Weight: 1kg
Sizes: S, M, L XL, 2XL, 3XL
Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket Review: Intro
The Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket sits near the top of Decathlon's ski jacket range, offering many of the bells and whistles you’d expect from a premium jacket at a keen price point. This will be a familiar story for anyone who has encountered the brand before, and the Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket is very much in the sweet spot for the French Alps headquartered brand.
Browsing through Snow Magazines Best Ski Jackets 2024 it’s easy to see the range of competition out there, and the fact is that many premium competitors come in at x3+ the price of the Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket.
Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket Review: TL/DR
An excellent, wallet-friendly piste ski jacket that feels far more premium in terms of build quality than you might expect. There are plenty of helpful details to enjoy, and little to get upset about until you plan to venture off-piste, where the compromises here start to show more clearly.
Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket Review: Design and build
The Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket immediately impresses with its build quality. The sleek internal lining is tactile and practical when donning over other layers, and the sleeve cuffs stretchy and give a premium feel. Pit zips are present and correct, while details like the collar with its pile lining and breathable panels around the back make it clear that the Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket has been thoughtfully designed and iterated upon.
The shell conceals a 15,000 mm membrane (Schmerbers) and the seams are all taped, this being especially noticeable around the cuffs, where the tape blends into the finishing, giving a very neat and streamlined cuff. The cuffs (velcro closures, naturally) are also gusseted, which is a great idea where gloves and mitts are likely to be involved.
The sleeve is also designed to be double function, with the stretchy inner liner featuring an oversized thumb loop that can also be used as a watch loop. It’s a neat idea, although to be fair the wrist gets pretty cluttered with gauntlets and closures anyway, so adding a watch into the mix isn’t easy. However, keen Suunto or Garmin owners can rest assured.
Elsewhere, the main bulk of the jacket is down to the recycled wadding insulation, which Decathlon reckons is good down to -4°C. There’s a snow skirt as one might expect, and the fully adjustable hood is removable for warmer, piste-based days too.
Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket Review: Comfort and Practicality
The Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket is certainly comfortable in use, all those small details adding up to a relatively luxurious experience, especially around the main contact points such as the neck and wrists. The hip pockets are generous and zipped for safety, but low enough for a rucksack belt to get in the way, adding more to the impression that the Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket is designed with piste skiers front of mind, an impression boosted by the ski pass pocket on the left forearm. There’s also no Recco reflector (or similar) tag, which is a surprising omission.
Another feature is the goggle wipe attached to the chest pocket, which is well-placed, but does rather preclude using the pocket for anything else - such as a phone, for example. However, an internal zipped chest pocket is the natural place for a phone, which fits in there neatly - good for battery conservation in the cold too. The removable hood is surprisingly snug for a helmet, even with all the adjusters fully out, but with that said there’s plenty of movement on offer in spite of this, allowing good peripheral vision and lateral movement.
The wrist sleeves and internal insulation do an excellent job of trapping heat, and the sections of outer shell material offer good wind-resistance, making the jacket a good choice for those that ‘run cold’. The shoulders and back have more breathable fabric panels, which should prove useful when working hard.
Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket Review: Verdict
Overall, the Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket offers excellent value for money as a resort ski jacket, with a fairly luxurious build quality and plenty of thoughtful touches. These will ensure you have a hassle-free ski holiday without stretching the clothing budget before even boarding the plane. The limitations start to come when considering more rugged terrain or conditions, but that’s not particularly surprising, and especially not at this price point.
Want to reduce cost and your carbon footprint when it comes to ski gear? Decathlon also operates a gear hire service designed to make winter sports accessible to everyone, offering rental gear from skis to tents and trekking kit. A 10-day rental costs just 20% of the Recommended Retail Price (RRP), with men's and women's jackets starting at an affordable £15 and £7 for junior sizes. Order online for home delivery and use the pre-paid returns label and packaging to drop the gear at a convenient location post trip.
Buy Decathlon Wedze 500 Sport Ski Jacket: £94.99 Decathlon.co.uk
