Berghaus Light Trek Hydroshell Jacket

Price: £ 170
Colour: red/grey
Weight: 394g
Material: 100 per cent nylon with polyurethane membrane
Waterproofing: hydrophilic coating
Country of manufacture: Thailand
Recommended wash: 30C in non-biological detergent

Members of the outdoor press were summoned by Berghaus a few weeks back to the edge of the Lake District to witness the launch of its Hydroshell range – an innovation for the Sunderland company designed to plug the perceived gap between its budget range and the top-priced Gore-Tex based clothing.

Hydroshell sits, both in performance and price, between Berghaus’s everyday waterproof AQ2 system and the top-end clothing which uses Gore-Tex.

The company’s research showed half of people who bought Gore-Tex clothing were unaware of the performance credentials of alternative waterproof fabrics.

So Berghaus is pinning its hopes on persuading the outdoor fraternity that its own Hydroshell clothing fits the bill.

It will come in three versions: Elite Pro, with a waterproof hydrostatic head of 20,000mm and breathability of 20,000g/m2/24 hours; Hyper will have figures of 15,000mm and 10,000 respectively; and Elite 15,000mm and 20,000.

The Light Trek Hydroshell Jacket, which Berghaus supplied, fits into the company’s trail range, designed with the committed walker in mind.

It uses the Elite version of Hydroshell, with a very respectable breathability of 20,000g and waterproofing to 15,000mm, not as high as a typical Gore-Tex jacket but good enough for most walking situations.

Berghaus has given a lot of thought to ‘comfort’ which its research found was important to outdoor fans. So the inner surface of the jacket has a raised print pattern of tiny dots and avoids the clammy feel that many non-three-layer jackets have, though its seam tapes are still fairly conventional shiny material.

The inner surface is also Argentium treated, to cut down on odour. Berghaus wants users to have to wash their waterproofs less often, for environmental reasons, and this is one way to help towards that.

The jacket can definitely be described as lightweight, though not in the realms of Berghaus’s VapourLight series.

Hydroshell Elite, as used in this jacket, weighs just 87g per square metre, compared to Berghaus Paclite’s 78g.

But the Light Trek is designed to be fairly tough too, and has reinforced fabric at likely high abrasion areas such as the shoulders and hips where rucksack straps will sit, and on the outside and wrist of the sleeves.

Berghaus took to the West Highland Way last summer to gauge what walkers thought was important in a waterproof jacket. The answers, they said, were comfort, durability and light weight. The Light Trek has been designed around those replies.

At less than 400g for the medium size, and with a small pack size when in its supplied stuffsack, the jacket won’t burden a long-distance walker’s rucksack too much.

The outer face fabric feels reasonably resilient and there are also little reflective patches on the rear of the shoulders and on the sleeve cuffs for those late finishes or early starts.

The jacket has four external pockets the top pair being accessible when wearing a rucksack. All four are deceptively large and all will easily swallow a laminated OS map.

The Light Trek Hydroshell’s main zip is one-way only and is covered by a stormflap, secured by Velcro patches. The zip ends slightly higher than the bottom hem, which has a press-stud fastening. Leaving this undone aids stepping up on scrambly ground. The bottom hem has drawcord adjusters.

The hood is nicely thought-out and works well. It’s a roll-away design but has a wired peak and proper volume adjuster at the rear, with side drawcords. It turns with the head and stayed up well walking into the wind.

Venting of the jacket is not by the usual pit zips but by two water-resistant zips on the side of the garment.

The cut of the Light Trek Hydroshell is somewhere between a multi-activity jacket and a general pootling about coat. It’s medium length and has a drop back hem.

A gloriously dry summer wasn’t the best time to try to test a waterproof jacket, but we managed to find enough wet days in the calendar to give the Light Trek Hydroshell a run-out under differing conditions.

The jacket’s breathability was good, especially in dry, cool conditions. It dropped slightly in the rain, but was still acceptable. Some moisture was retained in the chest pocket areas, but the lining meant the Light Trek didn’t feel clammy.

The side vents were OK, but tended to gape and the jacket’s sleeves then rubbed against them when walking. In the rain, we had to shut the vents as rivulets of water trickled uncomfortably into them.

When wearing a rucksack, our hipbelt prevented the lower pocket zips going all the way down.

The Berghaus Light Trek Hydroshell Jacket is a very competent jacket and has that familiar Berghaus quality feel.

It will be interesting to see if Berghaus can convince buyers that you don’t have to wear Gore-Tex to keep dry. This jacket is clearly aimed at an outdoor enthusiast who wants good performance without necessarily demanding the absolute values that Gore-Tex offers.

But Berghaus’s Hydroshell waterproof membrane will also appear in top-end products such as the Mount Asgard Hydroshell Jacket and the ultra-lightweight VapourLight Hyper Smock 2.0, which weighs just 75g.

If it’s good enough for athletes such as Anna Gatta and mountaineer Mick Fowler, who’s going to argue?

The Hydroshell products will appear in the UK shops in spring next year.

Waterproofness 21/30
Breathability and comfort 24/30
Packability 8/10
Features 7/10
Quality 8/10
Value for money 7/10
Total score 75/100