Probably the world's first Primaloft One sleeping bag from OMM plus lightweight windproof smock and more.
We caught up with lightweight kit specialist OMM - the Original Mountain Marathon Company - at this week's OTS, Outdoors Trade Show, for a whisk through their latest kit with the obvious star being a new, PrimaLoft One-filled sleeping bag, though they also have some other neat new stuff in the pipeline.
Mountain Raid Sleeping Bag
PrimaLoft One has the best warmth to weight ratio of PrimaLoft's range of insulation and OMM has used 60g stuff up top and lighter 40g filling underneath where it'll be compressed by your body weight. The fabric used is lightweight Pertex Quantum and there's a hood, quarter-length zip and box foot.
Overall weight is just 400g and it packs down to a 'grapefruit-sized package' - see the pic on the right. OMM hasn't temperature tested it preferring to leave it to the user's judgement, but reckon a sort of 2-3 season tag is about right if you know what you're doing.
It's out in a couple of weeks time and will sell for £150 - should be more tolerant of damp conditions than down lightweights and also make a good emergency bag for winter use.
New Sonic Smock
Also new and available now is the feathery light 60-gramme Sonic Smock. It's made from Pertex Quantum and unusually, folds into its own collar for easy storage. It uses standard Quantum rather than the marginally lighter Quantum GL both for a little extra durability and because GL is significantly more expensive for relatively little weight saving. It's priced at £55.
Also new is a Kamleika cap made from the same ultra-stretchy waterproof fabric as the jacket and overtrousers and designed to be layered over a fleece beanie in cold conditions.
New For 2013
Looking further ahead, due out in early 2013 are stretchy OMM arm warmers. It's a concept OMM has borrowed from cycling - the idea is that you can combine the stretchy thermal tubes with a short-sleeved shirt. Roll them up when it's cool, roll them down or remove when you get hot.
The OMM versions have two crucial differences though - they're a little longer than most cycling arm-warmers and they incorporate thumb loops for a little extra warmth and wrist coverage. Out in March 2013 and priced at £18.
Also aimed squarely at runners are Pertex Quantum windproof shorts, which made us shiver a little... there's something about shiny fabric shorts that's not quite right, though they do at least have a liner and should work decently on windy days.
Kamleika Makeover
The venerable Kamleika concept is getting a makeover. The prototype for the new waterproof smock has Raglan sleeves, which means there's no seams in the shoulder area. On top of that, OMM has used unusual flatlock stitched mains seams, which are fully taped.
The idea is that the chain-stitching combined with stretch sealing tape means that not only does the fabric have four-way stretch, but it'll also stretch along the length of the seam, which is kind of ingenious. Finally there's also an updated mountain hood for next year.
New Lightpacking Pack
Last but not least, OMM has a new pack for 2013, the Adventure 45+10. In essence it's based on the Villain mountain pack, but made from lighter fabrics than the bomb-proof Dyneema material on that pack. The idea is that it caters for lightpackers who don't need the added toughness of Dyneema and want to save some weight into the bargain but will also double as an over-sized race pack if necessary. Interesting.
Info on the current OMM range at www.theomm.com.
