User Review: Mammut Laser Jacket

Mammut Laser Jacket
Above: The current Laser Jacket, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed January 25, 2007 by STW

Rating:
Fabric: Schoeller WB-400
Fill: none
Price Paid: $250

Excellent heavy-duty soft shell jacket. This one is no shrinking violet. The fabric is burly. More weather resistant than other soft shells I have (or have tried). The WB-400 fabric is designed that way. It is a heavier weight of stretch nylon (on the outside) melded with a very light fleece (on the inside) with some sort of weather resistant laminate sandwiched between them. So, compared to my venerable Cloudveil Serendipity Jacket (Schoeller Dryskin Extreme): it offers a little more insulation, it is more windproof, it is more water resistant, but breathes a little less well (but still better than a 'hard' shell).

Construction quality seems excellent. Features are pretty basic. There are two good-sized pockets set high on the torso (above where a climbing harness or pack strap would be) and a nice helmet-friendly hood. Not much else. Just what you need and no extra bells or whistles. One other nice feature (in my opinion): the sleeves are cut long and they taper down to a narrow opening at the cuff. There's a thumb hole there. I find this works really well both when using the thumb hole and not - with gloves or not. Nice design!

The Mammut cut is 'athletic.' I bought a size larger than usual for me. Especially since I intend to use this almost entirely for cold-weather sports and want to be able to put layers underneath. I normally wear a size large. I ordered XL in this jacket. Even with the XL, with a heavy layer underneath, the fit is still a bit tight through the back of the shoulders. Good thing the fabric is stretchy. With less-thick layers, the XL is fine for me.

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