Five Faves - Waterproof Shell Jackets

With winter coming, a good waterproof shell jacket made from a breathable fabric is a must and the good news is that there's a lot of choice out there. Our Buyers Guide which will be updated shortly, tells you what to look for, but here are five of our favourites in no particular order and a quick explanation of why we like them.

If you're in the market for a waterproof jacket, here are a few points to look for:

• Breathability If your jacket doesn't breathe, you'll simply get wet from your own sweat when working hard. The hotter you run, the more you shoud proritise breathabilitty

• Cut For climbing use a shorter cut jacket will minimise interference with movement and your harness. For more general use, a longer cut will give more protection to your nether regions.

• Reach Make sure you can reach up above your head and also forward in front of you without the hem pulling up.

• Hood You should be able to fasten and adjust the hood with gloved hands, cinch things down for maximum protection and the hood should move with your head when you turn it.

• Pockets For harness or pack use, look for main pockets sited above waist level or they'll be fouled by your equipment.

• Vents Venting can make a big difference to cooling. Check you can use your vents easily even with a pack on. Rolling up sleeves helps cooling as well.

Haglofs Spitz Jacket Beautifully cut and designed Gore-Tex Pro Shell lightweight mountaineering jacket that works brilliantly with an effective hood plus strategic reinforcement to minimise pack and abrasion damage.

Berghaus Temperance Jacket New last winter, the Temperance is another lightweight mountaineering jacket, but has an ace in its hand in the form of the excellent Raptor hood which is the best helmet-compatible hood we've used. Great for helmeted climbing.

Mountain Equipment Ogre Jacket The Ogre is a no-nonsense, all-round mountain shell jacket with ME's award-winning Stealth hood, but a longer cut than pure climbing jackets making it an excellent choice for all-round hill use.

Rab Momentum Jacket Rab uses eVent, the most breathable conventional waterproof fabric we've found and the Momentum is their latest lightweight alpine shell weighing just 330 grammes. Ideal if you want to move fast, light and, erm, sweaty.

Paramo Aspira Smock Paramo's Nikwax Aanlogy fabric is comfortable, very, very breathable and quite warm making it fantastic cold weather kit. The Aspira isn't light, but makes up for it in cold weather performance value.

Crux Flack Jacket Hardcore, tough, no-nonsense mountaineering jacket made from eVent fabric with a slim cut for active climbers. The newer Torq Jacket is also making waves in the OM wardrobe.

Fore more information, you can read our full Shell Jacket Buyers' Guide and see the Waterproof Jacket section of our User Reviews.