Thursday 23 May 2013

Review: Berghaus Mera Peak Jacket

Review time! Today's review is the Mera Peak Jacket made by Berghaus, from what I can gather on their website it is manufactured within the UK.

RRP - £260
Weight - 741g

Berghaus description - "Classic Lightweight 2 Layer GORE-TEX Performance Shell Jacket"

Initial thoughts

Straight out the box there's a really nice feel to this jacket, it feels like a proper hard shell and it's got the recognisable sound of Gore-Tex too! It's a good weight, feels comfortable while wearing it and as with most Berghaus products it's well made. I'm quite a big lad so I went for the xxl and it is big! I could have probably got away with an xl but managed to tighten it in using the various toggles to get a tight fit. Other Berghaus products in this size are a big smaller so I'm wondering why the cut changed so much.


To sum up the initial thoughts, feels like a tough jacket and well made. I remember hoping for it to hammer down with rain when this jacket first arrived!

Field testing

Another piece of kit from the 2012 Scottish trip! Strangely for Scotland it didn't rain until we'd been there for 4 days!

On the 2nd night of the expedition it begun... the famous sound... tap, tap, tap on the tent! At last! The rain was here and it didn't stop! From the 2nd night through to arriving at the minibus on day 3 it poured it down. This jacket was on from first thing in the morning till the minibus and I managed to keep pretty dry!

Setting off on a gradual climb I had some trouble with being too hot in the jacket so I decided to take the hood down and keep it zipped up, it managed to keep my torso very dry even with the hood down. In hindsight I should have done the pitzips before taking the hood down but I tend to run pretty warm in general so I wasn't too worried about a cold head!

With this level of waterproofing the challenge lies in making it super breathable so the person wearing it doesn't get covered in condensation from their own sweat, I think Berghaus and Gore-Tex did a pretty good job in this aspect, only on the big climbs did I find the jacket locking in a lot of moisture.

Positive points!

Great feel to the jacket

Tough Gore-Tex
Pit Zips
Plenty of pockets

Not-so-positive points!

Big size!

More breathable, a fault of most jackets, still!
Price is a bit high

Summary

A solid, well made jacket that is great for conditions in the UK - I'm not sure how this jacket would fare in more extreme weather. For the price I think you could find something better but if you love Berghaus and are loyal to them then it's a winner.


I'd recommend to a friend but would make sure they look around for a better price than the RRP.







4 comments:

  1. It’s a good review of the product. The jacket looks quite nice and it does seem to be of strong and durable quality. I’ll see where I can order one, and it’ll be very useful to keep my warm during my morning jogs as it’s getting colder where I live. I also think they’d look great when paired with my recently bought leggings.

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  2. The Kershaw Antelope Hunter and the Echo are fairly inexpensive, but good quality knives that are not as well known, but have good reputations. Buck makes a few models in this size range that are great choices, especially the Pathfinder. good pocket knife brands

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  3. can u get a fleace for this jacket

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  4. Great post. Thanks for sharing and waiting for the next one.

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