We can easily say the Beyond ARX 2.0 Jacket and Pants are rated to survive all four seasons out here on the east coast of Canada. We have used it in torrential downpours during a hurricane, ice storms in the winter, and as a windbreaker when we needed a bit of warmth. This set of raingear has a few smart design choices that add to the versatility of this kit making it one of the first things you should look at when going out into in climate weather.
Despite my height, the Tall jacket provides more than ample coverage no matter what position I am in.
The first thing we need to mention about the ARX line is that it comes in Long sizes. This is huge for those of us who are well… huge. Being able to bend and move without worrying about your jacket riding up is such a relief. The nice overlap of the jacket with the pants creates a good seal to keep water out. The other thing we need to mention is the Lutra three-layer fabric these are made out of is both tough and waterproof. Lutra was first introduced to us at SHOT quite a few years ago at this point and we were impressed with the material sample we saw. It consists of a 3 layer of waterproof fabric with a Cordura face for extra durability. We had absolutely no damage to the pants and jacket while crawling around on sharp ice pellets digging out a car frozen all the way up to the bottom of the doors or moving about on the ground at the beach taking pictures of waterfalls. The quality of all of the little parts from the rubberized zipper pulls that are easy to operate with gloves on, to the waterproof zippers to the seam taping is nicely finished. The jacket also features plastic snaps which we haven’t seen before but are stout, cant corrode, and hold firmly.
ARX 2.0 L6 Rain Jacket
Despite all of the use the Arx 2.0 still looks and feels brand new.
We will start things off by talking about the ARX 2.0 L6 Rain Jacket likely one of our most used pieces of the outer gear. The hood of the rain jacket can cover a helmet which we have used on the mountain bikes this spring. The back of the hood has an elastic shock cord in the back with a cord lock at the back to adjust the hood brim. This allows for a good fit with a helmet, hat, or just your bare head. The hood has a generously sized brim that helps keep the water dripping away from your face.
Designed to be easily cinched down on your head or helmet the shock cord and cord lock on the back of the hood can even be adjusted with gloves on.
The left side chest pocket is generous in size and has a pass-through for headphones and other cabled items.
While most people use Bluetooth to listen to music some devices need a cord and Beyond has you covered with this pass-through in the chest pocket.
There is also a tiny webbing loop near the neck of the jacket that can also be used for routing your cable through.
It is nice to see a little bit of extra cable management so you don’t get your arms caught in the cables when quickly pulling on the jacket.
We say the chest pocket is generous in size which means the two lower pockets are cavernous in size. You could easily smuggle a cat or two bushels of bananas (the most American way of measuring instead of using the metric system) inside each of these pockets as they go all the way up above the chest pocket. If you have something you need to keep dry these are perfect storage locations.
Pockets are so cavernous you can carry a ton extra with you onto a plane without overweight baggage fees.
We mentioned the waterproof zippers above but let’s delve a bit deeper into the other zippers on the jacket. The jacket has the main zipper you would expect running up the center of the front of the jacket. This isn’t a double zipper like you would expect on most of these jackets. A double zipper is nice because it allows you to partially unzip the jacket from the bottom to allow a bit of extra movement while you are sitting in a car or on an ATV. Instead, they added a little extra to the pit zips.
The pit zips on the Arx 2.0 Rain Jacket are more than ample providing access to things underneath and venting out perspiration.
We should also rejoice because any waterproof jacket without pit zips is like a personal sauna. The pit zips on the ARX 2.0 L6 Jacket has a zipper at the top and bottom. The bottom one when zipped up holds the jacket together with a plastic snap at the bottom. If you need that extra mobility like with the aforementioned sitting situation you undo this snap and zip each side up. This is also beneficial if you were to have load-carrying gear like a chest rig under the jacket. This would allow you to flip the jacket front up to access things from the chest rig. It also makes the jacket easy to toss on over bulky gear. If it is still raining and you are starting to get a bit hot you can unzip the pit zip from the top to help vent some of that hot moist air out.
With being able to unzip all the way to the bottom you have a makeshift poncho or rain snuggie.
The sleeves on my long jacket can go up over my hand which is nice when you want a bit of shelter for your gloves. They include a velcro draw to cinch them up so you don’t have it going over your hand if you don’t want to. The sleeves have no velcro patch area making the jacket blend in better in an urban environment. The bottom of the jacket has shock cord that is a bit shorter than a foot on each side so you can cinch the bottom down. We liked how the adjustment cord’s tail is routed through a sleeve that goes up, keeping the tail from getting caught on things.
Simple but effective wrist cuffs keep your sleeves where they should be.
ARX 2.0 L6 Rain Pants
The built-in belt stretches as you move to keep your pants up.
The ARX 2.0 L6 Rain Pants include a couple of our favorite features of the set. Most often times rain pants feel like a second thought. Sure they may have zippers at the bottom, but most often they don’t include a belt or if they do it is just a single shock cord. The Arx 2.0 L6 Pant has three different methods of holding your trousers up. The pants have belt loops that are wide enough for a stiffened duty belt, and come with an elastic belt with a G-Hook connector which does a good job of stretching as you move. The final method to hold your pants up consists of four black slots of webbing inside the pants. These slots are meant for attaching suspenders. If you happen to have a good suggestion for comfortable and durable suspenders to use with these pants let us know. Might be something Beyond will come out with at a later date perhaps?
Beyond really wanted to keep your pants up. With three methods of trouser retention.
The crotch of the pants has a decently long zipper in case nature calls and helps pull your pants up. At the top of the zipper are two of the plastic snaps which we haven’t had come undone on us.
We were really impressed with these snaps. We haven’t had them come inadvertently undone and they have not broken in the extreme cold.
Much like the pit zips on the jacket the pants have a super-length zipper running up the entire length of the sides. These make it super simple to pull on over boots if the rain picks up and you need extra protection. No more will you have to worry about wrecking your pants by your boot getting caught inside. This is even more prevalent with 15 EW shoes.
Just like pit zips ventilation on the legs is just as important if you don’t want a bad case of swamp ass.
The bottom zipper of the pants is protected by a fabric sinch that goes over it that helps tighten it around your boots if you need a better seal. You can also zip down from the top to add some venting if the weather has a break and warms up a bit.
No more will you have to riggle into your rain pants as the weather turns to shit. Just step in and zip up the two legs and fasten the snaps.
The heals of the pants have an added patch of fabric for further wear protection however we would have liked to see a similar one on the knees. We haven’t had any damage yet to the knees but it would be great for a bit of peace of mind. The pants also have two hand pockets that you best not be putting your god damn hands in (stupid rule).
The reinforced material on the inside of the heel area keeps you from wrecking your pants with your other foot.
Conclusion
We ended up getting rid of most of the other rain gear we own after getting the ARX 2.0 L6 set. It does everything they do but with more features and thoughtful design. The durability has been top notch and the zipper orientation has provided a good blend of ventilation and access when putting them on. We would have liked to see the reinforced knees, and a hook on the pants to clip onto your boot laces (a pair of Norrona winter pants we have used this) and of course, we want Beyond to release some suspenders to go with these pants. You can pick yours up here and might we suggest manatee grey or rustic green as a color.
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