Berghaus RG 3-In-1 Review

Chris Writes:

What we’ve been testing this week:

Berghaus RG 3-in-1 Jacket

It’s been unusually wet and cold this past week, so I thought it would be the perfect time to test out the new Berghaus RG 3-in-1 jacket. Based on the popular RG1 waterproof, the RG 3-in-1 adds a zip in fleece for extra warmth.

Seeing as the fleece is the biggest new feature of the jacket, I’ll talk about it first. A 100 weight fleece, similar to the Berghaus Spectrum micro full zip, the fleece does a lot to take the chill off cooler air. It is not, however, anywhere near as warm as a full blown spectrum or activity fleece, and you probably wouldn’t want to wear it on its own outside in the depths of winter. For cooler summer evenings and indoor use though, the fleece is comfortable and warm, but more than that, it’s convenient. I found that I was using it much more than I usually would when I felt chilly simply because, being linked to my coat, I always had it with me.

Moving onto the coat, I was able to test it out in the rain depressingly often. The Berghaus Aquafoil fabric keeps the jacket waterproof and relatively light, though this is definitely a mid weight jacket. It has all the features that we’ve come to expect from Berghaus – good stitching, properly waterproof rather than ‘water resistant’, and a slightly longer cut to keep more of you dry. The interactive zip also means that you could zip a spectrum or other heavier Berghaus fleece in for colder weather, though I doubt that you’d need too. This is because with the included fleece zipped in, the jacket does a superb job of trapping air, andfor the active hiker I would suspect that unless it’s truly freezing it would be all that’s needed in the UK.

There are a few bad points that I should probably mention. The fleece doesn’t have zipped pockets – irritating when you leave your keys in there and they drop out when you sit down. I was initially irritated with the arms of the fleece when they were zipped into the jacket – they stuck to my arms when I took the coat off. I eventually realised that they could be attatched to the cuffs via the poppers inside the arms, which solved the problem.

Overall I would recommend the RG 3-in-1 to those hiking in the UK and Europe, or even people who just want to stay warm and dry around town. Berghaus have come up with another solid combination of products, that I think will be perfect for the Autumn/Winter season.