Review: Bellwether Aqua-No Pants

We Liked

Bellwether utilizes Aqua-No material in this rain pant, which is very nice waterproof fabric that does an excellent job of keeping the water out. The reflective piping along the ankle zipper provides additional visibility in low light conditions as well. The elastic drawstring on the waistband is easy to tighten up and operate.

We Didn't Like

As mentioned in the Coldfront Tight review, the evaluator is 6' 3" with a 33" inseam. The Aqua-No pants suffered from the same issue plaguing the Coldfront Tights: the inseam was simply too short. While the reviewer was wearing the large Aqua-No pant, they still did not offer a proper fit. To test this theory, I gave the Aqua-No pants to our 5' 8" editor and sent her out into Portland's liquid sunshine. She also reported that the leg inseam was not long enough. Additionally, she found that the articulated knee design bound up at the knee on each upstroke instead of moving freely. Perhaps this garment is better suited for someone that is 5' 7 " or less. The pants are equipped with an elastic cuff and zipper closure. However, this created a semi-fitted seal which moved freely around our lower leg. A secondary closure system needs to be added to adjust the fit at the cuff of the pant to keep the water out.

The Final Say

Bellwether has a long history of making good cycling outerwear for inclement weather. While the Aqua-No fabric is very good at keeping the cold rain out, the inseam cut of the garment was too short for both reviewers. The lower pant leg rode up for each individual, exposing skin above the rain shoe covers which allowed rain to directly hit the socks and seep into our shoes. While taped seems are a wonderful thing to have in a rain pant, both reviewers agree that the Aqua-No pant would better serve as a running rain pant (which requires less knee articulation) than a cycling rain pant. To summarize, if you are less than 5'8", this would be a great rain pant for you. If you are taller, we highly recommend looking elsewhere. However, this does not reflect on the performance of the Aqua-No Rain Jacket, which performed extremely well. As part of our mission, we contact vendors to provide feedback about their products. We connected with the designers at Bellwether and they were very receptive to our feedback. We provide this service to all of our vendors so that they have the opportunity to improve their products for the consumer.

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