Polaris Surge Overtrousers review

Minimalist, ultra light trousers

Our rating

3.5

55.03
35.00

Published: January 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Our review
Extremely light, extremely compact and extremely agreeably priced into the bargain

If you’re after a pair of minimalist, ultra light overtrousers, then look no further. The Polaris Surge waterproof trousers weigh hardly anything and roll up into a tiny pocketable bundle.

Putting them on is made easy by the impressively long leg zips that reach up to your knees and save you from dragging any more fabric than necessary over the soles of your shoes.

There’s just a single Velcro tab to tuck away excess material at the bottom, though, and we’d like more Velcro to close it in a bit further. Still, it gets the legs out of the way of the chainrings, which is the main thing.

Polaris’s HydroVent fabric is of the shiny persuasion, but it’s super light. With a simple cut using the absolute minimum of seams, all of which are fully taped, there’s little scope for rain to penetrate, but it doesn’t take long for condensation to build up on the inside.

We’re not too troubled by that, though, since the Surge is ideally suited for carrying just in case. For that kind of application, and this price, high levels of breathability are a luxury that we can live without.

After all, you can just take them off if conditions mean that getting wet from inside is more of a consideration than getting wet from without.

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