Why We Chose It: Very innovative and unique, lightweight and eco-friendly
Price: £270
Weight: 380g
We’ve seen plenty of shoes that use the so-called ‘super material’ called graphene, mainly those from British trail running brand Inov-8, but we’re only aware of a select few brands that have utilised it for a garment.
Now, Haglöf’s have joined that exclusive list, building the material into their new update to their Mimic jacket for 2020.
The Mimic family has thrown up some well-reviewed jackets over the years here at Outdoors Magic. Just like The North Face’s Thermoball Collection, it’s a lightweight insulator with a synthetic fill that closely mimics down (hence the name), albeit with the added benefit of being able to retain its loft even when it gets wet. The graphene is actually mixed in with the fill, using its impressive thermal conduction properties to spread out heat throughout the garment.
What’s The V Series Mimic Best Suited To?
This is one of those lightweight insulated jackets that’ll work as part of a layering system during winter or that will be kept in your backpack during summer to pull out on a windy summit or at camp during the evening. I’d say it’s comparable to Rab’s Xenon or, like I mentioned above, The North Face’s Thermoball – basically it brings a nice bit of insulation but it’s not going to be suitable as your sole insulator during a hike at 5000m in the Himalaya.
Materials
The Mimic fill used here isn’t just similar to down in terms of its performance, it also looks and feels like down, and it’s built into the micro baffles of this jacket in the same way that it would be in a down jacket. Essentially what I’m trying to say here is that you wouldn’t know this isn’t filled with down. It feels like any other 700 fill power down jacket.
