Tested: Rab Women’s Electron Jacket

When I was given the opportunity through work to trial a Rab Electron Women’s Jacket, I was intrigued and excited to try it out for myself, especially after selling these jackets to customers for many years. I have been aware of the high quality of Rab Equipment for several years, through seeing my Mum and fellow colleagues using the kit on a regular basis, for hill walking, mountaineering and skiing.

The question is, what makes a good down jacket? The style, colour, durability, warmth? The Rab Electron Women’s jacket has all of this in abundance.

Over the past few weeks, despite not having the opportunity to trial the jacket in the depths of winter in the Cairngorms, I have worn it on a couple of smaller forays to the hills. A walk up our local hill Scolty, gave us snowy cold but dry conditions. Although when going uphill, you do get a bit warm, when standing on the top it’s just what is required to ensure that the cold doesn’t get to you. I also wore it on a quick morning trip to Glen Affric, whilst spending the weekend in Inverness. We had a walk up to the view point from the car park, which was stunning considering this was our first view of snow this winter. With the combination of crisp, cold, morning air and a fast pace set on our walk, I was really impressed with how the jacket managed to keep my temperature constant.

During the week I spend a lot of time sitting late at night in a garage in wintery Aberdeen and this has been an ideal environment for me to test the jacket out and see if it could keep me warm – and that it did! When the rest of the crew were layering on hoodies to keep them warm whilst working on the cars, I was feeling fairly smug in the 800 fill power European goose down jacket.

The Pertex Endurance outer fabric is durable when it comes to everyday activities however was obviously protected by a boiler suit when working on the cars in the garage.

This jacket contains 170g (UK size 12) of fluorocarbon free Hydrophobic down and despite being caught out in quite a few rain showers – which is a given when living in Aberdeen – the jacket still retained its ability to keep me warm.

Overall the fit and design of the jacket is very flattering, and it is the perfect combination of a stylish looking garment, yet is extremely practical.

Many outdoor brands are working on creating equipment that suits both the urban everyday environments of normal life and the wilderness extremes of the outdoors. I personally feel that Rab are at the top of the game, especially when it comes to this jacket, with finding this sweet spot.

I will be running around Aberdeen this winter, carrying out endless errands on a daily basis, and this jacket is perfect. Hopefully, I will get a chance to fully test it out in the mountains in proper winter conditions sometime soon.