Held Hydro waterproofs review

When Scott first told us that they were going to discontinue their Ergo Pro waterproof jackets and pants, we were a bit distraught. These were, after all, the best waterproofs the motorcycle world had ever seen.

They were, of course, exceedingly waterproof. But it was the stretchy, yet robust, nature of their outer fabric, in our view, that made them so popular.

You could buy the jacket and pant to fit snugly over, say, a mesh jacket and pair of jeans. Yet so much stretch did they contain that the same pairing would work equally well over a bulky, winter outfit.

They were the most comfortable waterproofs ever, and by buying them a little on the snug side you could avoid all that noisy flapping that went with traditional waterproofs.

I don’t think we were the first people to ever offer the Scotts, but undoubtedly we made them famous, such that before too long lots of retailers jumped on the bandwagon.

For our part, so taken were we with the Scotts that it didn’t take us long to de-list all the other waterproofs we stocked. The Ergo Pros, as they were known, were simply better; and we just didn’t have the heart to offer customers what we knew to be a second-best solution.

The truth is that we sold bucket loads. At one point Scott accused us of wholesaling them overseas, but we never did that. We were just very impressed with them; and so it would seem were our customers.

Replacing the Scotts

We knew that we didn’t want to be without Scotts’ waterproofs.

We offered the company a huge order to get them to continue making them for us, but it would seem that Scott wanted to exit the motorcycle market completely. They weren’t interested.

And so we scouted around for somebody who might be prepared to make them for us.

And that company turned out to be Held in Germany. And I have to say that we couldn’t be happier. Here was one of the most technical brands in the market; and importantly a company with a Gore-Tex licence. And what that meant was that this was a company that understood the demands of making waterproof gear at the very highest level.

We started working with Held on samples in early 2024; and the results of our joint endeavour are now here in the warehouse.

Our brief was very simple. We didn’t want them to re-invent Scott’s waterproofs. Truth be told it’s always dangerous to mess with a winning formula, because you can never really know why it is a winning formula. What we asked Held to do was copy the Scotts as closely as they could.

Within those parameters what we did say to them was that we would be happy for them to improve upon their technical performance, but the basic design had to remain unaltered.

And Held being Held they stuck to the brief. Their waterproofs look identical to the Scotts, but they’re potentially quite a bit better!

Our new 'Scott' waterproofs
(Sorry, I mean 'Held' waterproofs)

Of course, the first challenge was to find the same outer fabric that Scott had used; or something very similar. We didn’t want less stretch, something less strong or something less waterproof.

We sampled a number of different waterproof fabrics. Some missed the mark. Some were similar, but not quite right. But eventually Held found a waterproof fabric that felt almost identical, but that delivered both a higher waterproofing score and a higher breathability score. And even though the Scotts were never really lacking in these departments, we took the view that ‘more waterproof’ and ‘more breathable’ could only be considered a good thing.

In fact, in terms of waterproofing the new Held waterproofs score 22,500 mm on the hydrostatic head test. That’s an improvement of 25% over the Scotts in terms of waterproofing. The breathability score has gone up, on average, from 2,000 g/24hr/m2 to 2750 g/24hr/m2. And I say ‘on average’ because the black jacket and the pants are marginally more breathable than the yellow jacket. But that’s an average improvement of 37.5%, by the way.

Now, in all the years that we offered Scott’s waterproofs, we never came across a single instance of rain finding its way through the outer fabric. But we did very occasionally see issues where the water had got in through the taping that has to be applied to every panel join on a laminated garment.

And so we asked whether Held could use their experience with Gore-Tex products to improve the taping. And so that’s one of the things they have done to improve on the Scotts. They have specified a better-quality, tape like the one used on Gore-Tex products. And they have given the factory very explicit instructions about how and where this taping is to be applied.

They are also using more advanced seam welding, meaning that in some areas taping is not even required.

We also agreed with Held that the zips should all be upgraded to YKK waterproof zips. In truth, there wasn’t really a problem with the unbranded, own-label zips used by Scott on their jackets and pants, but everybody accepts that YKK zips, although more expensive, are the best. They just don’t fail. They last longer. And YKK's waterproof zips are totally watertight.

We did one other thing to make the Helds better than the Scotts.

The Helds come, as standard, with adjustable stirrups. We offered this as a chargeable upgrade on the Scotts, but for some people these stirrups can make a huge difference.

Now, if you wear a taller, touring or commuting boot, or if you wear a full-height, adventure boot, stirrups are perhaps not so important. And to this end the stirrups on the new Held pants can simply be removed if you don’t need them.

But where stirrups can be vitally important is if you ride in short, ankle boots.

The problem is that the elasticated bottoms of the Scott pants were always liable to ‘pop off’ the short shaft of an ankle-style boot. Now, to be fair, this was never a problem attributable to the Scotts, per se. The problem is one that stems from wearing a short boot in the rain. A short boot is always going to be more susceptible to water ingress than a taller boot. But if the elasticated bottom of a waterproof pant does part company with the boot’s shaft, then the rain is simply going to bounce off the road into the boot, or run down the outside of the waterproof pant, and into it.

The solution, obviously, is a stirrup that keeps the elasticated hem of the pant in place on the boot’s shaft. And that’s what you get with the Held pants that you didn’t get with the Scotts. Adjustable stirrups.

And so whilst our brief to Held was to copy the Scotts as faithfully as they could, in doing so they have also managed to effect some important improvements. Higher waterproofing and breathability scores. Better quality and more reliable taping. Better quality, more reliable zips. And finally, adjustable stirrups.

To us this sounds like a win-win. Exactly the same as the Scotts. But better!

Sizing, pricing and availability

We have kept the sizing the same as it was on the Scotts.

And what that means is that you should still go down a size on what you reckon yourself to be. This advice applies to men’s sizes in jacket and pants. For ladies jackets, please read the size chart.

Now there was always a longer leg version in the pants. Many people went for these because they partially overcame the ‘ankle boot’ issue. But that didn’t always work. Anyway, we have also had Held also make a ‘long-legged’ version because taller folk will still need them.

As before, the jacket will be available in either yellow or black. The pants are available only in black. Which makes sense, as a yellow pant would get very dirty, very quickly.

As far as pricing is concerned, we have been unable to keep the prices down to the Scott figure. And to be honest that’s largely down to the YKK zips. We were given a lower price for off-the-shelf zips, but we reckoned the extra tenner was worth paying. That’s on us, I’m afraid.

Anyway, we have just had our first delivery in. We have scheduled re-stocking from Germany every four weeks. Now over time we will have the ability to adjust our quantities to ensure that we never run out in any sizes. But in the first few months we may well find ourselves short of some sizes if we’ve got our forecasting wrong. And if that happens; again that’s on us.

Finally, just so that you know, these new waterproofs are going to be exclusive to Motolegends in the UK. Our deal with Held allows them to sell these waterproofs into other markets, but in that they missed their ‘sell-in’ window for 2026, they will be exclusive to us worldwide until 2027.

As I said earlier on, lots of people will be trying to jump on this bandwagon. A number of brands have already presented waterproofs to us as potential Scott replacements. Some, I have to tell you, were laughably poor. Some were better, but none I would suggest have been put together with the level of care these ones have. You may, at some point, come across waterproofs that look similar to the Scotts, but that doesn’t mean that they will perform like the Scotts did. None, we can be sure, will perform like the new Helds!

You can buy the Held Hydro waterproof jacket and pant with free next day UK delivery online, or visit our store in Guildford to try one on.