As I sit in my cozy apartment on this rainy day in April, it seems appropriate to be writing about the Endura Urban Luminite Jacket II rain jacket ($160). This is the second Endura jacket I have owned, and I must acknowledge that the first jacket wasn’t a one-off good experience.
Let me tell you more about Endura’s wonderful lightweight and breathable rain jackets.
Materials
The Endura Urban Luminite Jacket II is made of a 2.5-layer waterproof fabric, has fully sealed seams but is amazingly lightweight and breathable. The breathability of Endura’s jackets has always astounded me – and yes, they still keep you very dry! This prevents you from feeling that, “I’m stuck in a sweaty plastic bag”-feeling. No one wants to be full of sweat in cooler weather. It is worth mentioning that the water repellent finish is also free of toxic PFCs.
Features
Another way the Endura Urban Luminite Jacket II helps to regulate body temperature are the zip underarm vents. Open them up to help you keep cool or zip them up when you are cold. This jacket features two large and microfleece-lined front pockets and one chest pocket. The back of the jacket is also longer to help cover your tush. However, if you need the back cinched and tighter, there are concealed hem adjusters in the pockets. It has a higher neck to keep your neck warm – this is a feature important to me. The velcro cuffs keep them tight around your gloves.
Visibility
There are two different colors for the Endura Urban Luminite Jacket II and I have the fluorescent yellow option (there is also a “Pacific Blue” color). Needless to say, I am hard to miss. If that wasn’t enough, there are also large reflective panels for nighttime visibility. The blue option does not appear to have these features. If visibility is what you are seeking, the yellow option is the most appropriate.
Earth-Friendly
I learned something new about Endura when I was reading the Endura Urban Luminite Jacket II’s tag – in order to help reduce waste, they offer a crash repair service where possible for their garments. (Upon further inspection, I see this is only available to consumers in the UK and EU, but if this applies to you, check it out here.) They give 1% of purchases to social, environmental and global causes as well as they pledge to plant at least 1 million trees this year for carbon offsets.
Missing Attributes
There are a couple of features that I noticed are missing from the Endura Urban Luminite Jacket II that you might want to consider when deciding on which Endura jacket to purchase. On this jacket, there is no rear pocket. For cycling, I enjoy rear pockets to shove extra items into without bulking up my stomach area while I’m pedaling. If this is important to you, their Xtract Jacket II does have this feature. Additionally, there is no hood on this jacket. I don’t prefer hoods on my cycling jackets but I do like them for hiking. Again, they do have other rain jackets with that feature.
All in all, I love Endura’s rain jackets. They’ve always kept me dry and allowed me to regulate my temperature so I can stay warm on rainy days. If you need a new rain jacket or you aren’t happy with your current jacket, check out these jackets, they will not disappoint.
