Helly Hansen aegir Ocean race
Jacket £500 Salopettes £350
We tested the Race version of Helly Hansen’s Aegir range as the full Ocean suit would have taken us significantly over budget. The Aegir Race offers the same quality and style as the Ocean, but with less bulk.
Jacket
The jacket was one of the least bulky on test. Despite this, it still offers plenty of cosy protection with a good tall microfleecelined collar. The face guard offers loads of adjustment at both ends and stows away neatly into a little pocket in the collar. The elasticated nose piece helps ensure a good fit, but was a bit bulkier than the more contoured panels on other jackets. The hood is held securely in place by Velcro on the collar and it stows away into a mesh panel to allow it to dry.
A waterproof zip closes the jacket with a single storm flap inside, but does away with external storm flaps. Despite being shorter than the full Ocean jacket, we still found it plenty long enough. This was the only jacket not to have large cargo pockets, opting instead for zipped pockets, and chest hand-warmers.
Salopettes
These were the only salopettes to offer a full-body fit rather than adjustable straps, with the body made of lightweight, soft-shell fabric. This reduced bulk, but does not offer adjustment for body length. The trousers included a large cargo pocket on each thigh, but hand-warmer pockets weren’t present.
The women’s version includes a drop seat with a waterproof zip around the seat rather than up the sides. Just make sure you close it properly. There was plenty of reinforcement on the knees and seat and the legs were wide enough to fit over our wellies.
test VERDICT
There were no leaks in our splash test, and the jacket offered great flexibility thanks to its pared-down design. Made of Helly Hansen’s own Helly Tech Professional fabric, these felt good quality with a high standard of finish. The only shortcoming was the absence of hand-warmer pockets on the salopettes and cargo pockets on the jacket.