The North Face Venture 1/2 Zip Waterproof Pant Review

5 out of 5 stars.

I bought these fantastic looking waterproof pants in October last year to replace an old pair of cheaper waterproof pants that had begun to leak. The North Face Venture Pant were my first choice out of a large range of waterproof pants on the market today. I was looking for performance, quality and style.

I love the look of these, bringing a sense of style to waterproof bottoms, most importantly from that perspective - they are not baggy like a lot of the same types of waterproof pant that are out there! This is particularly important in my view, for instance getting a pair of Gaiters over the top of my old waterproof pants was a nightmare, and if you popped them underneath 'Bear Grylls style' then you ended up looking like you had gone out specifically to buy a baggy pair of pants - they also when wet wet seemed to get even bigger! The North Face's Venture Pant however are not by any means tight, but instead taken in a lot more than other waterproof pants currently on the market - thus allowing freedom of flow when trekking  for long distances, scaling a hill or mountain, or when simply crossing rocky and uneven terrain. There are as standard Velcro adjustable fasteners at the bottom of each leg allowing you to adjust the tightness around your boots or Gaiters as you please too.

One of the first things you notice about the pant is the feel of them, the outer Hyvent DT material is a tough anti-rip, light weight, extremely waterproof and highly breathable fabric - the feel of quality indeed. The pants come in a large choice of sizes too with three leg lengths to choose from which is a bonus for me - again my last waterproof pants had a tenancy to catch underneath my boots which obviously damaged the material over time. I was able to get a slightly shorter leg length with these stopping the drag, but also still preventing water from getting the bottoms of my combat pants underneath wet too.

 The pants have a half zip leg, which can be slightly annoying sometimes. I personally do prefer a full zip leg allowing for quick pull on / off when out in the wilds. This means that sometimes if you’re exhausted or in the dark perhaps – can tend to lead to you jumping around on one leg trying to get the pants over your boots! But I knew this when I bought them so was something I had planned for. My old waterproof pants only had a quarter zip, so these new pants still outdid them massively in that respect too.

The waist draw cord is pretty basic, but effective feeling secure with an elasticated waist...

 So, the overall performance has been awesome, I love these waterproof pants – and I always seem to wear them on a hike somewhere, and they've never let me down. They look great next to my jacket, and in my view give a professional look to other hikers or passers-by too. To be honest I couldn't recommend these enough, and retailing for around the £50 mark you can’t go wrong with these at all.