Trust me when I say that the Valiance keeps you insanely warm. Wet down feathers clumping together will severely reduce the efficiency of the jacket at trapping warm air next to your body. This prevents loss of loft if moisture gets into the insulation and is often the main failure mechanism for down jackets when they get wet. Moreover, the down feathers trapped within the baffles are treated with a hydrophobic Nikwax coating. The bonded box-wall design means that none of the main panels of the coat have any stitching or seam taping within the panel and so are remarkably waterproof. These are just about the best down feathers that Rab supply (in terms of volume or ‘loft’), and they are from ethically reared geese. Rab have used a bonded narrow box-wall design for the Valiance, filled with 800 fill-power goose down insulation. The inner depths of the Valiance is where things get interesting. They are things of beauty! Insulation and Warmth The main front zip of the jacket is a YKK Vision and is similarly smooth. The Valiance has two front hand-warmer pockets which use YKK Aquaguard zips – these have a very smooth action and are a pleasure to use (I love a good zip action!). Each seam of the jacket is taped which means that these traditional weak points for leakage are fortified like a dam on a reservoir. It is also highly windproof which can be a godsend on particularly icy walks.Įvery zip and seam on the Valiance is designed with maintaining this waterproof nature. Pertex Shield is a lightweight technical fabric which has a microporous coating to prevent water ingress. The Rab Valiance is a 660g down jacket which uses a Pertex Shield waterproof and breathable top layer to provide a complete barrier against liquid water droplets from entering the inner depths of the jacket. Let’s start with a description of the technical details and construction of the Valiance. Was I correct in trusting them? Read on to find out…īe sure to also check out our independent round-up of the best down jackets currently on the UK market if you’re in looking for warmth on your hikes and outdoor adventures. I had found myself in need of a decent waterproof down jacket as the Winter months approached, and bought the Valiance blindly (with my own funds I hasten to add!) based purely on the specifications provided by Rab in the product description. It is a jacket specifically designed for the nasty combination of extreme cold and rain which is actually quite a commonplace weather pattern in the UK. This is where the Rab Valiance jacket comes in. ![]() However, the waterproofing ability was almost non-existent, and I found myself having to wear a dedicated waterproof Gore-Tex shell layer on top to stay warm and dry. We recently reviewed the Rab Prosar down-filled jacket and were very impressed by the lightness, compressibility and warmth on offer from it. ![]() I felt a little deflated – Derbyshire just doesn’t seem as glamorous as ‘the Highlands of Scotland’ to my impressionable mind. For some reason I had always imagined Rab to be a Scottish company, owing to their founder Rab Carrington being a proud Scot. I only recently discovered that Rab, the upmarket outdoor clothing design house, are based just up the road from us in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
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