Rab Firewall Light jacket review: a hiker’s outer shell that feels like a softshell

Rab stands proud as one of Britain’s most respected outdoor brands. The quality of its range coupled with its mountaineering heritage and sustainability creds make it a favorite with both serious outdoorsfolk and logo-conscious city dwellers wanting a nice down jacket for walks in the park come winter.

This all makes Rab one of the more expensive options in the canon of British gear manufacturers. However, while its Latok Gore-Tex Pro jackets will set you back in the region of half a grand, some of its lighter waterproof jackets are more affordable, such as the Firewall Light, which shuns Gore-Tex in favor of the brand’s own Proflex fabric.

As a hillwalking jacket designed for ‘hitting the trail in mixed conditions’, I was excited to see whether the Firewall Light would cope with English fells and Scottish Munros. The jacket was supplied courtesy of Trekkit, the UK-based outdoor gear experts.

Meet the reviewer

Alex Foxfield

Alex is a Mountain Leader and former President of the London Mountaineering Club. He has a great passion for the high places and enjoys a range of activities, whether he's mountain running the English Lake District, scaling alpine peaks on mainland Europe, getting his teeth into the Scottish Highlands during winter or scrambling in North Wales.

First impressions

Let’s face it, unless you’re an alpine mountain guide or a Polar Explorer, it’s a lightweight waterproof like this that’ll see the most use both on and off the hiking trails, as they weigh very little, they’re packable and they’re comfortable to wear. In this case, Rab’s Proflex membrane is up against the likes of Gore-Tex’s Paclite, which features in superb jackets like Norrøna’s Falketind Gore-Tex Paclite.

At 313g / 11oz, The Firewall Light is heavier than the Falketind, but it’s also cheaper and feels more substantial, which is reassuring in a jacket designed for plodding up and down hills in often inclement conditions. It’s immediately comfortable and there are none of the issues you sometimes get with freedom of movement, I was able to fully rotate my arms as if I was swimming backstroke. It’s been said on more than one occasion (including by our contributor Jack McKeown) that Proflex fabric provides a softshell feel, and I have to agree. It also looks very smart, as we’ve come to expect from Rab.

Features

The Firewall Light features the same Proflex fabric used in Rab’s Khroma Kinetic ski jacket, one of our top-rated snow sports shells. Proflex is a wonderfully flexible, hydrophilic membrane sandwiched between two knitted layers of nylon. It provides a unique structure designed to enhance both moisture wicking performance and provide an effective barrier against sideways rain (or the standard sort of rain, for that matter).

Rab has been nice enough to state the fabric’s hydrostatic head ratings and breathability ratings on its website. The Hydrostatic head of a fabric gives an indication as to its waterproof qualities and the Firewall Light boasts 20,000mm, which will meet the need of all but the wintriest of hiking adventures. As you’d expect, there are fully taped seams throughout.

It's also breathable enough to thrive during more intense aerobic activities, with a Moisture Vapor Transmission Rate (MVTR) of 20,000 g/m2/day. Such breathability is vital when working up a sweat on the kind of long ascents you get in the mountains, allowing vapor to escape and keeping you dry and comfortable. The jacket is a little too heavy to be considered as a running jacket, though with these breathability creds, there’d be nothing wrong with launching into a fast trot while wearing it.

Clearly, Rab has thought carefully about comfort – the knitted backer fabric feels softer against the skin than the interior of most waterproof jackets. As mentioned, freedom of movement is excellent, enhanced by sleeve articulation.

For your bonce, the hood boasts a flexible stiffened peak to keep the rain out of your face and a single, easy to use adjustment pull point. It also fits a climbing helmet. The cuffs are extended, providing additional coverage, and fastened with Velcro. This allows the wearer to bring things in tight when the weather is miserable. The way the additional material folds over itself isn’t as elegant as on some jackets but I’m picking nits here. The hem features an elasticated drawcord that can be brought in tight via the single adjustment point on the jacket’s lower left side.

I like hand pockets on my jackets and the Firewall delivers here, with a couple of zippered pouches. They’re positioned relatively high to be still accessible when wearing a climbing harness. This adds versatility, though I reckon casual walkers and hikers would prefer them to be a little lower for that more natural resting position. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Overall, I think the versatility is a positive. All the zippers feature AquaGuard protection, YKK’s water repellent design that makes use of PU laminate to keep the drink out.

The main downside is that there’s barely any recycled material here, with just a tiny amount used in the zippers and trims, and none in the main fabric. However, there are no PFAs and Rab in general are one of the more environmentally conscious brands around, having already achieved climate neutrality in 2020 and offering repair services to keep their garments in play for longer. Love and care for your jacket, repair it when needed, and recycle at the end of its life – this way it'll be a more sustainable choice.

In the hills and mountains

I tested the Firewall Light on late summer hillwalking days in the Scottish Highlands and the English Lake District, where I came to love the softshell feel, breathability and lightweight qualities of the jacket. This kind of hiking is exactly what it was designed for and it fulfilled the brief with aplomb.

The only time I found myself wanting for a more protective shell was during a deluge while high up in the Scottish Munros. The combination of strong wind and persistent rain really took the Firewall Light to its limits and, while it kept me mostly dry, I'd have prefered something a little more bombproof. Having said that, once the rain calmed, the face fabric dried off very quickly. Nevertheless, if heavy, consistent rain was forecast, I'd opt for a more robust, heavier jacket. Likewise, I'd do the same for wintry adventures.

However, for most summer use cases, the Firewall Light truly excels. A feature that I thought was very clever is the way the hand pockets double up as ventilation when the going gets hot. The pocket's interior is a stretchy mesh panel that's loads more breathable than the nylon face fabric. So, instead of having pit zips or additional venting, the hand pockets do the job instead. This nifty little solution saves weight; the only downside may be durability in the long run but time will tell.

It's a no-nonsense jacket, which makes it very easy to get on with. The hems, cuffs and hood all adjust in a intuitive way, so I never felt like I was faffing around while on the trail. Crucially, it provided excellent freedom of movement, allowing me to scramble or run without feeling restricted in any way. When it comes to summer adventures, I value these qualities over bombproof waterproofing.