What's It For?
Well, the real question is: what isn’t it for? OK, so the Viper wouldn’t shape up too well in a heavy downpour or a heatwave (especially not the black version of the jacket) but it should do the job for your average day out walking in the UK at most times of year.
As softshell jackets come in all shapes and sizes - from the well-insulated, wintry weather versions to their fast and light, cut-down siblings - we should tell you that this jacket falls into the fast and light category. You can stick it in your pack and almost forget about it, or wear it to keep out the breeze / showers / cool air (delete as applicable), and Bob’s your uncle - on the Swedish side of the family.
And one more thing: we’re reviewing the women’s specific version of the jacket here, but there’s a men’s version too so most of the technical information still applies.
The Techy Bits
Haglofs clearly have confidence in their own home-grown fabrics as that’s what they’ve used in both the Cobra and Viper soft shells. The fabric’s called FlexAble and it’s supposed to be a slightly more breathable alternative to Windstopper, with greater freedom of movement.
It’s made up of a polyester lining with a Cordura outer, for extra toughness, and elastane for stretch. It’s also DWR treated – a water-resistant treatment that’s supposed to help wick moisture away from the fabric more easily as well as keeping fresh water out.
It also uses a bit of Polartec Power Stretch fabric around the wrists, which is basically another stretchy, lightweight, high-wicking fabric.
How It Performed
The first thing to say is that it’s good to see a women’s soft shell jacket with a hood. They aren’t always in abundance – certainly less so than in the men’s range – so we often end up looking twice when we do find one.
That alone doesn’t answer the question of how well it works though, but as there are plenty of conditions when you need head protection but without needing a full-on hard shell, we had plenty of opportunities to try it out.
The fabric certainly didn’t let us down – it feels pretty breathable and, although we haven’t had the jacket for long enough to make a definite call on durability, it shows no signs of wear and tear so far. It’s also pretty light, which is a definite thumbs up. The fabric is helped out by the design on that one, with mesh lined pockets and other such tricks of the trade.
What we really liked about the jacket, though, was the amount of thought that had gone into all the little details. Take the cuffs for example. Instead of finding that the spare fabric bunches up around your wrist when you try to tighten it, the use of Powerstretch means the excess layers fold neatly into place when you pull the Velcro tight and fasten it.
Then there are the hood fastenings, which are conveniently secured behind an extra layer of fabric so they don’t flap irritatingly in your face when the wind gets up.
And while we’re on the hood, we should say that we can get it over a helmet but there wasn’t much room to spare and we do have quite a small head. It adjusts nicely though, both at the back and the bottom, so you get a good fit, and a fair bit of protection for your face as well.
Back to the small details … The placement of the seams is the other feature that jumps out at you – or rather, that manages to avoid jumping out at you, as they're carefully hidden away. Instead of sitting on the shoulders, they've migrated to the top of your back, which doesn’t entirely get them out of the way of your backpack, but it does move them away from where most of the weight presses.
All in all, it seems like a really well thought-out jacket and we’ll happily wear it for another ramble or three round the Yorkshire Dales, the Peaks and, erm, Wimbledon Common;-)
Verdict
At £110 for a soft shell you have to be pretty sure the Viper’s the jacket for you, but the good thing is that you may not need all that much convincing.
Haglofs have used their own fabric in the Viper, which is pretty light and breathable, and may well be a good option if you find Windstopper more rugged than you need. But, as they say, the Devil’s in the detail – or in this case, the real achievement is in the detail. It’s not groundbreaking but every last feature is well designed and thought-out, from the high pockets to the drop-tail, and from the off-set seams to the anti-flap adjustment cords. Put all those things together and you’ve got a really well-designed bit of kit.
