Mountain Hardwear Kepler Softshell Jacket - Men's

I got my Kepler to replace an old Dragon. Since the Kepler is ostensibly the replacement for the the Dragon, I thought I might share my impressions on the Kepler in comparison to the old jacket.

The Kepler seems to be a hard shell with a soft touch. On the MHW website, you can find this jacket in the shell section, described as a softshell. While that seems confusing (in no small part due to the fact that the site has a separate section for softshells where the Kepler is NOT located), it makes a lot of sense once you get your hands on it. It definitely has a soft feel both on the inside and on the face fabric, but the Dry.Q Elite membrane itself is rather stiff and a bit crinkly. The jacket overall is a lot softer than any hard shell, but it definitely is a shell. It's a lot more shell-like than the outgoing Dragon, as the face fabric feels more solid but the interior is actually softer against bare skin.

The fit is basically what I expected based on my experience with the Dragon and other MHW alpine jackets. The length in the back is long enough for bike riding. One thing that keeps coming up in reviews is the arm width/length. I definitely could have gone for narrower arm holes (where sleeves meet chest) because the jacket does lift up quite a bit when I lift my arms, but otherwise, the arms are perfect. I'm a pretty big-armed guy and the sleeves are plenty wide and long. I think when people talk about the lack of proper arm length, they mean when using the thumb loops. The butter jersey cuffs are recessed pretty far behind the wrist, so the thumb loops seem like an afterthought. The arms feel way too short when I use the thumb loops. When I forgo the loops and use the butter jersey cuffs as cuffs, the arms feel fine (and my wrists are ridiculously comfortable). Overall, I would say the fit and feel of the Kepler is an improvement over the Dragon.

It's waterproof. There is no doubt about that. My old Dragon was clearly not waterproof. It didn't even have a watertight main zipper. It did take a pretty serious rain to wet out the Dragon, but the Kepler is waterproof in all rains. The 40,000 mm waterproof rating means you could put a 130(!) foot column of water on the shoulder and not a drop would get through.

The Kepler is also significantly more breathable than the outgoing Dragon, which used Windstopper instead of a waterproof membrane. The Dragon, while more breathable than any waterproof-breathable I had tested up until now, still developed the microclimate problem common in shells. There wasn't any airflow so my body heat and sweat made the inside of my Dragon much like a tropical jungle. This happened to an even greater extent in my various waterproof-breathables. But in the Kepler (I suppose due to the air permeability of Dry.Q Elite) no microclimate develops. I took it on a serious bike ride on a foggy rainy day, and the only place I felt moist was under my backpack. My head was dry, my chest was dry, and my armpits(!) were dry. This crazy breathability and the lack of a microclimate means two things: 1) Overheating and the fatigue that comes with it are non-existent. You really can go harder longer in Dry.Q Elite. 2) Body heat and sweat escape so quickly that you might want an extra layer compared to a Gore Tex shell. It completely blocks the wind, but that plastic bag effect you probably are used to in waterproof-breathables just isn't there.

Overall, the Kepler is an outstanding piece that delivers on all its promises. There's not much to complain about, and it's all minor stuff. It's definitely a massive step forward from the Dragon and the status quo.

I'm giving it four stars because the fabric is savvy and this things totally feels bombproof. Serious zippers. Serious fabric.

Unfortunately, compared to other MH jackets (I most recently purchased the Cutaway), this is kinda snug. I know they say softshell, but it's definitely different, with much less stretch and moveability. It's also cut kinda close in the armpits and sleeves. I'm no giant, (5'7, 140, got the medium like my Cutaway), but this thing seriously pulls at my armpits and elbows when I move around. The sleeves are also shorter than the other comparable softshells I've tried (MH, Stoic, EMS, Arcteryx). And there's crinkle. I definitely feel crinkle. Not awful, but this is definitely more firm-shell than soft.

This shell is awesome, and the bright yellow has so much steeze! So far for me its been completely waterproof and super breathable. It's got that classic Mountain Hardware quality as well with watertight zippers and a very custom fitted hood which can fit over a helmet. Another nice feature is the wrist cuffs with thumb holes to keep out the snow and the burly pit zips. Such a great storm day jacket, would recommend to anyone!

200 lb, 34" waist, 45" chest, 35" arms. Got an XXL in this to make sure I had room to layer under it. I tried the large and it was way to tight and the sleeves ended well before my wrist. XL would have probably been just fine, but I sized up to get a few layers under it. This jacket was one of the few that MH makes with the Dry Q that actually fits a ski helmet nicely. No idea why there even more expensive snow jackets cant fit a helmet, but this one does and is cheaper! Big pluses - waterproof, very breathable (almost too much, you can feel a slight breeze through the jacket, so I were a light windbreaker under to compensate) sturdy material (heavier than I would have liked, but it feels like it can take on anything) sturdy zippers, well placed pockets. And the green is bright! I am very excited to test this jacket it out this snowboard/splitboard season.

This jacket is burly. The jacket should withstand some foul weather. The jacket has a nice fleece lining for some warmth. This shell has short sleeves compared to arc'teryx, rab and so forth. Consequently, When I lifted my arms as if swinging an ice tool, the jacket left two inches of my arm exposed from where short gloves stopped. But for activities where you aren't raising your arm all the time above your head, it should be great.
The helmet compatible hood is large. Seems on par to Arc'teryx size. My Smith Variant brim helmet fits with no problems as well as the petzl elios.
I havent worn it enough to comment on breathability.

I just got my Kepler yesterday and here we are with our first snow/rain mix of the season. So far I'm very pleased with the construction, fit, and weather-proofness. I'm 5'11 185 lbs. and the large fits me perfectly, though there's not a ton of room for bulky mid-layers. Tighter fitting light or mid-weight fleece would work best, maybe something like a nano-puff would work well too. I would not refer to the lining as fleece as much as would brushed or textured polyester for comfort of the skin and easy slipping on/off over your layers.

I own quite a number of softshells and this is most certainly the hardest softshell I've come across. Its also the first full fledged waterproof softshell I've had, so I'm okay with the tradeoff. There is a bit of stretch and no crinkle to the fabric whatsoever. I can't yet speak for this jacket's breathability, so I expect to report back later regarding the full performance of DryQ elite.

The hood is huge and fits well over my climbing helmet but also hugs my bare head when cinched, a definite plus, while the butter-jersey cuffs (with thumb holes!) feel great on the skin.

So far I'm super pleased with this jacket - I'll try to get around to some photo uploads when report back from the waterproof /breathable trials. If it passes the test, it may get 5 stars.