Finally! Montane Spektr Smock- Preview

Well. I have finally got around to deciding about a running jacket with a membrane. I was debating whether I should go for the OMM Cypher, Rab Demand or Montane Spektr smock.

Spektr smock next to a normal Mars and Snack size Snickers

All 3 of them are made with eVent fabric, and are various ridiculously light weights, down to about 210g for the Montane. The OMM and the Rab seem like excellent jackets, and I would have loved to do a comparison piece on them vs each other and the Montane. However, blagging one of each jacket was not really an option, in fact blagging just one of them was beyond me, so I resorted to buying one instead. (Actually, I got it as a belated birthday present, but its much of a muchness).

So, I decided not to go for the Rab or the OMM as there already seem to be a few reviews out there of fairly active oudoorsy type people, also, as jackets they are of fairly generic design, and the radical nature of the Spektr Smock has been beckoning me for quite some time.
No pockets, no hood peak, no cuff adjusters, no excess material to flap around, and, most obviously and excitingly, no zip.

I know this is a first generation kind of thing, and its a bit of a gimmik. I suspect that it might not be the best type of closure in the world, and that it may well have been a better jacket with a zip instead of the "tornado roll" closure, however, its interesting, its new, and it has to be tried. Hence why I decided on the jacket.

Tornado closure when open

Velcro from the tornado closure system closed

And the whole thing totally closed up

Also, every other review I ever seem to see of the Spektr smock is done by a walker who wants an Ultralight top and goes on to complain about the sizing of the jacket.
Yes, you CAN use it in that capacity, but it is designed for fast moving, running, climbing, and generally highly active people who need a lightweight "waterproof" layer that doesn't flap around like 10 yards of sail cloth.

No adjustment on the cuffs

The medium fits me perfectly (though to be fair, I am normally a small in most other jackets), and I cannot wait to try it out in some murky, gnarly weather.

Taping in the hood, and the velcro cap retainer

I would have gone out today, but am racing tomorrow, so I'm kind of hoping for horrible weather then as well.