Berghaus Light Trek Hydroshell Jacket

Well-featured but lightweight and packable rain jacket.

The Berghaus Light Trek is a rain jacket made from Berghaus's proprietary Hydroshell material. The jacket is lightweight at 420g for the men's large but remarkably well-featured.

It has a double storm flap which can make zipping and unzipping the jacket fiddly, but is worth it for the protection; map-sized chest and hip pockets; and underarm venting zips. The hood is fully adjustable with a wired peak. There are also hem drawcords and velcro cuff adjustment strips. 

The chest area showing double storm flaps and chest pockets

The jacket comes with a small stuff sack, which you have to be careful not to lose. Indeed mine seems to have disappeared. Hopefully it will turn up, perhaps at the bottom of some backpack or other.

The hip pockets are elevated, but not quite high enough to clear my rucksack hipbelt. However the spacious chest pockets are enough for my needs.

I am 6'1" with a 41-inch chest. I have the large, which is a generous fit with plenty of room for layers underneath. I could almost size down to the medium, but I would then probably find the sleeves slightly too short.

The jacket has a hydrostatic head rating of 15,000mm and a breathability rating of 20,000g/m2/24hrs. Specs aside, I have found the breathability of the jacket to be limited. On one occasion when I was walking in the rain in relatively warm conditions, so much condensation built up on the inside of the jacket that I thought the material was leaking. However I tested the jacket under a garden hose for ten minutes and I remained dry. 

Condensation on the inside of the jacket

Doing the garden hose test

The jacket seems durable. It is reinforced at the shoulders, hips, and outsides of the sleeves. I have had it for about a year and it still looks as good as new.