What makes fleece a great insulation material is its versatility. It does an excellent job of keeping you warm, but admittedly, down does the job better. It also does a great job of cutting the wind. It’s also naturally water resistant, and will keep you dry through a few spring showers. So women’s and men’s fleece jackets are the ideal piece of gear for a wide variety of situations, which makes a fleece jacket a must have piece for just about anyone who spends a considerable amount of time in the outdoors.
Men’s Fleece Jackets
Features to look for when buying a new men's fleece jacket.- Hood – For campers, hikers and backpackers especially, a hood is a very useful thing to have on a fleece jacket. You lose a lot of heat out of your head, after all, and a hood helps with that. It also helps keep your neck warm, another area that is often sensitive to the cold.
- Thickness – Fleece comes in a wide variety of thicknesses and densities. Thick, dense fleece, for instance, will keep you very warm and will break the wind well. Thin, porous fleece, on the other hand, will be much more breathable, and perhaps a better choice if you’re active, but will not, for example, be much protection against the wind.
Best Men’s Fleece Jackets
These are some of the better men's fleece jackets out there right now.- Marmot Afterburner Jacket - First up, a simple enough looking fleece jacket with some stand out features. It actually comes built with a layer of Gore Windstopper, which is made by the same people who do Gore-Tex, and which helps block out both wind and water, making this a great jacket to take along when you're not sure what the weather's going to do. Velcro cuffs and zippered hand pockets round out the features for this rather good men's fleece jacket.
- Patagonia Synchilla Snap-T Fleece - This is a fairly basic, value focused fleece jacket from Patagonia. It's definitely light on features, the biggest one being the price itself, which is a fair bit lower than the other two jackets on this list. There are a couple of buttons on the collar to give you some ventilation options, and a buttoned breast pocket, but other than that this is just a basic fleece jacket.
- Patagonia R1 Hooded Fleece Pullover - The R1 is a fantastic fleece jacket ideal for those who like to be active in the outdoors. It has a hood, for starters, which is a great feature to have. You can put it up when you stop and things get cold, and then down when you start moving again. It also has a fairly tight fit, to help hold in body heat, and zippered breast pocket along with thumb holes in the sleeves. The fleece fabric itself even has little lines cut in to it to help with ventilation. This is a fleece jacket where the details were thought long and hard about, and a great buy for those who like to stay active.
