Disclosure: RIDE Adventures is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program as well as other affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites at no extra cost to you. Please see our Disclosure for more details.
As of this writing, Klim's latest-and-greatest adventure jacket, the Adventure Rally, sells for an eye-watering $1,800. That's an extra $300 premium over their other flagship jacket, the $1,500 Badlands Pro A3.
We love Klim gear as much as the next person, but c'mon: you've gotta draw the line somewhere. When it comes to finding a good ADV jacket on a budget, we've found that line happens to be right around three hundred bucks.
That's the sweet spot where the best budget gear starts to materialize, giving you the best balance of quality and performance for the least amount of cash.
It's a tough tightrope to walk, but these are the jackets we've found do it the best.
| Jackets: | Summary: | Price |
|
Alpinestars Andes Air Drystar
|
A unique ADV jacket that combines dirt-worthy ventilation with removable waterproofing. | CHECK PRICE |
|
Sedici Avventura Waterproof
|
True four-season protection with thermal and waterproof liners for an insane price. | CHECK PRICE |
|
Tourmaster Mariner Laminated Jacket
|
A premium laminated membrane at a bargain price. | CHECK PRICE |
|
Rev-it Voltaic 3 H2O
|
Great option for cooler weather that retains a premium look and feel. | CHECK PRICE |
|
Alpinestars Bionic Action 2
|
Standalone armor system that's ideal for off-road biased ADV riding. | CHECK PRICE |
What Makes An ADV Jacket Worth Buying?
Finding the right budget-friendly adventure jacket means knowing how to tell the difference between cheap and cheaply made.
Here's what we look for when we're shopping affordable ADV jackets for our team.
Your jacket's first job is to protect you in a crash. To that end, the one place we wouldn't recommend compromising is safety.
Your jacket needs to protect you from impacts and slides, which means abrasion-resistant materials as well as shoulder and elbow armor are mandatory. The easiest way to determine any jacket's crash-worthiness is to look for CE-certified safety ratings.
Most jackets at the sub-$300 price point will feature level 1 certification, which is the lowest permissible standard allowed by current regulations. If you can find a jacket with level 2 armor or a full level 2 rating, even better.
Because adventure riding is more active than traditional touring, ventilation is more important than usual. Your jacket might be sufficient on the highway, but once you hit the dirt and stand up on those pegs, you'll need more airflow to stay comfortable.
We recommend looking for ADV jackets with as many adjustable vents as possible on the front, rear, and arms of the garment. This is less important in cooler weather, but as always, it's better to have it and not need it than to suffer in sweaty silence.
We look at weather protection from two angles: protection from the rain, and protection from the temperature. The first bit is easy, as you'll just need a jacket with either a waterproof liner or a fully laminated waterproof shell. Standalone rain gear works too.
Seasonality is a bit trickier. In a perfect world, the ideal ADV jacket would be warm enough for winter riding, but would also have enough of the adjustable ventilation we discussed above to adapt to the hottest days of summer.
Unfortunately, budget-built ADV gear often lacks true four-season versatility, which means you've got a decision to make: do you want a jacket that works best in the heat, or keeps you comfortable in the cold?
If warm weather is your priority, consider going with a mesh-heavy option, and then supplementing it with rain and thermal layers as the weather gets cooler. These jackets won't work in the dead of winter, but they'll carry you well into the fall without issue.
If colder conditions are your bag, you'll want to avoid mesh at all costs and focus on finding a heavier textile jacket with a decent amount of adjustable ventilation.
You'll pay the price in the heat (and in the dirt), but reap the benefits everywhere else.
Keeping the above factors in mind, we've tested a few budget ADV jackets over the last two years that truly stand out from the rest.
Here are our favorite picks under $300 for every kind of rider, from dual-sport junkies to all-season globe trotters.
Manufacturers often forgo rain protection in warm-weather jackets to keep costs down. That's all good and well if you're shopping for a generic street jacket, but when you're adventure riding in warm climates, you're still gonna get wet.
That's where the Alpinestars Andes Air Drystar comes in. We're not sure why someone didn't think of this sooner, but a mesh-heavy ADV jacket that comes with a removable waterproof Drystar liner seems like a no-brainer to us.
We're digging the Andes Air Drystar because it flows enough air for aggressive off-roading in hot climates, but also adapts well to spring and fall conditions. Adding an insulated layer beneath the Drystar liner keeps this jacket viable down into the upper 50s.
The Andes Air Drystar ADV jacket is a slimmer cut than some, so folks who run a bit wider in the midsection may need to size up or look elsewhere. This also won't work in the colder months, but for 8-9 months of the year, it's an absolute homerun for under $300.
PROS |
CONS |
|
|
CHECK PRICE:
Alpinestars Andes Air Drystar
REVZILLA| AMAZON
Comoto's (Revzilla, Cycle Gear, etc.) in-house brand Sedici is known for delivering major value. Their latest Avventura Waterproof jacket applies the brand's experience and scale to the adventure world, and as you'd expect, it's a ton of jacket for the money.
This is a legitimate four-season ADV jacket on a budget, complete with tons of zippered ventilation, a removable waterproof liner, and a high-quality quilted thermal liner. Sedici even includes level 2 shoulder and elbow armor for the money.
It's also got tons of cargo space, stretch panels for optimal comfort, and proper adventure touring styling. All that comes at a price of just $280, making this one of the best deals on budget adventure jackets currently available.
We will note that Sedici clearly cut some costs on the outer fabric, which is a thinner-than-average 450D Oxford. The same goes for the rain liner, which is fully functional but looks and feels like cheap stand-alone rain gear.
PROS |
CONS |
|
|
CHECK PRICE:
Sedici Avventura Waterproof
REVZILLA
Laminated shells, heavy-duty reinforcements, waterproof zippers, and level 2 armor are the kind of thing you expect to pay big bucks for. Tourmaster is breaking all the rules this year with their Mariner Laminated ADV jacket.
For $299, you're getting all of the above, plus an extra DWR coating for even better wet-weather performance. The Mariner even includes a full-length thermal liner, boosting its versatility into true four-season territory.
There's a ton of storage front and rear, plenty of ventilation from every angle, and a healthy amount of stretch built in for added comfort. All things considered, this is about as close to a Badlands Pro experience you'll find for under $300.
The main shortcoming we've found with the Mariner is that while the ventilation is sufficient for street use, it runs hot off-road, especially in the warmer months. The neck closure is also a bit finicky, but those are small gripes, all things considered.
PROS |
CONS |
|
|
CHECK PRICE:
Tourmaster Mariner Laminated Jacket
REVZILLA| AMAZON
If you're looking for a budget ADV jacket for cooler weather, Rev'It's latest Voltaic 3 H20 gets the nod from our team. Rev'It may be best known for its insanely premium and insanely pricey ADV gear, but the Voltaic 3 is an outstanding budget piece all-around.
We've found the 600D outer shell feels right at home for the cooler months, while a full-length removable thermal liner pushes the jacket comfortably into true winter weather. The Hydratex rain liner is sewn in, so you're always covered in the wet.
It's also worth noting that the Voltaic 3 looks and feels like a premium jacket. The styling and fit are clearly trickle-down upgrades from Rev'It's $1000+ adventure jackets, and the Voltaic looks the business from every angle.
The Voltaic 3 trades a degree of versatility for warmth, and has less ventilation than we'd like on the chest, back, and arms. The fact that the rain liner isn't removable exacerbates this issue, but as a cool-weather touring piece, the Voltaic is outstanding.
PROS |
CONS |
|
|
CHECK PRICE:
Rev'It! Voltaic 3 H20
REVZILLA
The Alpinestars Bionic Action V2 is our favorite budget ADV jacket hack. No, it isn't technically a full jacket on its own, but it's the kind of thing you can build a versatile year-round adventure setup on with ease.
The Bionic Action is essentially a full array of chest, elbow, shoulder, and back armor that's permanently attached to a stretchy mesh base layer. Throw it on under a jersey, and you're ready to tackle the hottest off-road riding in supreme comfort.
AStars technically can't market the Bionic as a street-worthy protective jacket, but because the hard armor panels cover all the most slide-prone areas, we've always been comfortable wearing it on the road with or without a proper ADV jacket on top.
Pack a rain shell and an insulated jacket, and you've got a dirt-focused touring setup. The area around the rear armpit is a bit too exposed for highway duty, but if you're primarily riding dual-sport/off-road, this will likely be a welcome tradeoff.
PROS |
CONS |
|
|
CHECK PRICE:
Alpinestars Bionic Action 2
SHOP RIDE ADVENTURES
REVZILLA| AMAZON
Thanks for counting on us once again for all your ADV needs! We hope you found the best jacket that fits your budget in this article. If you have any questions comment below or reach out to us at info@rideadv.com
READ MORE→
Beat Inflation With Our Top Picks For Budget ADV Gear in 2025
7 Best Dual Sport Helmets in 2025
9 Best Dual Sport Motorcycles of All Time