Mountain Equipment Ogre
Jacket -
Tested
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Price:
£240 SRP
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Weight: 520
grammes (medium)
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Features:
Mountain waterproof shell jacket made from three-layer Gore-Tex Pro
Shell Ascendor fabric, longer active cut, helmet-compatible Stealth
Hood with laminated wired peak and one pull adjusters, Stealth
Contruction throughout, two chest pockets with water resistant zips and
flaps, external map pocket with covered zip and taped pocket
bag, internal mesh pocket, dual hem shock cord system, tethered and
concealed waist and hem draw-cords, adjustable rubber cuff grabs at,
erm, cuffs. Whistle tethered inside map pocket.
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What's It
For?
The Ogre is billed as a no-nonsense, all-round waterproof mountain
shell jacket with no silly gimmicks or extraneous features. The
giveaway is the 'longer active cut' which tells you that the jacket is
aimed primarily at mountain walkers despite the helmet-compatible
Stealth hood. In other words an all-round mountain jacket that could be
also used for a spot of mountaineering if necessary. The lack of frills
like pit-zips and snow skirts keeps the weight down.
The Techy
Bits
The Ogre uses Gore-Tex three-layer Pro Shell fabric, which thanks to
its woven inner is both lighter than traditional Gore-Tex but also
slides easily over under layers giving a nice, mobile feel and in tests
has proved to be much more durable than the older, knitted backer used
in XCR Gore-Tex. Bottom line is a lighter, but tougher jacket.
ME's other stand-out feature is its UK-friendly Stealth hood which is
intended to work well with or without a helmet, uses a wired and
laminated peak to maximise protection and has a neat draw-corded design
which grips the top of your head like a cap and ensures that the hood
moves with your noggin.
Finally ME's Stealth Construction basically gives a clean, welded-seam
type look but while retaining the strength of stitched seams. It's more
about cosmetics than anything else, but it does give a smoother look to
the jacket which will matter to some.
How It
Performed
Short mountaineering jackets designed to be worn with harness and over
trousers may be vogue-ish, but for walking use, it makes more sense to
have a longer, but not ridiculously long cut which offers a bit more
crotch protection. The Ogre ticks that box big time - on our tester, it
reached to just below crotch level giving wind and water protection to
sensitive parts, but without being long enough to compromise movement.
Cut was neat on an average sort of body with enough space for an
additional light to medium mid-layer top, but without overt flappage.
Pocket conoisseurs will be relieved to learn that both chest and map
pockets are large enough to take an OS map, you can carry three if you
feel the need, but the pocket openings are neatly sited to clear
harness or pack belt. The flap/water-resistant zips worked well enough
for us, but as with any waterproof jacket, we'd steer clear of carrying
water-vulnerable objects in exterior pockets.
The hood is ME's familiar and much lauded Stealth one and it still
works really well in most circumstances. The stiffened and wired peak
gives good factal protection in windy conditions, the drawcords allow
easy, one-handed adjustment and the top cord holds the circumference of
your head allowing the hood to move with it like a cap. Neat. Snugged
right up for maximum facial protection, we found the fleece-lined
chin-guard a little tight and if you intend to use the Ogre regularly
with a helmet, we'd try carefully with your own lid before buying. The
fit can be marginal, particularly if you have a long neck and/or high
domed helmet. It's not as capacious as the hood on Berghaus's latest
shells, for example. Review coming soon. For many walkers though, that
won't matter.
The fabric we liked. It's not quite as breathable as eVent, but kept us
dry in heavy rain and slides easily over underlayers thanks to the
woven backer. It also means the jacket, at just over 520 grammes, is
light and compact enough to stow in your pack when the going is good
meaning it's as useable in summer as in full-on winter conditions.
One thing that didn't quite work for us, is the Velcro cuff fastener.
Because the entire flap is covered, it's hard to adjust particularly
with a gloved hand, since there's very little exposed tab to grab. It
just needs a non-hooky area at the tip so there's something to grab a
hold of, which you could do yourself with a little thought.
It's easy to see why the Ogre is ME's best-selling mountain waterproof.
It's long enough to provide decent protection even without matching
overtrousers, but without being too long. The fabric works well and,
used without a helmet, the Stealth hood, is still one of the best out
there. Check chin fit when it's all snugged up though and pre-try
helmet if you intend to use one regularly. The cuff closure also needs
a minor modification to work properly with gloves.
Otherwise the Ogre ticks all the boxes, kept us dry in some stupidly
wet conditions and is still compact and light enough to stow away
unobtrusively when it's not needed. Just a good modern take on a
traditonal mountain jacket and one of the best buys out there.
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 Good fabric
performance and cut, great protection but still light and compact.
 Cuffs aren't at
their best used with winter gloves, hood could be better with
some helmets.
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Performance
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Value
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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
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Richard Gear or try
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