Helikon Jackal Soft Shell

Posted by Unknown On Sunday, November 25, 2012

KitbagQuarterMaster
SourceLogoHelikon-Tex®
Jackal Soft Shell- Reviewed by Yosser


Jackal Label
This is the latest jacket from Helikon-Tex and what a great cool name for a new style laminated fleece in Helikon’s growing range. The uber cool Jackal Soft Shell Jacket.

Helikon refer to the material the Jackal is made from as Shark Skin which lends a smooth finish to the fleece fabric and top it with a Dupont Teflon coating, this aids with the water proofing and causes rain to bead and of course effectively gives the surface a wipe clean finish.

The body of the soft shell has a more traditional fleece finish along with the mesh internal pocket sections. The collar does not contain a stowed hood but has a rather nice soft fleece finish which is
Jackal with QSA
appreciated in the cold weather with the zip fully pulled up and collar up to keep neck and chin warm.

You won’t go short on pockets either with the Jackal as it has pockets on both upper arms but no hook and loop for tactical patches which gives these jackets a more low key look & feel to them. The external body of the Jackal has two main side ‘slash’ pockets with plenty of room for keys, wallets and most pocket fillers that we all accumulate. An additional external pocket is located on the left side chest panel and I’m glad to see they’ve incorporated a head phone/wire pass through port, as usual great for comms, mobiles or mp3’s.


Jackal Soft Shell FrontJackal Soft Shell Side QSAJackal Soft Shell RearJackal Soft Shell Pistol fitted
Helikon-Tex Jackal Soft Shell with Quick Side Access

All the zips are quality YKK zips and the external pockets all have those nice Helikon zip-pulls making use with gloves easier. The main jacket zip is a two way affair and has a sizable storm flap at the back of it to help keep out the cold, I’ve been wearing this for more than a week now and it’s a lovely warm jacket. Internally it has four zipped pockets, 2 upper chest, 2 lower with the comms pass through from the external top left pocket coming through to the left upper pocket. Again each internal pocket is big enough for most normal pocket type objects you might want to store.

The lower waist band can be drawn tight via pull cords but now we come to the Jackals special feature! It has both left and right side closures which make this one of the most ideal range jackets I have seen, Each side can be opened or closed to accommodate a pistol holster (or other bulky belt kit), Each side is Velcro fastened and zippered plus quick snap buckles that makes up this QSA™ system (Quick Side Access). This new system is ideal for range users, as they can be cold drafty places and this jacket helps keep you warm while allowing easy access to pistol or belt kit which would otherwise be under other style jackets. As a range jacket this is ideal and I haven’t come across anything which comes close to this in this sort of price range.

Jackal Soft Shell CollarJackal Soft Shell CuffJackal Soft Shell QSA BuckleJackal Soft Shell QSA open
Helikon-Tex Jackal Soft Shell Quick Side Access & details

So whilst on the range you can have your holster handily placed through the QSA™ system the covert low key nature of the Jackal Soft Shell also gives those who don’t wish to display holsters and pistols (think police, PMC’s and other emergency services) but may need quick access to such items, can still use the jacket with their weapon safely out of view and by pulling the cords situated at the bottom of the jacket releasing the QSA™ buckles and undoing the zip. So, if you right handed, a quick pull of the cord with your left hand you can be reaching down to draw your pistol in seconds. What a great innovation from Helikon-Tex and one I’m sure we’ll see developed across more of the range in future (I hope).



Video Courtesy of Helikon-Tex - the jackal QSA system

Yosser says: I expect to see more and more Range Officers wearing these jackets and they won’t look out of place in normal day to day wear either, you wouldn’t really notice anything unusual about them on the high street which gives them a great low key look. With the weather getting colder this will keep you warm on a draughty range – something I can attest to having worn this at a local range at the weekend, such a asset to have on Action Air courses with easy pistol access and keeping warm. Nice work Helikon keep them innovations coming.

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For the full range of products & ordering please check out:
UK Supplier Military1st
or rest of Europehttp://www.hwesta.eu/


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This review is copyright 2012 by Yosser's Airsoft Odyssey © and may not be copied or reproduced without permission. Some Pictures courtesy Helikon-Tex® others copyright 2012 by Ellie T Dog Studios. You may link to this page

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