Lightest Down Jacket Ever?

Japanese brand Mont Bell is now available in the UK and one of the first garments we've seen from them is an insanely light down jacket.

The brand is huge in its native Japan, but has recently expanded to take in the US market as well. Alongside a range of clothing from expedition mountaineering kit to ultra-lightweight backpacking togs, the company also produces sleeping bags, with an interesting stretch fit concept, shelters and packs.

The UL Down Inner Jacket that turned up on our doorstep the other day, is the result of the company's mission to produce - and we quote - 'the lightest and warmest insulation layer possible without compromising on fit or features'.

That means a phenomenally light and silky 15-denier nylon shell fabric wrapped around a small quantity of 800 fill power hypoallergenic goose down. Construction is stitched through to save weight and the jacket uses press-studs rather than a zip for the same reason - easy to undo, slower to do up.

It really is ridiculously light - a Japanese market large, equivalent to a UK medium weighed in at a genuine 204 grammes on the OM scales, or 211 grammes if you include the stuffsac supplied. To put that in perspective, it's around the same as a medium weight baselayer top... It's also very small when packed down, making a cylinder about 20cm long x 10cm in diameter.

Mont Bell says that it's 'warmer than most heavy fleece jackets' and is also suprisingly wind resistant. Obviously it's more of a ultra-lightweight fleece substitute than a conventional down jacket and it's best suited - like all down - to a cold, dry environment. There's also a similar synthetic jacket which we also have on test.

We'll bring you a proper test soon, but if you're after super-lightweight, super-compact insulation, it should definitely be on your list.

At the moment available only from OM shopping partner hikelite at www.hike-lite.co.uk more details of the Mont Bell range at www.montbell.com.