Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsLess is more.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2022
This may not be the best fleece jacket you will ever own, but it could well be the best value for money. Fleece is a fairly basic material that is reasonably warm, highly breathable and fairly light weight, compared to say wool. However it offers almost no protection against wind or rain so is best suited to being worn as a mid layer.
This jacket offers almost no frills e.g. no shoulder or elbow reinforced patches, no 2 way zip and not even a hem cord with cord locks. However most of these features merely add weight and cost and provide very little benefit in the real world.
Ultimately what really matters are decent materials, good quality construction and accurate sizing and happily this jacket is very good when it comes to these criteria.
Overall this jacket provides good warmth, from a mid weight material, being around twice the weight of a micro fleece fabric. It fits me very well and the slightly elasticated cuffs and hem are sufficient to keep out any draughts. There are two hand warming outer pockets with zips and additionally 2 large inside “poacher” pockets big enough for a Ordnance Survey map but much more likely to be used for a hat or light weight windproof shirt/waterproof smock. The poacher pockets also provide a useful double layer of insulation, like wise the collar also has double thickness of material
If worn under a Goretex type jacket you may miraculously find that the jacket suddenly becomes far less leak prone. This is because around 99% of the moisture inside the jacket is not in fact rain coming in, but sweat that cannot get out, but can be managed very effectively by the fleece.
