Pearl Izumi Expedition PRO Alpha Vest Initial Review

Erin Trail

This vest has become my go-to layer for winter bike rides, hikes, and runs.  It’s comfortable and functional, and it manages my temperature perfectly.

Pearl Izumi Expedition PRO Alpha Vest Detailed Review

I love a good vest for shoulder season and for winter layering for both cycling and running.  The Expedition PRO Alpha Vest ticks all of my boxes and has become my favorite layer for my winter adventures.

Testing Conditions:

• Many gravel and mountain bike rides in temperatures ranging from upper 30s to lower 50s. Sometimes,with a decent amount of wind.
• A Winter Solstice bikepacking trip in Fort Collins
• Several runs in temperatures in the 20s.

According to the size chart for Pearl Izumi, I should wear a medium.  I found the fit of the vest to run small – along with the desire to have room for layers – so I ended up ordering a large.  The large fits me perfectly.

The shell of the vest is a Premium Toray ultra-light woven fabric with 20-CFM, which allows for wind blocking while still being breathable. I’ve had other vests that didn’t breathe and they left me clammy and cold when I needed to stop or if I went zooming downhill.  This vest has great wind-blocking and, I would say, decent breathability.  I don’t feel clammy, but I have noticed that I have a fair amount of condensation on my phone screen when I pull it from the back pocket. 

The side panels are a lighter, stretchy fabric that helps with overall fit and it allows for body heat to escape. The front zipper is a two-way zipper, where it can unzip from either the top or the bottom of the vest.  This design is fantastic for heat management, as I usually start my runs really cold and then unzip the vest from the bottom up to allow for more ventilation as I warm up.

The Expedition PRO Alpha Vest has three nicely sized pockets.  Two pockets are on the front, located at each hip.  The rear pocket is at the bottom right side and is the perfect size for a cell phone.  The pockets are all lined with soft fleece, which keeps things like sunglasses from getting scratched while also keeping hands warm. My only issue with the pockets is that the zipper pulls on the front pockets are TINY (about ½ inch total length).  The rear zipper pocket pull has a longer dangly pull tab (about 1 inch total length), which makes it easy to grab and unzip while wearing cycling gloves. 

The front pocket zippers are sewn so they’re invisible (i.e. the zipper doesn’t show when the pockets are zipped up).  This, combined with the tiny zipper pulls, makes these pockets pretty hard to unzip while wearing gloves.  I use the rear pocket to hold my phone and I’ve been using the front pockets to stash bike nutrition wrappers, so I need both sets of pockets to zip and unzip easily while moving and wearing gloves. I appreciate the aesthetic of the front pockets, but the functionality hit makes me wish the pockets were designed differently.

Now for my favorite feature of the Expedition PRO Alpha Vest – the 60g Polartec® Alpha® Direct active-insulation.  If they ever made a blanket from this stuff, I’d be a very happy person. The inside of the front and rear panels of the vest are lined with the Polartec® Alpha® Direct active-insulation.  It’s a light, textured, fleecy fabric that is incredibly soft but also allows the vest to keep the wearer warm while also breathing really well.  This fabric gives the vest a nice soft loft to it and doesn’t feel bulky or heavy- it just feels good to wear. 

The vest is light in weight but due to the insulation, I didn’t find it to pack down as small as I’d prefer.  It does smash down to the size of a grapefruit, and I was able to stash it inside my hydration pack without an issue. 

Closing Thoughts

This vest has accompanied me on ALL of my outside rides since I received it and on any run where temperatures are in the 20s.  I was looking for a soft, windproof, light-feeling, AND breathable vest and the Expedition PRO Alpha Vest ticks all of those boxes. It feels cozy while being light, and it performs great. I do wish it had better pocket access for stashing nutrition, but I love the fit and feel of the vest so much that I’ll figure out another place to stash my wrappers. And if Polartec has any spare or scrap Alpha® Direct fabric, I’d love to turn it into a blanket. 

Erin Trail