Mountain Hardwear Stratus Range Full Zip Hoody - Women's Review

The Mountain Hardwear Stratus Range is a lightweight jacket with a full zipper and a hood. It's made of polyester and has two zippered hand pockets. It features thumbholes, a chin guard, an elastic hood hem, and off-shoulder seams.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

This lightweight jacket holds few surprises when it comes to warmth. The inside is lined with tiny fuzzy squares of fleece separated by lines of regular fabric. The fleece is thin but did a decent job keeping us warm while recreating. Wind and intense cold can come right through these lines when stationary. An exaggerated drop hem helps protect you as you move and a fitted hood can accommodate a beanie as well. The hood isn't nearly as tight as many others, with a much lower chin that doesn't facilitate burrowing your chin inside against the cold. Its rim also cuts back much further than most — both higher across our foreheads and back behind our eyes. Keeping it up in the wind or over a particularly thick beanie is challenging. The thumbholes are uniquely shaped, with a wider end across the balls of the thumbs that adds warmth. The main zipper and pocket zippers have fine teeth and do a solid job blocking moderate breezes and keeping warmth inside.

Comfort

The Stratus Range fabric is stretchy, but not nearly as much as several others we tested. We really noticed this across our shoulders and on our hands when wearing the thumbholes. The cuffs are somewhat scratchy and don't feel as nice when pulled up our forearms. Its slim straight fit isn't overly accommodating for curvy women. Two zippered hand pockets are large and deep and lined with microfleece. Their zippers are practically hidden in the fabric of the jacket — this looks great, hiding them when they're zipped up, but also makes them difficult to locate and operate with cold hands.

Versatility

Like most fleeces we tested, the Stratus Range easily soaks up water. Because it's quite thin, that water transfers through to your base layers fairly quickly. It's not great against the wind, but it isn't a hopeless sieve either. While the zippers of many fleeces are a windy day week point, the Stratus Range zippers are a strong fortress against the elements. The size Small we tested weighs 11.5 ounces. It's slightly heavy for a lightweight jacket but within reason. Its thin fabric lends to its packability, but it's far from our favorite to try to cram in a daypack.

Breathability

With so many minute spaces between fleece squares, the breathability of the Stratus Range is excellent. It's a great layer for high-output activities that are more stop-and-go, like climbing or hiking. The cuffs are okay when pulled up our forearms — a bit scratchy, but they stay put. While many hooded models carry a lot of weight in the hood, leaving it to awkwardly flop around when unzipped, the Stratus Range hood is light and comfortable, making it easy to wear unzipped or partially zipped.

Layering Ability

The Stratus Range can be reasonably layered over a light baselayer without too much catching of fabrics against each other. Its smooth exterior and slim silhouette are easy to layer over top of when you need extra protection.

Should You Buy the Mountain Hardwear Stratus Range?

While the Stratus Range is on the lower side of average for our testing lineup, it's not everyone's cup of tea. It has some great technical features (like excellent thumbholes, good pockets, and great breathability) but is a slim fit that isn't as accommodating as many others. If you like its features, we recommend trying it on to see if you like its fit before committing to this hoody.

What Other Fleece Jacket Should You Consider?

The Mountain Hardwear Stratus Range is a lightweight hoodie with a mixed bag of technical features and limiting fit. If you like the breathability and useful thumbholes but want something with a little more give and comfort, check out the Outdoor Research Vigor. If you don't mind not having thumbholes, the lightweight Patagonia R1 Air is our favorite fleece, with a dynamic performance that works well for tons of uses.