The Polaris Tor Insulated is a different take on the padded jacket concept featuring wadding front and back with wafer thin Nylon sleeves.

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It also has a windproof Nylon hood that is smaller than the Endura, but it fits easily under a helmet and is pretty effective at keeping your ears warm.

Rather than zipped vents, the Polaris Tor features lightweight Lycra panels on the back of the neck and sleeves – they let out heat but there’s no way to close them up in really cold weather. The back of the Polaris is also pretty square cut, so if you’re leaning forward it will also let the cold and wet in. Two side pockets on the Polaris let you stash keys and a phone, etc although they’re much shallower than those on the Endura.

The Polaris Tor is pretty basic in terms of features and this may all sound pretty negative but I’ve actually ridden in this jacket more often this winter and there are a couple of reasons for that. It’s padded in the body to keep your core warm, but has only thin windproof sleeves, which I found are better at regulating temperature, and there’s also less to catch when brushing past undergrowth. I also like the compact hood – it fits snug under a helmet – the low weight and packability. It’s not super sophisticated and doesn’t used branded fabrics, but sometimes keeping it simple, and cheap, makes perfect sense.

It’s warm without feeling bulky, it’s perfect for those really cold early morning starts and you can pack it down into a small enough bundle if you decide to a shed a layer mid-ride. The thing that swings it for me though is the price – this is a great value for money jacket.