Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody Review

The Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody was the top scorer in our review based mainly upon its performance in two of the most critically important categories for a lightweight down jacket — warmth and weight. Its 850-fill power down was the highest quality down used in any jacket that we tested, giving it super high loft and heat retention, while also weighing less than the competitors who used lower fill-power down. Only the Rab Microlight Alpine felt similarly warm, but using 750-fill power down, it weighed in over three ounces heavier. Arc'teryx pairs its warm and light down with Arato 10 denier super light nylon shell fabric, ensuring that this jacket uses only the lightest materials available. However, while its high quality led to the maximum performance, it doesn't come without a price — $379 to be exact. This was easily the most expensive down jacket in our review. So, if you want the best, you know where to look, but be prepared to pay a premium.

Performance Comparison

To see how the Cerium LT Hoody compared to the competition in our overall rankings, check out the chart above.

The Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody was our Best Overall Down Jacket, and makes a great choice for trapping some warmth while sipping your morning coffee in the desert.

Warmth

The Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody was the warmest lightweight jacket that we tested for this review. Many of its competitors, including the Mountain Hardwear StretchDown Hooded and the Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody left us feeling slightly chilly in the shoulders and back of the neck when conducting our side-by-side tests for warmth. Not so for the Cerium LT, which stuffs a ton of high-loft down into its hood and sewn-through compartments on the back of the neck. It also uses Arc'teryx's Down Composite Mapping to include panels of Coreloft synthetic insulation in places where there is a high threat of moisture build-up, and in this case that meant on top of the shoulders. Despite being noticeably thinner than the down-filled baffles surrounding it, we found that there was no drop-off in these panel's heat-trapping capabilities.

Warmth is the single most important feature of a lightweight down jacket, and the Cerium LT's performance for this metric is surely what propelled it to the highest overall score. We feel that this is due mostly to the amount of loft sustained by the 850-fill power down, which was better than all the other down jackets in this review with the exception of the REI Co-op Magma 850. However, despite having the best down, we didn't find the collar enclosure or the hem, which still felt a bit high despite apparently being lowered in the most recent revision, to be as effective as some of its competitors. Regardless, this jacket received 9 out of 10 for warmth.

With its very high quality 850-fill power down, the Cerium LT Hoody had unrivaled amounts of loft and was also the warmest jacket in this review. It uses sewn-through baffles to keep the jacket light.

Weight

The Cerium LT Hoody weighed 11.8 ounces on our independent scale, including its stuff sack that comes in the internal zippered chest pocket. This was for a men's size large.

Impressively, this was the third lightest jacket in the review, behind the super light Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hooded and the REI Co-op Magma 850. We gave it a higher score than the Magma 850, though, because that jacket didn't have a hood at all, and for our testing, we reviewed a size small. For a size men's large with a hood to weigh not even two ounces more is an impressive accomplishment and ensures that weight will never be an excuse for leaving the Cerium LT behind. 8 out of 10 points.

Water Resistance

When it came to the performance of the DWR treatment on its face fabric, the Cerium LT was merely average. Much like we found happened with the Marmot Tullus Hoody, there were some areas where the coating had worn off, leading to some minor absorption of water into the nylon, especially around the shoulders and front zipper. That said, in most other areas the DWR coating remained effective and intact, even after a couple month testing period.

Unlike the Rab Microlight Alpine, this jacket does not use any form of hydrophobically treated down. Instead, it uses panels of Coreloft synthetic insulation in a rather small area on top of each shoulder, where it is most likely to get wet from falling rain, to try and lessen the impact of getting wet. That said, the tops of the arms and hood don't have these Coreloft panels, so there is still plenty of areas where the down could become compromised and be a liability of it gets severely soaked. As such, we awarded it 6 out of 10 for this metric, a bit lower than the Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody, but better than the Outdoor Research Transcendent Hoody.

It was supposed to be nice enough for rock climbing, but ended up soaking rain. All we had was a down jacket, so what better excuse to test out water resistance? We thought this jacket had an adequate DWR coating, but not the best. It also did not feature hydrophobic down on the inside, ensuring that it does better in traditional down territory -- cold and dry.

In this close up of the performance of the DWR coating, you can see that there are areas near the zipper where it has perhaps worn off, leading to water absorbing into the nylon.

Fit

We felt that the Cerium LT offered a nearly perfect fit, and graded it at the top along with the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hooded. However, where the Ghost Whisperer is very sleek, bordering on tight for use as an active under-layer, the Cerium LT is loose and highly mobile, without crossing the boundary into being baggy.

In particular, we loved how this jacket featured very long sleeves that wouldn't ride up above our wrists when moving our arms overhead or to the side, and also had a spacious enough cut that we never felt constriction in our shoulders, chest, or upper back. While one would think that a non-constricting fit should be taken for granted, the overly tight shoulder areas we found in the fits of The North Face Morph Hoodie as well as the Mountain Hardwear StretchDown Hooded, means that this mobility is in fact unique. On the other hand, we were really happy that this jacket didn't cross the line into being too baggy like we found with the cut of the REI Co-op Magma 850. 9 out of 10 for the best fit.

The Cerium LT was one of the best fitting jackets in this review. You can see how the hem and sleeves are plenty long, and we found no tightness anywhere no matter what motions we went through. It was spacious enough to wear over the top of many layers.

Compressibility

The Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody was the second most compressible jacket in this review behind only the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hooded.

It stuffs into an included, super thin stuff sack that can be girth hitched inside the zippered interior chest pocket. While this stuff sack has a clip-in loop and weighs next to nothing, it isn't super easy to get the jacket fully stuffed within. Once stuffed, this jacket is roughly the size of a Nalgene, smaller than the OR Transcendent Hoody or the Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody, which both stuff into their own pockets. While we worry slightly about the possibility of losing the stuff sack on an important climb or adventure, we can't argue with how incredibly compressible this jacket is. 8 out of 10.

The two most compressible jackets in this year's review stuffed down about the same size as a Nalgene, or a little bigger. On the left is the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hooded, stuffed into its own chest pocket. On the right is the Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody, stuffed in its own included stuff sack.

Features

While the Cerium LT has a minimum of usable features, we found them to perform slightly less awesome than many of the features found on competitor's jackets.

It comes with two zippered handwarmer pockets, as well as a single interior chest pocket where the stuff sack lives. It does not have any internal stash pockets, like those found in the OR Transcendent Hoody. To secure the hood there is a single drawcord at the back of the head, but we found that when pulled tight it has a tendency to create uncomfortable pressure on the ears, unlike a very similar design found on the Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody that was far more comfortable.

This lightweight and easy to pull draw cord on the Cerium LT worked great, but also left a loop of cord dangling once it was pulled tight.

It also has dual hem drawcords that are easy to tighten and do an effective job of tucking the tail ends up under the hem, but with no buckle present, we found the tightening system to be quite difficult to loosen with gloves on, or even with one hand. Overall, the performance of its features were on par with those of the REI Co-op Magma 850, and nowhere near the best. 6 out of 10.

This single pull cord effectively tightened up the fit of the hood and helped hold it on the head better in really windy conditions.

Best Applications

The Cerium LT Hoody is an ideal choice for those who want versatile, lightweight warmth. Since it fits well over the top of other layers but is also sleek enough to recreate in, we found it ideal for nearly any outdoor activity.

Whether you are looking for a belay jacket, something to throw on over the top of your action suit while alpine climbing, or for a warm overcoat for around town, the Cerium LT Hoody is an ideal choice. Here warding off the morning chill while racking up at Smith Rock.

Alpinists, backcountry skiers, and others who value low weight will find it especially useful. However, keep in mind that this is an active and lightweight piece, and still won't be sufficient as an expedition parka in truly bone-chilling cold.

Despite being the most expensive jacket in this review, we think that it is well worth the money, and loved how warm it kept us pretty much all the time while camping.

Value

This jacket retails for $379, which is quite a bit more expensive than an average down jacket and makes it the priciest purchase in our review. If you have the cash, we feel like it offers great value, as you literally cannot find such awesome warmth-to-weight ratio in another jacket.

The Cerium LT Hoody was both the warmest and one of the lightest, meaning that it took advantage of all the very best attributes of down to create a nearly perfect jacket.

Conclusion

The Arc'teryx Cerium LT Hoody is our Editors' Choice winner as the Best Overall lightweight down jacket because of its solid combination of mobile fit, lightweight, and superior warmth. This jacket so easily hits all of the desirable traits of a down jacket that we are left wondering, what else does one need? If you want the best down jacket that money can buy, we suggest you take a serious look at this one.