Mountain Warehouse Bracken Extreme Melange 3 in 1 Womens Jacket – Review

What Suse tested

Bracken Extreme Melange 3 in 1 Womens Jacket from Mountain Warehouse £89.99 Buy it here

• 3 in 1 jacket
• Waterproof
• Breathable
• Adjustable features

What it is

What the heck is a 3 in 1 jacket? A 3 in 1 jacket is two smaller coats that can be put together to make a larger coat. There you go. This particular version is a outer waterproof shell with taped seams and a storm flap plus a warm lightweight jacket, that can be layered together to make a bulkier warmer jacket.

To make it fair to each component, this is now going to become a 3 in 1 review with each way of wearing it getting an individual verdict.

1. The outer waterproof shell

I love the colour of this outer component. It’s why I chose this jacket, I won’t lie. It’s a lovely blue that is made slightly more muted and elegant by a faint darker horizontal stripe running across it, very finely. The resulting pattern reminds me very much of the colouring that can be found in dupion silk.

The hood can be removed by unzipping and undoing some very well hidden velcro fasteners. The hood is lined with a smooth polyester style lining fabric. Best bit about this hood is that it is reasonably roomy but doesn’t let the rain in even in the wind due to the shaping and the very clever little faux peak at the top of the hood. The cord to tighten the hood has nice little grab points and is tethered to the hood with a neat little finger grip.

The jacket is fully lined so there’s no sense of cramming bare arms into a clammy waterproof. The body is lined with mesh and the sleeves with polyester style lining material. There is an elastic cord tightener on the inside to tighten the fit of the hem, and again this is all tethered in.

There are two inner pockets, one with a vertical zip and a neatly finished outlet for a cable (phone pocket) and a smaller top opening pocket on the other (mp3 pocket). On the outside there are three pockets, two low and one breast. The low pockets are lined with fleece which is lovely for cold wet hands to hide in, and nice and deep. The breast pocket is decently sized. All outer pockets have zips and the zip pulls all have extender cords and a sealed finger grip.

The front zip has a protector at the top to stop you catching your skin in the high zip position and a lower zip release in case you need to get a bit more movement without unzipping from the top down. The cuffs are partly elasticated and have a Velcro tightener to provide an even closer seal. The storm flap is a good size (this is the bit that folds across the front zip to keep the rain out) and has a decent popper at top and bottom. It sheds water very well and dries off very quickly once out of the rain. I liked that very, very much. There is even a well finished zip under each arm so you can allow for better ventilation if you need it. It is so nicely finished that I didn’t notice it was there for a week, so it certainly isn’t bothersome if you don’t need this functionality.

Overall

I think this is a great little waterproof. I really like all the little details on the finger grips for the outer zips and the tethering for the hood elastic. The peak on the hood is awesome and works really well for me. It folds down very small and takes up very little room. Lots of pockets. None big enough for an OS Explorer map, so mine stays in the backpack – but my annotated photocopy of the walk of the day will fit nicely in the breast pocket.

What could have been better? As a general waterproof there’s little to be desired. I like it very much.

2. The inner softshell jacket

The inner is a slightly brighter blue without any tonality in the fabric. Inside it’s nice and snug; nice to throw on over a t-shirt, but not so hot that walking in it on a breezy day becomes a chore. The collar turns up nice and high and again the zip has the little tab at the top so you don’t zip your skin into it accidentally.

There are two inner pockets, one on each side. Don’t drop loose change in here, there are outlets at the bottom of each. Good for phones, media devices, or small maps. Mountain Warehouse suggest A5 maps will fit well.

There are two outer pockets, both low and both with a zip fasten. Decent hand size but not much room for anything else, nice and warm on the inside. The sleeves are decently long. The pockets both have cord extenders but no plastic finger grip, just a knot. Sadly most of my knots have come undone by themselves after a fortnight of casual testing.

Overall

It’s a very nice liner but in my opinion not as nicely finished as a standalone soft-shell. It does keep the worst of the wind out. I’ve spent three days on a cold camp wearing this as a top layer over a base thermal layer and a long sleeve fleece, and only in the late evening did I need to pull the top waterproof layer on to keep the chill out.

What could have been better? Finger grips on the zip cords, and a better finish on the cuffs. The stitching on the cuffs is a slight disappointment given how decent the rest of the finish is and a real tell that this jacket has been made as an intended inner layer not as a soft-shell jacket in its own right.

3. The combined 3-in-1 coat

There has been some care given to how the two coats are fastened together to make a bulkier, warmer waterproof. The inner soft-shell has three little elastic loops, one at each wrist and one at the middle of the back neck. The outer waterproof has corresponding popper tabs to hold things together so they don’t shift about. The inner soft shell zips can zip into the outer waterproof, so you don’t have flappy coat layers at the front but you do lose access to half your pocket allowance when you do this.

The Verdict

Is the combined coat better than a dedicated winter padded waterproof coat? I’m not sure it’s as warm but this should get you through unexpected rough weather. I got caught in some awful rain in it and was very snug and dry indeed. Over some other layers it saw me through a chilly camping trip (9 to 10 degrees and just sitting still reading outside without a windbreak).

Does it go together well? Yes, if you’ve got a few minutes to connect all the tabs and elastics, and if you don’t mind losing access to pockets by zipping the coats together at the front. I personally would intend to wear the soft-shell jacket alone a great deal of the time and carry the waterproof for the inevitable British rain shower. I doubt that when I need the waterproof in a hurry I’ll stop to worry about fastening the tabs especially as I can’t reach the back neck one by myself.

Do I recommend this jacket?

Yes, especially if you are after something made to be modular. The waterproof element is exceptionally nice and the inner is decent enough.

It’s super handy to be able to pick up a single product that gives me both a soft-shell and a waterproof without having to fiddle about with checking sizing to make sure one will definitely fit under the other properly.

It is also an excellent option if you are just starting to get into going outdoors seriously and aren’t quite ready to start buying individual components yet.

Thank you to Mountain Warehouse for providing the jacket for Suse to review.

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