Now that the daylight hours are getting longer, it’s the perfect time to be exercising outdoors. However, with daylight savings starting this month, mornings are going to go back to being darker – and lower light means less visibility.
If you’re out running on the streets, it’s important for your safety to be as visible as possible.
We had the opportunity to road test the latest women’s NightCat jacket from Puma which has reflective surfaces that improve visibility at night and in low light conditions.
Road test results
As you can see from our photos, the best feature of this jacket is the 3M reflective material which returns light back to a light source – such as vehicle headlights – creating a bright image that motorists are more likely to see from a distance.
The reflective lines and accents are all over the tapered jacket, but are not obvious in regular light (see photo to the right) so the NightCat manages to be functional yet still look stylish. A definite improvement on fluoro high vis vests!
When it comes to running jackets, we look for something that won’t weigh you down when you get sweaty. We road tested the NightCat jacket while running and walking outdoors. It was incredibly lightweight, plus the breathable mesh fabric on the underside of the sleeves, along with vents under the armpits and a series of ventilation holes in the mid-back of the jacket keep you cool when you get hot and sweaty.
Although most of the material is water repellant, the various panels of mesh fabric and ventilation holes at the back mean you may get a little wet if you find yourself in anything more than light rain.
The NightCat jacket can be folded down compactly which makes it easy to carry around. There are also decent sized zipped pockets on either side at the front including one with an internal hole for your music player’s earphones.
Key features
– Pre-shaped sleeves
– Water repellant
– Ventilation feature
– Stretchable inserts
– Reflective material
Where to get it
The Puma NightCat jacket is available for RRP $119.99 at stockists including Rebel Sport, Frontrunner and Platinum Sports Co.
Image / Supplied