UKC

Earlier this year Rab significantly updated their Skyline Range for runners, and introduced two new and quite contrasting waterproof shells, the wear-all-day Kinetic Ultra and the super-ultralight Phantom. Rob Greenwood takes a look at both here, along with the Phantom trousers.

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semantics, but i am reasonably sure the Kinetic came out before the kinetic alpine, because when i bought it i remember thinking "this is very nearly the perfect alpine shell, just with 1 or 2 tweeks..." and low and behold, a year later they bring out the alpine, with some of those tweaks!

also, i would assume the arm pocket in the ultra is for ski lift passes, for those who run lift to lift in the alps.

Is the ultra more breathable than the original kinetic or is the fabric still the same? My kinetic is getting a bit tatty now after some years so the ultra sounds good but ideally it would need to be more breathable for fell running use 

Having just checked (something I should probably have done prior to publishing the review) I think the first was the Kinetic Plus, which we reviewed back in 2017. The Kinetic Alpine came out a couple of years later in 2019.

Whilst I agree that's what the arm pocket could be used for, it'd be a pretty niche addition, as I suspect that the number of people doing this is a minority within a minority and even then - it's not like they wouldn't have other places to put their pass.

I didn't use the original Kinetic Plus, so can't comment on that, but it's the same fabric/membrane as the first generation Kinetic Alpine. The only difference is that there are vents at the back, which will add to its breathability.

Hope that's of help!

ah yes, 'kinetic plus' is what i have!