Advnture Verdict
A very lightweight and highly packable gilet top, the X-Lätt Vest from Fjällräven is perfect for spring, fall and the milder winter months, when it supplies an extra layer of thermal protection for the torso area. The fill isn’t especially thick, but being synthetic (and recycled) it does maintain its thermal protection and ability to keep you warm even when wet. Beautifully designed, with three excellent pockets, it’s a classy, functional garment that looks great and will provide years of service (which is just as well, because it’s quite an investment).
Pros
- +
Extremely lightweight
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Highly packable
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Excellent pockets
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Two-way zipper
- +
Recycled materials used
Cons
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Relatively thin
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Pricey for a synthetic vest
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Neck coverage could be better
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Fjällräven Expedition X-Lätt Vest: first impressions
Vests, or gilets if you prefer, are one of those categories of outdoor clothing you don’t realize you need until you start wearing one, and then you can’t believe how you ever lived without it. Even more so if your first gilet is as good as the Fjällräven Expedition X-Lätt Vest.
• List price: $175 (US) / £190 (UK) / €199.95 (EU)
• Insulation: Recycled polyamide
• Fill weight: 60g/m²
• Gender availability: Male / Female
• Sizes: women’s XXS-XXL; men’s XS-XXL
• Weight: 203g / 7oz
• Colors: men’s: Terracotta Brown / Black / Navy / Green / Deep Forest; women’s: Flame Orange / Port / Black / Patina Green / Deep Forest
The best vests are perfect as an outer layer on milder, dry fall and winter days, when you can wear them over the top of a good base layer to keep your torso, neck and vital organs warm, while allowing your body to breathe and your arms to move freely whilst hill hiking or climbing. If you do get caught out in the rain, then it’s easy to pull a waterproof shell jacket over the top. And, as winter deepens and the mercury properly plummets, you can wear a gilet over the top of chunky fleece and/or beneath a thicker winter jacket.
The beauty of a vest is that it’s far less bulky to carry than a full puffer jacket or down coat, so you can pop it in a hiking backpack or daypack when you go out, just in case you need it.
Fjällräven Expedition X-Lätt Vest: design and materials
There’s a down-filled vest within Fjällräven’s Expedition range (which is a top-quality piece of apparel, and has a premium price tag to match), but the insulation used in the X-Lätt Vest that I’ve been testing is both synthetic and 100% recycled.
There are several benefits to this, beyond the (slightly) more accessible cost of the garment. It means the gilet is suitable for vegans and vegetarians, and you don’t have all the ethical issues about how and where the down has been sourced. In addition, it means the fill won’t clump up or lose its thermal properties should the vest get damp, so it will keep you cozy and warm even on the soggiest days (which feather down, even with all the treatments it gets these days, still struggles to do).
And it’s more robust; of course, I’d still recommend treating all your gear with the care and respect it deserves, but these garments are intended for proper outdoor use, and you can subject a synthetic vest to more rough and tumble than a down gilet, without impacting its performance (there are no feathers to damage).
The X-Lätt Vest from Fjällräven isn’t especially thick (60g per square meter), but the fill is kept in place by multiple rows of finely stitched baffles, which give the garment a pretty classy design and look, as you might expect from the Swedish outdoor specialists.
The X-Lätt opens fully, and has a top-quality YKK zip. There are three pockets in this vest: a pair of hand pockets in the usual place, both zipped, and an interior, vertically orientated zip pocket on the left chest. It has a reasonably high neck and an extended back, which covers the top of your bum.
Fjällräven Expedition X-Lätt Vest: on the hills
I’ve been testing the Fjällräven Expedition X-Lätt over the last few months, as the end of fall has slipped by and winter proper has kicked in. When temperatures were still fairly mild, I really appreciated the additional cover this gilet gave me around my core, while still letting me hit the hills quite hard, but without overheating. Naturally, being sleeveless, there is ample ventilation around your armpits, and it’s amazing how big a difference this makes when you’re climbing steep slopes and scrambling up crags.
As the temperature has steadily dropped, I’ve been experimenting with various layering setups, wearing a variety of fleeces of different thicknesses beneath the vest, and a trying a several outer shell layers over the top. And therein lies the beauty of this top: it’s extremely versatile, and can be used in myriad different ways.
The other element I like about the X-Lätt Vest is how packable and portable it is. With the synthetic fill, you can scrunch it up and jam it into the pocket of a pack, without worrying about causing damage; and it’s super light, so you barely know you’re carrying it. But if conditions turn suddenly cold – as they so often do when you reach a peak or an exposed ridge line – it’s there to save the day and keep you warm.
The X-Lätt Vest is not as chunky or as warm has some other gilets out there, though, and there isn’t a huge amount of coverage around the upper neck and chin, areas that can feel a little exposed on very cold days.
