Down and Insulated Jackets

Sprayway Selen Jacket | Review

For the affordable price, you'd be hard pressed to find a better insulating jacket than the Sprayway Selen

Sprayway are a company born and raised on the beautiful hills of the Peak District in Central England – so they should know more than most about producing gear that can keep you warm in adverse weather conditions.

With their Selen jacket (also available as a men’s model, called the Rador) the company have designed a bit of kit that can do exactly that, and they’ve put an incredibly reasonable price tag on it as well.

Sprayway describe the jacket as a “versatile, micro baffle loose blown synthetic jacket perfect for cold days”, and quite frankly we’re micro-baffled that it only costs £100. For a product with this spec, that’s an incredibly reasonable price.

“The jacket is a synthetic coat designed to mimic all the best heat-retaining properties of down”

The synthetic insulation in the Selen is designed to mimic all the best heat-retaining properties of down. But it has the added bonus that the jacket will still retain heat in wet weather – something that we’re sure Sprayway’s designers are familiar with. As a general rule, whereas down struggles to work in the rain, synthetic insulation continues to perform well, and this is no exception.

Stitch through baffle construction means that all the good stuff keeping you warm will stay exactly where it’s meant to and let as little warmth out as possible. The elastane bound hand pockets are great for keeping your mitts warm even if you didn’t bring gloves along, and elastane bound cuffs are convenient and comfortable no matter what the conditions. There’s also a close-fitting hood for the extra cold days.

Another thing we love about the Selen is that it comes with a handy stuff sack, and that the jacket is conveniently compressible, so it packs pretty small and won’t take up a lot of space in your backpack.

We're "micro-baffled" this jacket only costs £100. Photo: Chris Johnson.

The close-fitting hood is ideal for days when it's extra cold. Photo: Chris Johnson.

You'll really appreciate these pockets when the temperature starts to drop. Photo: Chris Johnson.

The Sprayway Selen packs down nice and small for convenience. Photo: Chris Johnson.

This is a great option from Sprayway that has everything you need for a day on the trails when the weather turns that bit colder. It might lack the super-tech features of some of its pricier rivals, and we found that the sizing on the sample we were sent wasn’t quite the right fit for our tester, so if you’re looking at one of these, you might want to try it on in the shop first.

That said, there’s a reason this has been picked for the Outdoor 100 – it’s warm and comfortable to wear, easy to pack away, and most importantly won’t break the bank. What more could you ask for?