Arc'teryx Atom Hoody - Women's Review

The Arc'teryx Atom Hoody is a pliable lightweight jacket with a helmet-compatible hood and a relaxed fit. Its exterior is made of Dope Permair 20D (100% nylon) and has two bungee adjustments on the hem. It has two zippered hand pockets and one internal zippered chest pocket.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

The Atom Hoody is a lightweight insulated jacket that proves itself warmer than it first appears. Its thin insulation is denser than many and its soft material immediately feels warm when worn. It has good coverage as well, with a longer torso that ends in a drop hem on the back. Two adjustment points for the bungee around the hem allow you to easily cinch it closed against the wind or extreme cold. The sleeves are nice and long with soft, stretchy elastic cuffs that rest snuggly around your wrist, trapping your body heat.

The Atom's hood is quite large. It begs to be worn with a beanie and easily accommodates most helmets. A high chin helps keep your neck warm, whether the hood is up or down. Inside the pockets is a layer of microfleece on one side, keeping the backs of your hands protected from the cold. Though the Atom is fitted in the shoulders, it's also easy to move in without feeling restricted. Its relaxed slim fit slides on easily over your underlayers. Its thinness and pliability also allow it to comfortably layer under a shell or even a parka when the temps really dip.

Comfort

That layering ability also lends a lot of comfort to the Atom Hoody. Its thinness makes it flexible and its relaxed fit feels like a sweatshirt rather than a puffy jacket. The stretch-knit cuffs feel silky soft and perfectly fitted on the wrists. With two hem adjustment points, the Atom can be worn long, over the top of your butt, or cinched up, again adding to that sweatshirt-like vibe. The hood of the Atom is the only one we tested with a bungee cord on the back, so you can cinch it down when not wearing a beanie or helmet underneath.

Crucially, the Atom has no seams in its armpits. This adds comfort in motion by preventing rubbing — even through other layers — and mobility to the shoulders that many of its competitors can't match. The whole side panels are each a single piece of stretchy, breathable, knit fabric with low-pile fleece on the inside. The Atom is built with comfort in mind and is well-designed to be a very effective midlayer in a comprehensive layering system.

Weather Resistance

Though its soft fabric may not look as weatherproof as others, it performed well above average in our tests. It's thinner than those models that out-competed it in wind resistance but packs a powerful punch for its build. A wind guard secures the entire main zipper, and the pockets even have an overhang to protect their zippers too. Our 5'4" main tester could cinch the hem closed almost all the way below her butt, adding further protection. When the hood is tightened on a bare head, it exposes the back corners of your face, but it also leaves a slightly stiffened brim to offer some small protection over your eyes.

When pitted against rain, the Atom once again performed quite well. There are no baffle seams to offer weak points, and the main fabric of this jacket easily repelled light precipitation. The stretch knit cuffs and side panels aren't quite as protective, but they're significantly less exposed than most of the rest of the jacket.

Weight and Compressibility

The size Small Arc'teryx Atom that we tested weighs 10.5 ounces. That makes it one of the lighter jackets we tested. Its smaller overall size makes it one of our favorite options to stuff in a daypack or suitcase.

The Atom is one of very few models in our lineup that doesn't stuff into its own pocket or come with a stuff sack. However, unless we have an overly full pack or are carrying things on a harness only, we rarely take the time to pack up a jacket — especially if we plan to need to pull it out and throw it on while we're out and about. The Atom is compact enough to be easily stuffed into a backpack or suitcase.

Breathability

The Atom Hoody earns one of the top scores for breathability in our testing. The comfortable, stretchy side panels do a pretty good job of letting out too much body heat as you recreate. The stretch-knit sleeves can also be pretty easily pulled up your arms if your baselayers will allow it.

Of course, you can also unzip the jacket completely, and it's light enough that we had no problems with it trying to slide off because of a heavy hood. The only way this jacket could be more breathable is by sacrificing its warm shell for fleece paneling, or by turning the pockets into vents rather than the microfleece-lined warming stations they currently are. We're quite happy with the breathability of this midlayer jacket.

Should You Buy the Arc'teryx Atom?

The Atom is a spendy purchase, but it's an ideal midlayer jacket for pretty much any possible use. We love wearing it alone in milder temperatures or as a midlayer when the day turns truly cold. If you're looking for a standalone insulated jacket for frigid temps, the Atom isn't the right choice. But for a versatile jacket that works well as part of a layering system, there's no model we love more than the Arc'teryx Atom, and we think this unique and comfortable coat is worth the investment.

What Other Insulated Jackets Should You Consider?

The Arc'teryx Atom Hoody is a great insulated jacket with an impressive warmth-to-weight ratio, serious comfort, great breathability, and works excellently as a midlayer for a comprehensive layering system. If you'd prefer a standalone jacket that's great in pretty much every way for most everyday conditions and light adventuring, check out the Rab Xenon 2.0. Or if you need a jacket with the best breathability that you can wear all day snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, the Ortovox Piz Boe is that coat.