REASONS TO BUY
Very warm
Comfy hood
More stylish that most fleeces
REASONS TO AVOID
Fabric pills easily
Very heavy and bulky for a fleece
Rab Logan Jacket Review
RELATED: Best Fleece Jackets for Men of 2024
Our Verdict
The Rab Logan Jacket is a heavyweight hardface fleece that walks the line between a casual jacket and a performance layer. It's very warm and has a loose knit face that gives it an attractive look that lies somewhere between a sweater and a softshell jacket. We primarily used the jacket around town; at 25 ounces it's too heavy to carry overnight and too warm for active use except in frigid winter conditions. If you're looking for a casual fleece hoody, the Logan could fit the bill. This is the warmest fleece we've tested that has a hood. It's soooo much warmer and more comfortable than any cotton sweatshirt.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Warmth
The Logan is among the warmest fleeces we've tested. Its interior is lined with plush high-loft fleece that looks like a shaggy rug and feels soft and smooth against bare skin. The jacket has a hood that's made of the same material as the body; it increases warmth considerably and feels super cozy.
Comfort
The jacket is very comfortable for around the house or around town. It's not as stretchy or as light as many other performance fleeces that weigh half as much. Therefore, it's somewhat restrictive and we wouldn't use it for things like climbing, where you need good range of movement in your arms when they are overhead.
Weight and Packed Size
The US medium size weighs 25.5 ounces on our scale, an amount that excludes it from use on multi-day overnight trips where weight is a concern. It also packs quite large for a fleece. Many ultralight tents and ultralight sleeping bags weigh less than this jacket.
Wind Resistance
The Logan sheds winds better than high-loft fleeces without the hardface exterior, but only slightly. If the face fabric were any more wind resistant we would have included the jacket in our softshell jacket review.
Breathability
The heavy weight fabric and exterior face reduce breathability considerably compared to other performance fleeces. For many people this will not be a drawback.
Style
The Logan looks much better than the average performance fleece jacket. In this respect it's like a secret stealth weapon because masks it performance underneath the seemingly casual exterior. The chest pocket adds considerable functionality but reduces aesthetics slightly; we prefer uncluttered fronts when aesthetics matter most.
Perhaps the greatest drawback to this jacket is the fact that the face fabric tends to pill up over time. Small balls of synthetic fibers clump up and reduce the jacket's aesthetics when looked at from a close distance. From father away, perhaps ten feet, one cannot notice the pilling. This is an unfortunate drawback that could be remedied by using longer fiber lengths to create the yarn.
The hardface exterior on the Arcteryx Hyllus Hoody (left) does not pill up like the Rab Logan (right) and Patagonia Better Sweater (not shown), and stays looking new for longer.
Credit: Molly Ravits
Best Application
The Logan is a high performance casual hoody that can be used on but isn't ideal for serious outdoor adventures.
Value
The Logan is available for around $180, which is expensive for a casual jacket.
—
Chris McNamara and Max Neale
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