Our first take on Mountain Equipment's new super lightweight alpine shell that combines Gore-Tex Paclite and XCR for a combination of lightness, breathability and toughness.
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ME Matrix Jacket - First
Look
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Price:
£200.00
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Weight: 457 grammes (men's
medium)
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Features: Gore-Tex
Paclite fabric combined with Gore-Tex Ascender 3-ply in high
wear areas, narrow laminated center inner and outer flaps,
twin external pockets with water-resistant zips, map pocket
and sleeve pocket, Stelath hood with hidden one-pull
adjusters and laminated peak, concealed and tethered waist
and hem drawcords, half-waist cord gives a flat
front. Also available as the women's specific 'Trinity' jacket.
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Light, compact, breathable, nicely cut and designed.
Where's the fleece chin guard eh?
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The Concept Gore's Paclite is light and very breathable, more
breathable than XCR, but not really intended for hardcore climbing
use - though we've found it tougher than you might think.
To make it more suitable for serious mountain use, ME has combined
the lightweight Paclite fabric with panels of tougher, more abrasion
resistant but heavier and less breathable, Gore-Tex XCR in a full-on
technical jacket. The idea is to produce a garment that gives the
lightness and breathability of Paclite, but has some of the toughness
of XCR making it suitable for 'alpine routes and expeditions'.
Weight, if you were wondering, is about 60 grammes more than ME'
sPaclite Firefly which shares a similar cut. Price is £20 more.
Features The clever use of fabrics is the jacket's trump card,
but ME hasn't been marking time on the technical design of its
jackets either and the Matrix comes completely loaded - reloaded? -
with a full arsenal of technical tricks.
The ME hood has always been an OM benchmark for ease of use and
turnability - it moves perfectly with your head - and the uprated,
helmet-happy, Stealth Hood is no exception either with or without a
lid. A new laminated peak is reassuringly stiff and well shaped too.
Another ME touch is the waist's half-coard which pulls the front of
the jacket flat for easy downwards vision and neat fit.
Pocket zips are water-resistant with sealed pocket bags keeping
the water away from you regardless and micro cuff tabs keep your
wrists sealed without creating bulk, all nice. The conventional main
zip also gets a double storm flap - one inside and one outside - with
the flaps being laminated to keep things safe and sealed.
The spec's not quite the same as the one in ME's work book which
lists vents and a fleece chin guard, but then the jacket weighed a
whole 20 grammes less...
In Action This really is a first look based on just a couple
of outings, so we can't really tell you about the durability aspects
of the jacket, what we can confirm is that the breathability is good
and the XCR panels don't seem to effect it to a noticeable degree.
Aesthetically, the two Gore fabrics are the same colour and the only
real visual difference is that the XCR has a larger microgrid
rip-stop pattern. Anoraks, us?
Fit, as we've come to expect from ME is excellent. It doesn't feel
as svelte and tailored as, say, an Arc'teryx shell when you first put
it on, but the neat half adjustment cord at the waist pulls any
excess fabric round to the back leaving a clean, neat front and
pulling the whole jacket in for a close, efficient fit. Cuffs and hem
stay put during high reaches with or without a pack or harness and
the large chest pockets are positioned well above waist belt
line.
The
hood's just as good as ever working well with or without a lid. It's
easy to adjust and the upper shock cord grips the top of your head
like a hat meaning that the whole hood turns with your head for all
round visibility. The new laminated peak feels sturdy and dependable
and the hidden front adjuster cords are a nice touch.
Last year's Changabang was had so much lamination up front that
the whole jacket felt a bit stiff as a result, in contrast the twin
laminated zip flaps of the Matrix have a much lighter touch and the
added stiffness keeps them in place guarding the zip as well as
making zipping and unzipping easier.
We're not sure what happened to the front vents in the original
spec, but so far, thanks to the breathability of the Paclite, we've
not really missed them. It' s nice to see adequate pocketage on a
lightweight jacket, particilularly useful if you've dumped your pack
for a summit push, and there's even a map pocket that'll take an OS
map easily.
As usual ME's technical features and cut are up there with the best
in the business and the combination of Paclite and XCR produces a
full on mountain jacket with a medium length and helmet-friendly hood
that weighs in at a mere 450 grammes. To put that in perspective, the lightest XCR jacket we're aware of, the new Lowe Alpine Ice Light, tips the scales at 508 grammes.
It's not going to be as durable as a full XCR shell jacket, but
lightweight freaks searching for every lost gramme will welcome the
XCR panels as insurance against premature failure. Those panels by
the way, are inside the shoulders, around butt and hips and on the
inside of the arms mainly to cope with the abrasive impact of pack
carrying. The forearm is reinforced too, for happy rock rubbing.
So far it looks like a great combination of features and lightness
for the weight conscious. We'll be doing our best to kick the cack
out of it over the winter and let you know how it gets on in due
course.
Know more or want to?
If you'd like to add your own experiences of this product check
out our user review system and post your opinions to the world. If
you have questions you can mail
us direct, ask
Richard Gear or try a posting to our gear
forum.
