The Held Carese 3 is, unsurprisingly, a new for 2026, updated version of the Carese Evo. It is Held's top adventure suit aimed at those people who are setting off on proper adventures.
The jacket 's outer fabric is a 500 denier Ripstop fabric. Ripstop is very tear resistant, as the name suggests, and a 500 denier weight is clearly sufficient to also earn the jacket an AA rating for abrasion resistance under EN17092. It comes equipped with Level 2 armour in the elbows and shoulders. A back protector is not included, but we would recommend one from either D3O or Rheon
Now in a proper adventure suit the waterproof liner can be removed; and that's very much the case here with the Carese 3. But the difference between an average adventure jacket and a superior one is that with a superior one the waterproof liner, once removed, can also be worn on the outside of the jacket.
Of course, every manufacturer will tell you that their removable waterproof inner jacket can be worn on the outside. But the truth is that most cannot. For the waterproof component to be wearable on the outside of a jacket the membrane has to contain stretch; and very few do. The Gore-Tex one in the Carese does; and what that means is that there's virtually no change in comfort whether you wear it on the inside or the outside. Being a Gore-Tex membrane, its waterproofing qualities are guaranteed for life.
One difference between the old Carese and the new one is that on the new jacket the membrane zips in. On the old Carese it attached via a series of clips and, in all honesty, it was a bit of a faff. The zips work much better. For when the waterproof liner is worn on the outside you get two pockets and some reflective banding.
Clearly, as we've already touched on, the important thing about an adventure jacket or pant is that needs to be able to flow a lot of air. Well, once the Gore-Tex inner jacket is removed, a certain amount of air will be able to pass through the jacket's outer fabric. But only so much. What will allow the jacket to flow much more air is the venting.
And for this you get two large flap vents on the chest. These vents look like pockets but they're not. Roll them down, and they will allow huge amounts of air to reach the body. You also get vents that run up the flanks and vents that run down the biceps and forearms. On the back there's a simply huge roll-down vent that will allow heat and sweat to escape into the great outdoors.
Another thing that adventure jackets are known for are pockets. Adventure riders expect a lot of them to house their maps, tools, extra rations, hunting knives and so on. Well the Carese 3 has two external pockets that fasten by means of flaps. Whatever Held might suggest, we are claiming no more than that these pockets are water resistant. We would say the same about the two internal ones. There's also a 'key' pocket at the bottom of the left sleeve. On their website, Held claim that the Carese 3 has a pocket on the back, but if it does, they've hidden it well!
To hone the fit, and to allow layers to be accommodated, you get adjusters at the waist. You get more adjusters on the biceps and forearms. There are stretch panels down the arms, up the flanks and across the chest, as well as concertina banding in the elbows; all of which contribute to the comfortable fitting of the jacket. And we would say that Held has got this aspect of the jacket right. The Carese 3 is as comfortable an adventure jacket as you will come across.
The one thing you don't get with the Carese jacket is a thermal liner, but that's never a problem for us as most experienced riders will have their own solution to the problem of staying warm, be that something in Merino, a fleece, a down jacket of some description or even a heated jacket.
There's not a whole lot more to say. You get a full zip to attach the jacket to the matching pant. You get lots of 3M Scotclite reflective highlights. You get Neoprene in the collar. Velcro flaps to adjust the sleeve apertures. And a vented zip placket behind the storm flap, although as the main storm flap cannot be fastened open, as it could be on the old version, we don't see that this will work as well as it did on the Carese Evo.
But that aside, the Carese 3 wants for little. It is not far from being the complete and definitive adventure jacket. It comes in eight sizes. In five of those sizes it comes in a short body version. In four sizes it comes with a longer body and arms. And that's an impressive sizing matrix; pretty much as good as it gets.
