Coming soon: Rab's new Down jackets

By LFTO Gear Team

Gear news

13 February 2008 14:43

It might sound like some sort of aeronautical accident, but Rab's new Microlight Down series is actually an exciting new range of insulating jackets.

The narrow-baffled coats, with or without hoods and armless body warmers, will hit the shops this September.

The warm layers are stuffed full of high-quality European down with a 650g fill. They are very light, at 320/310g for a men/women’s medium jacket without hood, which packs down to the size of a grapefruit. That’s over 100g lighter than the Mountain Equipment Alpamayo jacket, which topped a recent test of synthetic insulated tests in our sister magazine, Trail.

How they work

Down layers like these win over synthetic insulation as they keep you warmer for their weight and pack down smaller.

However, synthetic jackets provide insulation when wet and are less likely to push your bank balance into the red (although in this case the Rab Microlight series is very reasonably priced). The Microlight vests are £80, the jackets £120 and the hooded Alpine jacket (in men’s sizes only) is £130.

These jackets and gilets are medium-filled down layers that are designed to be used as mid layers in cold conditions like a freezing winter day out, and as outer layers in moderate conditions such as wild camping in spring and summer.

For more details, visit www.rab.uk.com

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