On a wet, windy and miserable day I shouted to my girlfriend: “Quick! Put your dhb Women’s Flashlight Highline Waterproof Jacket on and run outside! There’s no time to waste”.
Such is the life of a cycling bloggers girlfriend.
Over the past three weeks, she’s been putting the women’s jacket to the test (there is also a men’s version, so this post will be applicable to both genders).
Aiming to keep cyclists dry and visible, the DHB Flashlight jacket costs £60 for women’s and £70 for men’s edition (there’s currently 30% off). The jacket sits among the more higher end products in the DHB range and it’s pretty clear as soon as you wear it in the first downpour that this is designed to beat bad weather.
The rain seems to just slide off the jacket. Even after a 20 minute ride in a heavy downpour, with a backpack on, there were no signs of water getting through.
The jacket comes with a long cut at the back, which keeps you dry as you lean forward on your handlebars. The cuffs can be tightened, to prevent the cold and rain from getting in from your wrists. This works really well alongside gloves too. The zip goes up really tight on the neck. Although this can be a little uncomfortable and you wouldn’t want it so tight all the time, in the heavy rain you’ll appreciate having it.
There’s a relaxed cut to the jacket, which means you can easily add additional layers beneath. In practise, with a base layer and the DHB jacket on top, you should be fine for most of the weather we get in London.
The 3M Scotchlite strips offer all round reflectivity. Despite them being very bright, they are stylishly placed. Overall, you can definitely tell it’s a cycling jacket, but it still looks great.
For your goods, there are zip pockets on the sides, breast and on the rear. The rear pocket isn’t enormous, but you could easily hold a few snacks for the ride in there or even a small d-lock. The rear pocket also has waterproofing, to keep things like mobile phones and wallets dry.
If you find yourself getting too warm, there’s the option to unzip beneath the armpits. This allows plenty of air to flow in to the jacket and is a good option for those who quickly heat up on a ride, but still want to remain dry.
There’s a real high quality feel to the jacket. The material feels solid and durable.
Overall review
I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the dhb Flashlight Highline Waterproof Jacket. It gets all the essentials right – great waterproofing, great visibility, comfy, breathable. However, the list doesn’t stop there, it looks good, it feels durable and has plenty of well placed pockets.
If you’re hunting around for a new waterproof cycling jacket and can afford to spend a little more, then it’s an excellent choice that should serve you well on rainy days.
The dhb Flashlight Highline Waterproof Jacket is available exclusively from Wiggle in men’s and women’s editions. At the time of publishing, the female version costs £60 (with a 40% discount) and then men’s version costs £70 (with a 30% discount).
Who said cycle fashion was ugly.
Oh it was me – that’s right – who on earth would wear this that isn’t partially sighted, colour blind – or both (and who also has zero taste)?
haha – I actually think it looks fine!
The jacket in your photos looks completely different to the one on Wiggle
I think dhb must have tweaked the design a little since our review
Does it fold up to fit into a jersey pocket?
Half way to St Ives now but I’ve messaged my girlfriend to check.
The jacket would really be classed as “packable” but you can scrunch it down in to the size of a larger book (The book Sapiens for example!) so it should still fit in a jersey pocket.
Thanks. That makes it a good buy.
Great review. Not too badly priced either. I suffer with over heating in rain jackets, but this sounds worth a go!
Thanks Montyz – pleased you liked it. I didn’t mention in the review that the dhb jacket also has an opening at the back, so when you lean forward on the handlebars it lets air in from there too.
This jacket has underarm vents but it’s the material that will determine now breathable . Andreas what evidence have you got that this is not just another boil-in-the-bag waterproof jacket?
It’s always tough to rate these things – for example one person will always feel cold, while the other person is reaching to turn off the heating. I try to keep my reviews as much as possible to the things that I can comment on, so I’m afraid until I can get some kind of scientific breathability testing device, there’s not much further I can comment!
Why does so much clothing for women have to have magenta/pink?!? Why can’t they just make a women’s cut version of the men’s one? Generally, I don’t see why the only options seem to be either very bright yellow, or black with some reflective bits – I for one really like the Deliveroo jackets (https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/designweek/prod/content/uploads/2016/09/05140220/2016_Deliveroo_Kit_F6A9311_CalverFinal.jpg), because they are very visible in the dark, especially when signalling, whilst looking good when it’s light, too – really nice and unisex colours, so it really isn’t that difficult! And yes, I have checked with them: no plans to sell them, however (with a less visible logo, of course) 🙁
They do have a fluorescent version too but I agree that pink shouldn’t always be a default. At least the pink in this jacket is subtle.
I have one these jackets – men’s version in fluoro yellow. Worn it all through the winter and It is as the review says very waterproof and pretty durable. Plenty of pockets and well made to boot. Good value winter hi-vis to keep the cold and wet at bay.
The slight downside is that it’s only moderately breathable. It’s much more comfortable and better ventilated than the basic boil in the bag top it replaced, but once the clocks change this weekend I will prob start wearing something lighter as it’s really too much jacket for spring/summer riding. You will probably still overheat Montyz, sorry!
It’s not that packable either, and the material is quite stiff. But if you want a light, flexible and packable waterproof jacket you are looking at £200 plus to get one. For £60-£70 this jacket is hard to beat for winter commuting.
As others have noted it is not exactly stylish. But neither is the Xmas tree light on top of my helmet – so long as people can see me in the dark I don’t care..!
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Love the jacket but it’s no longer available in my size…wondering if the men’s small would work on a woman…anyone know if the women’s cut makes that much of a difference? I’m not a curvy gal, anyway.
Thanks!
🙂