Craghoppers Jerome Gore-Tex Jacket | Review - Outdoors Magic

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Craghoppers Jerome Gore-Tex Jacket | Review

Shorter-cut, two-layer Gore-Tex hill-walking and trail jacket with contemporary styling and a hood that works decently.

‘A short-cut, two-layer Gore-Tex jacket with a decent hood that’s best suited for lower-level use and happiest with overtrousers’

Outdoors Magic: Reliably waterproof, decently low-level hood, pleasant aesthetics, solid feel from the lined soft fabric.

Outdoors Tragic: Pretty heavy, short cut, fabric not as breathable as some Gore-Tex.

Outdoors Grabbit? If want something for low-level and hill-walking rather than a full-on mountain jacket, the Jerome’s quite a neat-looking, short-cut shell made from dependable two-layer Gore-Tex. The spec and styling are neat, but it’s a little short for us and the fabric isn’t as breathable as more expensive versions of the fabric. Expensive at £220, but at the current £110 price, it’s actually very good value.

Full Specification

Waterproof hill-walking jacket / 2-layer stretch Gore-Tex fabric / moulded tooth YKK Vislon main-zip/ twin hand-warmer pockets / single phone-sized chest pocket / adjustable hem and cuffs / adjustable hood with stiffened peak

Full Review Below

The Jerome's cut is a little short meaning it works best teamed with waterproof overtrousers if you've not experience soggy crotch syndrome - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Slick-zipped hand-pockets have a pleasant micro-velour front liner for your pleasure... - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Classic Velcro cuff adjusters work just fine. Cuffs are too narrow to fit over really big gloves, but then thats not really on the jacket's agenda - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)

Craghoppers Jerome Gore-Tex Jacket – The Tech

Craghoppers call the Jerome a jacket for the ‘active trail’, we’d say it’s a low-level come hill-walking jacket, but not really one we’d use in a mountain environment in bad conditions at least.

The fabric is a two-ply version of Gore-Tex rather than the three-layer sandwich used for most mountain jackets. It means that the jacket has a separate drop liner to protect the membrane from abrasion which adds weight and also has some impact on breathability.

What is a little different for a jacket in this category, is that it gets a swanky, YKK Vislon main-zip as used in a lot of top mountain shells. Vislons are tough, very water resistant and also open and close with a super smooth, reliable action.

The hood is surprisingly capable. It gives little face coverage, but fit is good and the stiffened peak is effective in use - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Front pull cords adjust the front opening tension - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Rear cord fits top of hood to the head so it effectively works like a cap and moves with you - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)

Craghoppers Jerome Gore-Tex Jacket – Performance

The jacket has a sleek, fairly contemporary look and a soft, pleasant feel, though it is a little on the heavy side at 630 grammes for a medium thanks to that protective drop liner.

The cut is slightly short and boxy. The former is arguably a bit of a problem if you’re not wearing waterproof over trousers as it means in short, sharp cloudbursts, you end up with a soggy crotch when a slightly longer-cut jacket would give you additional protection.

What we can’t fault is the spec. That Vislon main-zip adds a little bit of classy componentry, the yellow pocket-zips look dapper and are PU-coated, water-resistant ones. And there’s full cuff and hem adjustability.

Solid Hood

The hood is pretty solid too. The stiffened peak does fine once the face opening is snugged down and it fits well and moves with your head. There’s no face coverage, so steer clear of hail showers to your front, but for normal rain it’s fine and capable.

Finally, the lower spec Gore-Tex fabric made us appreciate just how good the more technical versions of the material are. It’s appreciable less breathable if you’re working hard, but for steady walking on less steep terrain it’s fine.

No issues with hem adjustment, the spec overall is thorough and everything works fine – Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)

Craghoppers Jerome Gore-Tex Jacket – Verdict

At it’s original price of £220 the Jerome was pretty expensive for a nice, but slightly short and heavy jacket, but at the current £110 it looks like rather better value if you’re looking for a more modern-styled jacket primarily for steady, lower level walking and use about town.

Other than the weight and length, it’s also worth noting that the main-zip has no storm-flap backer, however we’ve generally found Vislon zips to be pretty reliable unless things get really nasty and in normal use, we didn’t find it a problem.

More Information

See craghoppers.com

Rear cord fits top of hood to the head so it effectively works like a cap and moves with you - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Classic Velcro cuff adjusters work just fine. Cuffs are too narrow to fit over really big gloves, but then thats not really on the jacket's agenda - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Slick-zipped hand-pockets have a pleasant micro-velour front liner for your pleasure... - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
No issues with hem adjustment, the spec overall is thorough and everything works fine - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
The hood is surprisingly capable. It gives little face coverage, but fit is good and the stiffened peak is effective in use - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
Front pull cords adjust the front opening tension - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
The Jerome's cut is a little short meaning it works best teamed with waterproof overtrousers if you've not experience soggy crotch syndrome - Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)
- Photo: Lukasz Warzecha (lwimages.co.uk)

Topics:

Craghoppers Gore-Tex

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