Somewhere in there, Flylow's Lab Coat 2.0 is doin' work! Ian Tarbox photo.
Check out the Flylow Lab Coat 2.0 at evo.com today.
Flylow’s Lab Coat 2.0 is the most expensive jacket the upstart ski outerwear company makes, and Flylow positions it as the most fully-featured, top-notch waterproof shell the brand puts out. Centered around the jacket’s Polartec Neoshell fabric–a fabric that, regardless of which brand’s outerwear it was featured in, seriously impressed me these past two seasons–the Lab Coat 2.0 is a tough, burly coat with a hard shell feel geared towards big powder days with lots of moisture trying to get you down, and backcountry days where you’ll be sweating as much as you will be making turns. And my time putting it to use as my go-to jacket for touring and for deep days here in the Tetons affirmed the high marks it’s already gotten from the gear nerds at Blister and Outside Magazine.
Construction
Even the deepest pow the Tetons could put up could not phase the Lab Coat. Sam Petri photo.
Polartec’s Neoshell is the real existing part of the Lab Coat 2.0’s construction, as despite this being a stiff, hard shell, the breathability was impressive. On all but the hottest days, skinning around the Tetons with just a baselayer underneath, the sizable 14-inch pit zips undone, and the front zipper pulled down a bit, I was perfectly comfortable keeping this thing on for the entire ascent. Zip everything back up for the way down, and you would be hard pressed to find a jacket you’d stay dryer in.
The skin pocket, easily accessed from both inside and outside of the jacket, was a hit. Jon Desabris photo.
The thick YKK waterproof zippers on all exterior pockets were bombproof and never froze up. Four exterior pockets consist of a smaller chest pocket that’s ideal for holding a phone and features a headphone hole, a pass pocket on the left wrist, and two waist pockets that can ingeniously be accessed from above on the inside of the jacket–the best climbing skin storage of any jacket I’ve ever owned. This was my single most favorite feature of the Lab Coat 2.0, as skins could be easily dropped in these pockets on the top of the climb, and their weight would be secured down right where your backpack strap would come across, assuring that they felt secured and out of the way of your normal upper body movements, and held tight to the body for warmth so they wouldn’t ice up on the way down. I have to give huge kudos to Dan Abrams and the Flylow crew for this little feature.
Otherwise, there’s a powder skirt I seldom used and a second interior chest pocket that’s uselessly tiny except for maybe holding your car keys.
Fit
Out of all the shells you might come across, the Lab Coat 2.0 does not wilt into some limp, highly packable shell that can be shoved deep into a backpack and brought out only if need be. It’s stiffer than some options you might find out there, which I enjoyed greatly; it carried the weight of climbing skins more uniformly and without sagging like some more packable jackets are apt to do, and fully zipped up, creates a more stout buffer for your face that’s lined with a thin layer of fleece. It’s definitely got a loose, freeride fit that doesn’t impinge movement, but it’s stiff enough to remind you of the degree of protection this thing offers from the elements and the occasional bushwhack. My dog also loved it when I would throw it on the ground at the top of the skin track so he could curl up on it and warm up his paws.
Flylow claims the Lab Coat 2.0 has a longer fit than traditional mountaineering shells, but at first glance, it seemed a little short compared to jackets I’ve worn from brands like Norrona, Saga, and Patagonia. I wore it with bibs and regular pants both, however, and never had much of an issue with snow going up in all the wrong places.
Check out evo.com's entire selection of 2015 ski shells here.
There’s copious room for a helmet in the hood, and I greatly enjoyed that the jacket never felt like it was crumpling if I wasn’t wearing enough layers underneath it, as I frequently went ski touring in it with just a baselayer underneath.
Flylow’s always had more of a muted color palette, and the Space and Brick (tested) colorways both keep up that tradition of understated colors when many brands are pushing heavy doses of neon.
A Note on Durability
The lining alongside the hip pocket came apart early on. Jon Desabris photo.
As I’ve said, this jacket really feels bomber, cuts the wind, and deflects branches and other detritus like it ain’t no thang. In the vast majority of my daily snow dealings, this thing could not be outmatched. However, I did have two breakdowns in the jacket in my year and a half in this shell.
The first happened surprisingly early on, at the Neoshell material along the edge of the left waist pocket, which peeled away from the fabric underneath it within a month of use. It never got worse, never affected performance, and I rarely noticed it again, but it was present. Dan from Flylow assured us that, while our sample jacket had this issue, for the production version of the Lab Coat, stitching was added to the laser-cut fabric to prevent this delamination.
The fabric along the skin pocket's zipper also ripped months later. Jon Desabris photo.
The second happened in my second season of use with the jacket this winter, when the fabric that meets the zipper on the interior climbing skin-holding pockets that I love so much ripped, after which point I lost the metal zipper bit. Dan assured us that the interior of the pocket was beefed up to prevent production models of the jacket from ripping.
The Bottom Line
Flylow already has a reputation as a no-nonsense outerwear brand for the core skiers that love beards, PBR, train conductor gloves, and pom-pom hats, and the Lab Coat 2.0–the first thing I’ve tried from the brand–certainly convinced me these guys deserve to hold that place on the mantle. The Lab Coat 2.0 is a bomber piece that I plan on having around for years to come. The skin pocket is simply ingenious, and the jacket is bulletproof where it counts, and it's good to hear that the rips we experienced were addressed for the production model. With a retail of $480, it’s not cheap, but well within the mid-range wheelhouse of jackets of this quality, and evo’s even got it on sale for $380.
Check out the Flylow Lab Coat 2.0 at evo.com today.
tahoesnowdawg
March 23rd, 2015
Hello!
Thank you for the amazing review. I think you guys really nailed it. My only comment is that the gear tested in this review were samples. We made improvements on the coat to take care of the two durability issues listed.
1. We rolled and stitch the fabric on the pockets so no delimitation would occur.
2. We beefed up the materials on the inner powder skirt attachment.
Thanks
Dan