively neat and strong. The interior has a slightly rubbery feel that's perfectly fine against skin, if not actively luxurious.

It can feel just a tiny bit clammy if you're working hard on mild days, but I never found myself even close to wanting to take it off (some jackets leave me itching to), and I found the breathability impressive for its level of wind and rain protection.

I never felt any draughts, even on some extremely stormy rides, and its 5,000mm water column rating kept me comfortable in rain too – no cold rivulets from anywhere, and any dampness was impossible to distinguish from my own sweat.

I found the sizing spot on against the chart, and with seven sizes to choose from you should be able to find one to suit.

There's a single small pocket but it's on the left, which might not please everyone, and it's just big enough for a phone. The jacket will pack into it too, if you prefer that to just ramming it into a pocket.

The tail stays in place pretty well, though I did find it rode up a few inches after a while (it's elasticated but has no silicone gripper), and it could be longer in the first place too. It isn't bad; it could just be better.

The cuffs, meanwhile, are pleasingly slim and tight fitting without being uncomfortable, but again they could be just a little longer to reliably meet with gloves; I tended to have a bit of skin or jersey showing. On the bike in wet and mild (10-15°C) conditions, however, I didn't actually notice any issues at the wrists, and certainly nothing is getting up the sleeves. If it were down at that 5°C level, though, perhaps chilling would be an issue.

The neck is well judged, and again makes a good seal against the elements, and the zip has a neck-protecting garage at the top and a shorts-protecting backing flap at the bottom. The zip puller is one of my favourite details of all – it's a big metal ring, and very easy to find and use in gloves.

At 134g the Guard Nimbus is light enough to be easily portable, if not the lightest option of all, and it scrunches down well enough to cram into a jersey pocket. You can get smaller and lighter things, though, if that's important to you.

As you can see from the photos, the jacket comes in low-vis black as well as high-vis yellow ('Flashy Green') along with the high-vis orange ('Flashy Orange') I'm actually testing. All of them have reflectives for night time.

Value

With its price tag of £145 this isn't exactly cheap, but against its high-end competition it actually looks a bargain. The Rapha Men's Brevet Gore-Tex Rain Jacket is very good, for instance – Stu reviewed it back in the summer – but it's over £100 more at £265, while Gore's Race Shakedry Jacket, which Dave reviewed in May, is more still at £299.99. The Shakedry fabric is seemingly some kind of wonder material, though.

You can get good things for less, however: the Stolen Goat Men's Navy Waterproof, for one, which is £140 and actually super-duper waterproof with triple the resistance rating of the Santini at 15,000mm.

Overall

I really like this jacket. Even in stormy but weirdly mild weather I was happy wearing it pretty constantly and with very little zip adjustment; it's comfortable, protective and easy to forget about... until you glance at your arms, anyway, at least in the pleasingly bright orange I tested. If the next version gets a longer tail and sleeves, it'll be even better still.

Verdict

Excellent slim-fitting jacket for windy and wet days