Altura Endurance Mistral Women’s Softshell Jacket

The Altura Endurance Mistral Women's Softshell Jacket is light, comfortable and offers good windproofing and reasonable rain-proofing for autumn/early winter rides. It's a good midlayer for the coldest rides, too.

This jacket claims to protect from showers, and it certainly did this well, with no water ingress through the parts of the jacket treated with DWR (durable water repellent). Seams are always a potential point of entrance for the rain, and the Mistral's aren't taped to stop this from happening in prolonged downpours.

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Softshells with better rain protection are available, but at a cost. I feel at this price though, Altura is offering something that is respectable in the rain-stopping department, but not perfect.

The Mistral was really effective against the fenland winds. With a collar that's close but not tight and sleeves that are easy to layer gloves over, this jacket really keeps out the breeze – half the battle in keeping warm in the colder months.

Performance

For a relatively waterproof jacket it's really very breathable. Whilst some might want more warmth, it's perfect for cold autumn rides and the semi-fitted cut works well under a hardshell jacket for the coldest days.

I found it worked well to around 6 or 7°C over a single baselayer. It was also loose enough to layer over a longsleeved jersey for the start of a ride, then strip off as the temperature rose later in the day.

The three deep pockets are shielded by their own rain flap. Whilst this is great for keeping items dry, it does mean accessing anything on the move requires a little faffing, and as the material is so smooth it's easy to miss. There is no zipped pocket, but you'd have to try quite hard to get anything to fall out of these.

I was really confused by the choice of material for lower sleeve, which changes from softshell to a thin green rubbery fabric for the last 6in or so. The intention is to provide a weatherproof seal, but feels like overkill. It also offers no warmth or breathability at all, and if rain does creep in at the cuff, your arms get wet and stay wet.

Altura bills the sleeves as 'keeping the wind at bay' but frankly I'd have preferred some warmth. I tend to wear a watch-based heart rate monitor whilst cycling, and this style of cuff gave no ability to tuck it away and retain a good seal against the wind.

Technically this jacket is 'navy/green,' but in all honesty it looks charcoal and green to me – the promo photos do look bluer. That said I much preferred it, but then my 'street' coats are mostly grey or teal, so I may be a bit biased.

> 55 of the best winter cycling jackets - stay warm and dry when it's cold and wet

A winter jacket in grey may be considered a bad idea by some (notably, drivers on Twitter). The Mistral has reflectives for night riding which extend from the neck to the bottom, and down both arms. They're unobtrusive in daylight but work their magic well under car headlamps.

The Mistral is available in sizes 8-18 and, as is usual with this brand, it comes up similar to regular street sizing. As a semi-fitted jacket it's a good close fit, but with room to layer.

Value

This is probably the cheapest women's softshell we've reviewed in a while, coming in under the £120 Giro Ambient or the £154 Women's Winter Cycling Jacket from Fat Lad At The Back. However, it is in line with similar mid-market brands such as dhb's £110 Aeron Equinox.

Overall

This jacket offers a lot for the price - most winter softshells we review are more expensive - and though it's not ideal on its own for very cold weather, it's versatile with layers from early autumn though until Easter.

Verdict

Good windproofing and useful shower resistance, and warmth that works well with other layers