Like the name suggests, the Mudhugger hugs the contour of your front tyre, and thanks to a generously large overhang to the front and the rear of the guard, it manages to effectively contain mud and water spray at both high and low speeds.
The smooth inner surface clears mud very effectively too, though the rounded profile means that with some fork braces — the Fox 36 in particular — it can sit rather low, limiting maximum tyre volume and reducing mud clearance. With most other forks it's perfectly fine, we even tested it with a Plus tyre underneath.
The plastic is decently rigid too and when tightened down with the supplied zip ties, it's very secure. At the top of the guard there are multiple mounting holes for the narrow diameter ties, so it's possible to get it running without any rubbing on a good variety of forks and tyres.
Using zip ties does mean that it's not possible to quickly remove if you need to put your bike in the car and it's then that it's at most risk of being knocked out of place or the ties causing damage to paint work — though it was pretty tough even when we deliberately mistreated it in that way.
While the plain guard costs £25, if you'd like one with the stripy decals as pictured you'll have to cough up £35, though you do get your pick of seven colour schemes as well as a reduction in cost to £30 if you stick the decal on yourself. At 83g it's a very respectable weight for a mountain bike mudguard that offers this much coverage too.