Columbia Omni-Heat Titanium Review

Staying Warm

Be a Beater or Don't As You Like!
A monumental score!
This entry is part [part not set] of 1 in the series Omniheat Review
  • Columbia Omni-Heat Titanium Review

Time to refresh my Facebook skiing photo

I will be wearing a new ski jacket this season and you should consider it too! I recently obtained a Columbia Sportswear Company’s Omni-HeatTitanium ski & snowboard parka.

omni-heat-titanium
Columbia's Omni-Heat Titanium Ski Parka

This review is going to focus on the non-performance aspects of the jacket, that is style, fit, features, and comfort. How it performs in the wintery outdoors is a writeup I am going to submit to you later.

Omni-Heat Titanium Review Disclosure

I obtained the jacket I am reviewing in this article compliments of Columbia products. Other than my affiliate marketing realtionships I have NO financial interest in Columbia or in the marketing of their products.

Read on!

Style and Fashion

Serious skiers aim to look good laying down tracks and do not get too worried about fashion, but of course we don’t want to look like gapers out there and that was one of my first impressions of the jacket. The bright neon green swatches on the jacket do evoke the thought of gaper, if only for a moment. The gaper colors though are well balanced out by the dark steel gray background. The color is decent, some flash but not too much. I want to be noticed for the tracks I lay down and not the clothes I have on and the jacket looks good, but will not hog the spotlight.

Features

Plenty of pockets and that is a good thing. The pockets on the left hand side are zippered and the right side of the parka has a pocket and that is secured by a double Velcro close.

The hood has a goggle keeper on it. I am sure some people will put that to good use, but I am skeptical I will. However, that is a good and thoughtful touch it definitely tells people the primary customer sfor this jacket are skiers and boarders (I will not be using it while blowing my driveway, this jacket is reserved for skiing).

the goggle keeper
The goggle keeper — a thoughtful feature

All zippers worked smoothly, but I was working them with bare, warm, and unrushed hands. I suspect the zippers are going to be a problem in real life situations with the jacket. However that applies mostly to some of the auxiliary pockets as the main pockets are flapless, in any event that would not be a unique problem with this jacket.

I note the lack of D-rings for season passes and other needs. I suppose there are plenty of zippers but sometimes those split rings require more room that what the zipper grippers allow for.

The liner attaches with left and right zippers, anchors in the cuffs and one at neck in the back. The two separated easily and the liner looked decent. I was expecting a light fleece liner but the liner was more akin to the one in my (Columbia) Gizmo. The liner had some muted pinstripe styling applied to it. The shell and the liner both had their own external pockets and in the case of the shell some more internal pocketing.

Another thoughtful feature is zippered armpit vents. Even though it is cold outside and gravity gives us most of the speed we get, skiing is not a passive activity. You can overheat and start to sweat while skiing. The vents promise to help with overheating and assisting in keeping one dry.

The main thing I take away with reviewing the features of this jacket is you will not want for pockets.

The Fit

The jacket I have is an XL in size and it fits me fine (I wear a 42″ sports/suit coat and have a fair beer belly) and while I did not layer up, there is some room for layering up. Typically, I ski with a t-shirt, a wool sweater, and a hoodie; maybe another layer or two is thrown in depending on the weather. I do not know if I will have enough room for that, but if the jacket lives up to the promotional material maybe I will not need so many layers.

Next

In the next installment I will write up on the performance aspects of the jacket. Most notably how warm and dry it keeps me in the wintery outdoors and how easy it is to work the zippers and other jacket features. Of course, that review will focus on the material Columbia developed to put on the inside of the liner and the shell.

Pros

  • Looks good, just enough bright to break up the dull and enough dull to mute the bright.
  • Lots of pockets
  • Goggle keeper is a thoughtful feature

Cons

  • Some zippers appear prone to snagging on their flaps
  • No D rings

Update: I wrote a piece on how the jacket performs in the field.

Good Stuff!

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  1. Omni-Heat Columbia Jacket Review part II | The Wisconsin SkierThe Wisconsin Skier

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