Montane Superfly Jacket - First Look

Montane Superfly Jacket - First Look

Price:£99.95

Weight: 231 grammes (medium) plus 7 gramme mesh stuff sac

Features: Freeflow Micro fabric. fully-taped seams, elasticated and velcro-adjustable cuffs, two large chest pockets with water-resistant zips, adjustable hood with peak, front zip with double storm flap and Velcro closure, single-handed, elasticated drawcord hem closure. single-hand, non-whip face aperture draw cords

---

The Concept The world's lightest waterproof jacket says Montane with a claimed weight of 245 grammes for a large. Our medium tipped the scales at just 231 grammes plus a measly added seven grammes for the mesh stuff sac, so it's light, very light. Lighter even than the Haglofs LIM Ultimate Paclite at 253 grammes.

On top of that though, Montane haven't gone anorexic on the features front. It's not, for example, as long as ME's mountain-style Firefly, but longer than the minimally-cut LIM Ultimate plus you get proper pockets ...

---

Features The fabric is a very light rip-stop Micro DWR+ with a 1.5 metre hydrostatic head that manages, despite the ultra-light weight, to feel reasonably tough. It's not as massively featured as, say MHW's Epic Jacket , but has pretty much everything you'll need including two handy map-sized chest pockets with water-resistant zips, an adjustable hood, full-length zip with double flap and adjustable cuffs and hem.

---

In Action It's early days yet, but the Superfly majors on comedy light weight and miniscule pack size - think a lilttle bigger than a tennis ball - making it ideal for shoving into a day sac pocket or bum bag on those classic British summer days.

You'd expect it to be cut short and minimal then, but it's not. If anything we found the cut a little on the loose side, certainly it's a generous medium, so it may suit, erm, the fuller-figured gentleman or lady. It's also reasonably long for some crotch protection...

Elsewhere it feels well made and there are pretty much all the adjustments you need. The double flap with Velcro-closure over the main zip adds confidence when the rain gets over-enthusiastic, but we'd mind the pockets, water-resistant zips are better than standard ones, but will still leak under duress.

Breathability is surprisingly good, not up to New Paclite levels, but based on use so far, subjectively better than the silk polymer-based MHW Epic or Lowe's base level Triplepoint as used in their Adrenalin jacket. Certainly adequate and, so far, it's kep the water out too.

The hood won't accommodate a helmet, but it cinches down well to protect the face. We'd have preferred a beard guard strip over the top of the zip though and while the peak is described as 'stiffened', it's actually quite floppy and not up to serious wet and windy conditions. Just needs some additional bracing we reckon.

---

Provisional Verdict

Seriously light, seriously small packing, above average breathability, nicely made and with generous cut and, gawd streuth, you even get practical pockets that are still accessible while wearing a harness or pack.

The nice bit is that you're getting all this without losing out on a longish, generous cut or paying through the nose. Like all lightweight jackets, it won't stand long-term rucksac use or serious rocky thrutching as well as heavier fabrics, but then again it's much lighter, possibly even as Montane claim, the world's lightest waterproof jacket...

The only major revisions we'd like to see would be for us, a slimmer cut, which would make it even lighter, and a stiffer peak to the hood. Otherwise what more do you want? Very nice. Oh, the one in the pic is orange, but our test jacket is a nice shade of black. Much more discreet.

---

Montane web site

Know more or want to?

If you'd like to add your own experiences of this product check out our user review system and post your opinions to the world. If you have questions you can mail us direct, ask Richard Gear or try a posting to our gear forum.