Please excuse another off site link here but I thought the fabric worth noting as it leaves a lot of opportunities out there.

Pretty funny because if I had read the review linked below and it was someone else writing it I'd question the comment and at the very least make an effort to check out the new material.

This one took me by surprise. If nothing else it is very cool to see the new fabrics coming out. Some amazing new technology available and more to come I suspect.

The review in question is on the Marmot Hyper jacket. But it is the material they have used that I really find amazing.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/06 ... t-and.html

Not bad...11.8 oz for a waterproof-breathable semi-hard shell is pretty impressive. Price is reasonable, too. I wouldn't say the MemBrain Strata is exactly a brand-new material though - it's been on the market for at least a couple of years now.

No clue when the Strata came out but thanks for the refernce. I had wondered. Not surprised I missed it. When did the stretchy stuff become available? Water proof breathable is common in one form or another. Stretchy is new. This stretchy is amazing.

I'm like to see a more quantitative analysis of the breathability -- like an assessment of water vapor transfer rate, as a function of humidity.

Dane1 wrote:No clue when the Strata came out but thanks for the refernce. I had wondered. Not surprised I missed it. When did the stretchy stuff become available? Water proof breathable is common in one form or another. Stretchy is new. This stretchy is amazing.

I've read reviews of items made with MemBrain Strata from about 2009, possibly earlier. As far as the stretchy fabric being new, for the Fusion they might have used a different (nylon-spandex, basically) substrate with the same laminate.

MoapaPk wrote:I'm like to see a more quantitative analysis of the breathability -- like an assessment of water vapor transfer rate, as a function of humidity.

Unfortunately, this is something that can only be tested in a lab - not in the field.

I am sure there is a way to do all that. But it won't be me.
I am now more interested in other qualities of the fabrics. I assume they will be breathable and water proof if advertised as such. But how much on both is one of the questions that each manufacture seems to have an answer for. Just not sure it always translates to the actual use in the field.
Funny after using the MemBrain and the NeoShell garments I have started looking into an Goretex Active shell which should be availabe this fall.

But then I start reading the newest Goretex info and I hear that Goretex has never been breathable enough (Duh!) for high energy sports (like running or climbing quickly) because of condensation inside the garment. The new Goretex Active Shell is suppose to finally solve those problems.

http://newsroom.gore-tex.eu/en/en_garme ... ive-shell/

And no mention of stretch in any of the new Goretex info I can find. Neoshell has some stretch. The Stretch version of Membrain is amazingly stretchable.

I haven't used the Goretex Active Shell but if the stretch version of MemBrain actually works long term and is effective..I know NeoShell does.....the Gortex Active shell is already out dated imo.