Product review: The Nike's Shield Flash Max Jacket combines reflectivity and powerful weather protection to help keep you visible and dry on your run
Folloing on from my visit to the Nike FlashRun (HERE), I was looking forward to putting in some winter miles in my new Nike kit and I have to say it didn’t disapoint.
The clear stand out favourite has to be the Nike Shield Flash Max Jacket - it really is a lovely and amazing piece of kit. You get the great fit you would expect from Nike and the jacket just sits right on me and feels tailored. The jacket is available in Black, Hyper Crimson and Game Royal, the latter being the colour I had. At first I hadn’t been sure about the colour, a light blue, almost going slightly purple, but I have to say it has really grown on me and the colour works really well with the reflective squares.
As much as I can talk about the fit, breathability, bonded seems etc… it's the jackets ability to reflect the light that has to be seen to be believed. The allover dot print produces 360 degrees of high reflectivity when the light catches it - the jacket appears to change colour to a bright white. It really is amazing. It takes a bit of getting used to, as when wearing it and up close it looks the same, but stand away from it and shine a light on it and you see it action. If I had to find a downside it would be that wearing it you don’t get to see it in action and a couple of times I felt like I was missing out (it really is that impressive).
I have worn the jacket a few times just out and about and every time at least one person has stopped me and said they like the jacket - I couldn’t tell you another piece of clothing I have owned when that has happened. If that wasn’t unusual enough, most of the time when this happened, it was during the day and they didnt realise the jacket had reflective qualities too. When I have shown them a picture of the jacket lit up at night (one guy even took a picture of my jacket using the flash on his phone) the response has been a big 'WOW', followed by a 'want one'. I am sure this technology will quickly appear on other products and be used by other brands, but so far I haven’t seen anything like it.
With all this attention its important that I bring it back to what it was designed for - running. The jacket is a great top to run in and has very much been designed with the runner in mind. The hood in particular has been really well thought out, to sit just right to cover your head when its raining, but still allow you to see and move comfortably when running. They have cleverly worked the reflective dots all over the hood as well and to get the real reflective experience from the jacket you need the hood up.
There is plenty of ventilation which allows you to keep warm but not overheat and the Storm-FIT fabric stops the wind and rain as it should. It is easy to get caught up in the look and design of the jacket and lose what this jacket is all about and that is being safe at night by being seen. The jacket does this better than anything I have ever owned. Once lit up the jacket dosen’t dazzle drivers but makes you very visible, which is exactly what you want. It's like a stealth high viz jacket.
This technology and “wow” ability does come at a price however, the jacket is currently retailing at £350, which is about as top end as you get for a running jacket. I did have to do a double take when I looked at the price, as in the world of running, usually the only items that tend to be over the £300 mark are top of the range running watches and there is not even a lot of those. Its clearly not going to be a jacket for everyone, which is a shame as it is a lovely jacket. Those who can justify the price are getting a serious piece of kit, that is very much worth the money. It would be a shame if people buy them for fashion, as this really is a great piece of running kit and should be used for as such.
If you wake up on Christmas morning and Santa has got you this jacket, then you have clearly been a good boy/girl this year and you will enjoy your Christmas running!
You can find out more of the jacket here
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 Nike Flash Tights
The Nike Flash Tights have been designed to work with the jacket and also feature the reflective dot print, but this time just on panels on the side of the thighs and calf muscles of the tights. As much as you could have the dots all over I think it would make them look a bit too odd during the day and there are just enough dots to add a nice pattern and to provide good reflectivity from your legs.
I ran with the tights and jacket together, but I do think that worn on their own, the tights would still give an excellent level of visibility.
The fit and feel of them is really good and even in heavy rain they kept me dry and were really comfortable. I am not a big fan of running tights normally as they tend to make me look like a skinny ballet dancer but, with the dot pattern on the side of these, they look much better and I have worn them for most of my winter runs.
There is handy zipped back pocket to secure small items and a nice feature is that this has a compartment divider (handy if you have two items to stop them rubbing together and making a noise).
Find out more about the tight here
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