Regatta Azuma II £100

■ I■su●atio■ Atomlight polyester ■ Me■’s S-XXXL ■ Wome■’s 8-20 ■ Weight 547g (size L)

IT'S GOOD

For the price you are getting a lot of great features here. Firstly this is a warm jacket, so it’s great for throwing on during a summit break, as well as bothy or camping nights. You also get some practical benefits such as a hem drawcord, Velcro-style cuff adjustment and a hood with face drawcords – all features that are often lacking even in higher-priced jackets. The two main pockets are zipped and deep, so they are great for handwarming. Put it on and it’s noticeably longer than many others, and the hood fits reasonably closely. Even with those detailed extras, this is not the heaviest jacket around either.

HOWEVER

At this price it’s not surprising that the details are not quite as good as in the higher-priced jackets. The most striking issue is that the hood does not move well with the head, and also the cuffs and hem easily ride up when stretching. If you are counting the grams then there are lighter options. Also, like many jackets the pockets are quite low, so they cannot be accessed if you wear a rucksack with this. Some higher-priced jackets get a larger piece of soft fabric to protect the chin too. While colour preference is a matter of personal choice, the faded two-tone design does challenge me more than most.

VERDICT

At this price, the performance is excellent and will serve many hillwalkers well when sitting around in the hills – but higher-priced jackets do have practical benefits.