Endura MT500 jacket – 2016 v 2024

Contemplating a new jacket. My current 8ish year old MT50o wets out, has a really annoying hood, is too big, and doesn’t pack down small. Is the new incarnation really that different, despite having better waterproof and breathable properties, on paper at least – 20,00o and 40,000 respectively?
Seen at a good price and wondering if it’s going to be different enough. Other option is the GV500 which is lighter with some numbers but no pit zips. Also heard lots of ‘Endura are not what they used to be’ comments. Anyone offer any useful advice please as have the opportunity of trying one on tomorrow so need to decide soon! Cheers

There is a brand new version out now, the previous. Mt500 II jacket can be had for cieca £120, having had the jacket you have id say the II Is a solid evolution and will probably perform similarly. It a proper winter coat mind, not lightweight.

The lack of pit zips would be a huge thing for me. By my understanding there is no way for your skin to remain comfortably dry if you cannot move the vapour away from your body surface more rapidly than it forms. Whatever barrier you have between the weather and your skin must allow this to happen or else once the air by your skin’s surface reaches 100% saturation. The more breathable the better the vapor can leave. The temp has a large effect. The steeper the differential the greater the flow rate. So, for me at least, ventilation zips are always a good thing provided that they do not let precipitation into the jacket.

I have a current MT500 jacket and I rate it highly (based on a couple of outings only). It’s a good cut for me and at XXLwill allow me to wear warmer clothing underneath in colder weather. There is plenty of ventilation that can be controlled by zippers- front, pits, pockets. These are designed to make it such that water won’t run into them. Pit zips are notoriously difficult to use wearing a rucsac but these are at the better end of the scale.

I like a big hood, it’s preferable to one under my helmet or worse still, none at all. The hood can be cinched down. The cuffs are closeable by velcro tabs but have an elasticated baffle at wrist level. I’m not a fan of this at all but it looks very easy to remove, I’ve just not got around to it yet.

Compared to my other waterproofs which include some very high end mountaineering shells I’m very impressed.

“My current 8ish year old MT50o wets out, has a really annoying hood, is too big, and doesn’t pack down small”

The current version doesn’t pack down small, has a great over-helmet hood, and will wet out once it’s dirty enough. The sizing works for me.

If a jacket is wetting out it’s lost its DWR. Needs thorough cleaning and reproofing. Modern DWR is less effective but far less bad for the environment.

“The cuffs are closeable by velcro tabs but have an elasticated baffle at wrist level. I’m not a fan of this at all but it looks very easy to remove, I’ve just not got around to it yet.”

Snipped the stiches and they came out fine. Much better without, easier to vent when it’s hot.

I’ve got the latest incarnation of the MT500. The 40k breathable one.

Size wise it’s a bit weird. I’m a size small type of person. 5’7 with a 38 chest. Jacket is a small. The arm length and shoulder width are perfect, the hem drops to a sensible place. All good so far… But, the body of the jacket is massive. You might think that’s good because you can wear it over something warm but the arms are too tight to be able to fit anything bulky underneath. I ride with a rucksack so it’s not the end of the world, the straps keep it from billowing in the breeze but it just looks and feels a bit strange. The wrist cuffs are quite small too and I struggle to get them over my winter gloves. I have to sort of stuff the glove cuff into the jacket and it all feels a bit tight once it’s done.

Previous to the MT500, I was wearing an eVent jacket designed for hiking. I used the eVent rather than a 3l Goretex because the event packed down smaller. The MT500 is a similar size to the eVent when packed. I keep my jacket in a dry bag in my rucksack and they both fit in there fine (individually). The goretex jacket was a struggle to squeeze in.

The hood is an over helmet design. And it really is over the helmet or nothing. You can synch it down over your head without a helmet but it’s so big that it covers my eyes. I couldn’t ride with it under my helmet. When you have it over you helmet though, it does work quite well. It stays put while you ride and the shape of it means you still get decent visibility when you need to check over your shoulder. The zip and the neck could do being a bit longer/ taller. It doesn’t quite come up high enough for my liking. I like a neck/collar that you can hide your face behind when you need to but the MT500 doesn’t do this so while the hood works fairly well, it doesn’t quite offer as much protection as I’d like.

The 2 chest vents and 2 under arm vents are huge. The chest vents are fairly pointless if you ride with a pack though. Breathability of the material seems good. There’s a but though, it seems to breathe so well that it’s not a very warm jacket. I find myself having to have a thin layer underneath otherwise I get cold and generally, I run pretty warm when I’m riding.

Disclaimer is that I’m a lazy, cheating ebiker so clearly I don’t make any effort when I ride any more though.

The vents do work but the zips are tiny and really difficult to grab with gloves on. The adjusters for the good are inside the material too which makes it really difficult to adjust without taking you gloves off.

It wets out fairly easily but it’s kept me dry and comfortable in some fairly miserable weather over the last couple of months. Sideways rain and knee deep puddle kind of days. Those days where when I discovered that an over the helmet hood is actually quite a good idea. It’s been through the wash a few times and I’ve found that ironing it through a tea towel brings back the beading.

It’s certainly not my idea of perfect but I only paid £60 for it. If I’d have paid anywhere near full price, I’d have sent it straight back because of the weird fit and thin feeling material. Having ridden it in, I’m happy with how well it works but there’s no way it’s a £250 jacket. I wouldn’t class it as a proper winter coat. It’s not warm enough and lacks that protective, sheltered feeling you get from something more heavy duty.

I was looking at the Madison DTE jacket at the same time as the MT500. They seem quite similar on paper and are a similar price. If it wasn’t for the fact I managed to pick up the Endura so cheaply, I would have gone for the Madison. All of the stuff I’ve got from them (which is a lot) is really nice quality fits really well.

Going cheap at Leisure Lakes atm…

https://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/clothing/jackets/endura-mt500-waterproof-jacket-ii-black__345170

I’ve been idly searching for a mountain biking hard-shell recently, but honestly the segment fells like a catastrophe. The choice seems to be either one of two styles. 1. Roadie super tight, super thin, super short perfetto/gabba copies, that are going to tear when you brush past a bush, and 2. or overcoats cut off at the waist with storm baffle collars and massive hoods- the single most annoying design feature when not being used, in weird sizing with insufficient venting for anything over Z2 type riding.

They either fit where they touch- generous in the body (for ‘layering’, I can’t begin to explain how this is such a stupid idea, clearly stolen from the walking crowd), but super tight on the arms or vice versa, to really drive home the point that the folks that ‘design’ them have clearly never ever worn one in anger. Oh, and they’re all north of £150.

A better option is the Fox 3l waterproof. Currently on offer at Wheelbase

Fox Defend 3L Water Jacket | Black

I’m looking for similar to the OP. Any experience/views on the Decathlon waterproof?

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/all-mountain-mtb-waterproof-jacket-grey/_/R-p-309673

@nickc Last time I looked concluded the same.  I’m still wearing a hardshell Endura road jacket from before they went ‘lightweight’.   I still think its perfect for off road

– tough ripstop 3 layer fabric (branded PTFE)

– no hood

– slim-ish but not skintight fit.

– pitzips

– dropped hem at rear

– Napoleon pocket big enough for a smartphone

– central rear pocket big enough for a phone/gloves thats low enough to sit under a backpack if you’re wearing one.