Hi. This is Evan from Within Hiking Distance and today I'm going to talk
about the similarities and differences between the Arc'teryx Alpha AR and
the Arc'teryx Beta AR
[Music]
These jackets have many things in common but also have some notable differences.
So today I'm going to describe them in more detail and also try them on to show how they fit.
Arc'teryx categorizes all its clothing into families and all the
families have a particular use.
The Alpha line for example is a lightweight
minimalist climbing product that protects against Alpine environments.
While the Beta family is a high-performance versatile line for a
wide range of conditions and activities.
The abbreviation of AR at the end of Alpha and Beta stands for all-round.
All-round provides high performance weather protection for multiple activities.
So let's try on this jacket to see how they fit because there are some similarities and some notable differences.
First I'm going to try on the Alpha AR. As a layer I have a
Patagonia Nanopuff Jacket and a base layer underneath.
So just to talk about the Alpha AR for a minute. It's a regular fit so you can layer underneath.
The material is a 3-layer Gore-Tex Pro
and there is pit zips on each side.
There's also three pockets on this jacket so there's one on
the interior and there's two on the exterior.
And the way these open is that you can hold on to a rope if you're climbing and you could use
your opposite hand when you get into these pockets.
The hood is a storm hood so it zips all the way up
and it can be tightened by pulling these and adjusting
some little buttons that you can adjust to tighten it even more.
There's also an adjustment on the back to tighten the back.
I have Velcro cuffs which can be adjusted.
There's also an adjustment for the hem around the waist.
Another slight difference between the Alpha AR and Beta AR is a cut around the seat area.
On the Alpha AR you can see that it just covers a little bit more so if you're wearing a
harness you just get a little bit more protection.
So this is the Arc'teryx Beta AR jacket for climbing skiing and other activities.
It's a regular fit so there's plenty of room for layering, however I don't find
it as trim as the Alpha AR jacket.
It's just a little bit bigger on me.
It has a DropHood which is different than the StormHood of the Alpha AR.
So it actually comes up a little bit but then the cut is different for the hood.
Let me put the hood on.
And how you tighten the hood is just a little bit different.
So you can tighten with some pulleys here.
You're also able to tighten it in the back.
I do find this hood to be a little bit bigger than the Alpha AR.
But both jackets should easily fit any helmet underneath.
Also another difference is where the pockets are located. In the Alpha AR, they are more upfront
and you put your hand in opposite pocket if you want to get something
where as these are more traditional pockets and they'd be on this side here.
They're both high enough so if you're wearing a harness they shouldn't interfere if you get into your pockets up here.
There's three pockets on this one: 2 on the sides and 1 inside.
It's a fully taped seams sealed jacket.
It has Velcro cuffs just like the Alpha AR.
So just to show how the jackets would fit with a larger layer,
I'm wearing that Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody.
So it is a bigger one than the Patagonia Nanopuff jacket that I was wearing before.
I'm trying on the Alpha AR first.
So with the Alpha AR, I still feel that I have plenty of room even with a puffy jacket underneath.
My arms still have plenty of range of motion.
So when I'm up in the mountains it's still easy even though I have a couple layers on right now.
I really like how to StormHood complements what I had for the Patagonia Hoody underneath
that it zips all the way up.
They work really well together.
Let me just try on the hoods for the Alpha AR and Beta AR.
Now I'm wearing the Beta AR jacket with my Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody.
So the bigger puffy jacket is underneath and I still have plenty of room for more layers.
I felt that the Beta AR was slightly bigger on me than Alpha AR.
For the DropHood on the Beta AR, this is how it
looks like with another jacket that has a hood behind it.
So the systems are a little different from the StormHood with the Alpha AR versus the DropHood with the Beta AR.
Another difference between the jackets is the shell material.
Even though they both use Gore-Tex Pro the Beta AR uses a
Ripstop fabric while the Alpha AR has just a plain weave.
It is possible to make out the interwoven crosshatch pattern on Beta AR when looking closely at it.
Ripstop fabric is supposed to make the product more durable and less prone to tears.
So just to summarize, here are the similarities and differences between the two jackets.
The similarities are they both have the same price point at about $575 USD.
They both use Gore-Tex Pro 3-layer.
They're both fully seam sealed with DWR finish.
They both have Velcro cuffs.
They both have pit zips.
And they both have three pockets (two on two exterior one on the interior)
And to summarize the differences between the Alpha AR and Beta AR
is the pocket location.
The Alpha AR has a StormHood versus the DropHood of the Beta AR.
The Alpha AR is slightly trimmer cut versus the Beta AR.
The Alpha AR has a drop tail hem.
The Alpha AR comes in at 14.1 ounces versus 16 ounces for the Beta AR.
and the Beta AR uses a Ripstop fabric versus
the plain weave of Alpha AR.
I hope you found this video useful with the
comparison of the Arc'teryx Alpha AR and Beta AR.
So if you liked this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe.