Not too many of us in the snowmobile industry would clamor for any piece of clothing that has the word “puffy” in it. Puffy just doesn’t sound very durable when it comes to backcountry riding.
But not every last piece of outerwear we own is for snowmobiling in the backcountry. Although we’ll admit we do wear our snowmobile jackets quite a few places when we’re not riding.
When we are just running around town or wherever, we do like a little variety (read: not wear our snowmobile jackets). Fortunately for us, we were given the opportunity to try HMK’s Reverb Reversible “Puffy” Jacket. It’s a great lighter weight jacket to wear around to town, to dinner, etc.
It’s not the kind of jacket you would wear snowmobiling … at least the way we ride in the trees and such where it would be subject to a lot of branches. But then, that’s not the purpose of the Reverb softshell jacket.
It is windproof (tested and yes, it is), water-resistant (not waterproof) and breathable (not bad but could be a little better). It’s also reversible as its name suggests with black on one side and hunter/blaze/bright orange on the other side. There are zippered hand pockets on both sides and the quilted insulation does provide a decent amount of warmth. In fact, we wouldn’t (and haven’t) hesitate(d) to wear it except in the most cold temps. That’s the puffy part at work. On the more technical side, it features HMK’s 8k/5k weatherproof technology.
It also has a hood (also reversible) when you need a little shelter for your head.
The Reverb is a nice jacket that is versatile and nice looking. It quickly turned into our go-to jacket, especially in the shoulder seasons when it’s not really cold.
MSRP: $119.99
For more information visit www.hmkusa.com.