7.3 Mammut Nordwand Advanced HS Hooded Jacket.You’ll find everything you need to know about the two technologies in our Omni-Tech vs Gore-Tex comparison. So, if you are looking for high-performance gear that offers great weather protection, chances are you will end up comparing Omni-Tech vs Gore-Tex products sooner or later. It has quickly become one of the best alternatives to GoreTex. Omni-Tech is a newer fabric technology developed by Columbia Sportswear. If you know what are the specific properties of commonly used fabrics, why brands use them, and how they differ from one another, it will be easier for you to find the piece of gear that best suits your needs.įor quite a while, outdoor enthusiasts have been using Gore-Tex as a point of reference when evaluating different fabrics technologies. This will come in handy the next time you buy a new jacket, a pair of hiking shoes, or a backpacking sleeping bag. It’s also lightweight and packable, so it’s a solid grab-and-go option for daily wear or a good ‘just in case’ layer that is easy to stash in a rucksack or work bag.To better understand how your outdoor gear will perform, it is important to learn about different fabrics technologies. It’s a competent all-rounder too, making this a shell that will happily cope with spring showers, sudden summer downpours and damp autumn weather alike. To finish up, we think this is a great value jacket that offers plenty of versatility thanks to its wear-anywhere styling, all-day stretch comfort and competitive technical performance. Women can choose the same hues in red and black, though the options are completed with a powder blue shade or an on-trend pastel pink.
OMNITECH REVIEW PLUS
The muted, contemporary colourways include no-nonsense black and a smart ‘Collegiate Navy’ for men, plus an outdoors-inspired ‘Stone Green’ and, for those who appreciate a colour pop, a vibrant bright red. The jacket is available in a wide range of sizes, with an accommodating regular fit in both men’s and women’s versions.
You also get zipped hand and chest pockets, plus generous pit zips to help you dump excess heat and moisture vapour: a feature that can make a huge difference to comfort but which is typically only found on premium technical shells. The drawcord adjustable hood has a bonded brim to deflect rain away from the face, while the cuffs and hem are similarly adjustable. To ensure it offers 100% reliable rain protection, the Ampli-Dry Shell also boasts fully sealed seams and a PU-coated, water-resistant centre-front zipper. The main body of the jacket features a 2.5-layer construction, consisting of a tough rip-stop nylon face fabric with four-way stretch which is laminated to that Omni-Tech membrane and finished with a dry-touch geometric print backer for next-to-the-skin comfort. As such, they may do the job but tend to rustle like a crisp packet. In either situation, it’s designed to offer a far greater degree of comfort over conventional waterproof jackets, many of which feature stiff, rigid fabrics without the same degree of flex. As such, the Ampli-Dry jacket has built-in four way stretch, meaning it moves with your body, whatever you’re doing – whether that’s tackling a grade 3 mountain scramble or weaving your way amongst commuters on crowded streets. This has become the basis of the latest generation of Omni-Tech fabrics. But a major advantage of PU-based membranes over most ePTFE-based rivals – like Gore-Tex – is that it’s much easier to make them stretchy. There, they can then evaporate away.Ĭolumbia call this keeping you dry ‘from the inside out’: hence, Ampli-Dry. Since PU is hydrophilic (water-loving), individual water vapour molecules chemically bond to the surface and are drawn through it, passing directly through the membrane to the opposite side. The membrane allows moisture vapour to pass through it thanks to some clever chemistry.
Technology that keeps you dry ‘from the inside out’. In essence, it’s an extremely thin PU (polyurethane) membrane laminated to a tough face fabric to provide the wearer with waterproof and breathable protection. But three decades on, Omni-Tech remains a core staple of the product range. Today, Columbia Sportswear holds more than 200 patents for its remarkable range of in-house innovations. A flurry of new innovations followed, not least the brand’s game-changing Omni-Heat tech, as well as TurboDown insulation and the genuinely unique OutDry Extreme range of apparel. That philosophy reached its logical evolution in 2007, when Columbia established its own Performance Innovation Team, known as the PIT lab. In fact, Omni-Tech was Columbia’s first patented in-house technology, a progressive step that marked a sea change in the brand’s approach: to take innovation seriously, rather than relying on ingredient brands like Gore-Tex. Columbia’s Omni-Tech Ampli-Dry Shell, featuring brand new technology developed by the U.S.
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