Review – Rab Kinetic 2.0 Waterproof Pants

Are they a soft-shell, are they a hardshell? These versatile pants from Rab are a great addition any adventure kit list.

The Rab Kinetic 2.0 Waterproof Pants (and the beefier Alpine variants) occupy a notoriously blurry spot in the outdoor gear world. If you are standing in a gear shop scratching your head trying to figure out which rack they belong on, you aren’t alone.

Here is the quick answer: They are a hardshell that masquerades as a softshell. Rab achieves this wizardry using their proprietary Proflex fabric. Instead of the noisy, crinkly, rigid feel of a traditional hardshell, Proflex uses a highly stretchy, soft knitted or woven outer fabric and sandwiching a waterproof PU membrane inside.

Here is a breakdown of how they bridge the gap between the two worlds. To understand where the Kinetic pants fit into your kit, it helps to compare them to traditional mountain trousers:

Feature	Traditional Softshell	Rab Kinetic (Proflex)	Traditional Hardshell
Waterproofing	Water-resistant (DWR)	Fully Waterproof (20,000mm HH)	Fully Waterproof (28,000mm+ HH)
Feel & Stretch	Soft, quiet, 4-way stretch	Soft, quiet, 4-way stretch	Crinkly, stiff, minimal stretch
Breathability	Extremely high	High (Up to 25,000g MVTR)	Moderate
Next-to-Skin Comfort	High	High (Soft wicking backer)	Can feel clammy/sticky

The Kinetic pants are designed as a “put-on, leave-on” piece.

In the past, hiking in the rain meant stopping, balancing on one foot while wrestling a noisy pair of plastic rain pants over your muddy boots, only to boil alive inside them twenty minutes later. The Kinetic pants solve this.

• All-Day Comfort: The inner fabric has a soft, high-gauge knit wicking layer. You can wear them over a thermal base layer or directly against your skin comfortably.
  
  
• Freedom of Movement: If you are scrambling, ski-touring, or high-stepping, they stretch effortlessly with your body.
  
  
• Highly Packable: Because they use lighter fabrics than heavy-duty Gore-Tex, they pack down remarkably small in your pack if you do decide to strip them off. The trust CGR scales weighed them in at 283g including the supplied stuff sack.
  

While they are incredibly versatile, the hybrid nature means there are a few trade-offs to consider before you put them in your adventure kit:

• No Full Side-Zips: Most traditional rain pants have 3/4 or full-length side zips so you can pull them on over heavy hiking boots. Because the Kinetics are slim-cut and only have ankle gussets, they are very hard to pull over chunky footwear. They are meant to be worn from the start of the day, not whipped out during a sudden downpour. They also work OK with trail running shoes, so you can happily wear shorts and then when the clouds thicken or the breeze gets up you can get them over shoes (just).
  
• Durability Limits: The soft, stretchy nature of the standard Kinetic fabric makes it more vulnerable to abrasive rock, thick thorns, or ski edges than a burly, 70-denier traditional hardshell (though Rab does add tougher kicker patches and ceramic print overlays on the Alpine and Khroma versions to help with this). The kinetic 2.0 does have higher denier kick patches too but they wouldn’t be crampon resistant, however they do add a little extra abrasion resistance.
  

I’ve been wearing them all season in changeable conditions, Lake District hikes in April, cycling commutes on rainy days (they are great for this and are reasonably priced considering what you can pay for a pair of Rapha pants that aren’t waterproof) and rainy trail runs. Rab do offer a cycling specific version but for versatility these could be better. Rab offer the Kinetic Jacket too which would offer complete protection.

They are nicely fitting with a slim fit and the quick release drawstring is excellent, which also has a slot to pop the excess away. The waistband is half elasticated with silicon strips on the inner to keep them firmly in place – I found this worked very well even when they were wet through.

They also have three zipped pockets: two side pockets with YKK Aquacoil closures and a coil zipped back pocket – no annoying thigh pockets on these which is a relief! Other finishing features include: reflective logos, a working, inverted fly; a stuff sack, two hyperlon loops on the hems for attaching sole loops, and of course, fully taped seams and reflective logo. When the thigh pockets are open they provide some venting, which I found I needed when working hard uphill.

If you are heading out into a day of unpredictable, mixed, or non-stop showery weather where you don’t want to play the “jacket on, jacket off” game all day, the Rab Kinetic pants are nearly impossible to beat. They give you the weather armour of a hardshell with the tactile joy of a softshell.

However, if you are looking for an emergency pair of waterproof trousers to sit at the bottom of your pack just in case it rains for twenty minutes, a traditional, lightweight over-pant with full side-zips might be a better tool for the job.

The Rab Kinetic 2.0 Pants come in sizes S-XXL and one colour option. The female versions come in sizes UK 08 -16 and the same colour.

The SRP is £180 and they can be bought direct from Rab UK and specialist retailers.