Millet Trilogy GTX Review

The Millet Trilogy is a fully featured Gore Active Shell Jacket. It has two handwarmer pockets, a bellowed chest pocket, pit zips, and massive wrist closures that fit over large gloves. Of the five jackets tested with Active Shell, the Trilogy is the heaviest (15.1 oz on our scale). It competes with the Outdoor Research Axiom but the Trilogy has an advantage in that the it's helmet compatible.

The Trilogy mixes climbing features with hiking features. Its handwarmer pockets have a mesh backing, which is a feature normally found on hiking shells (snow and ice inevitably gets in pockets and melts so mesh is bad for climbing); the hood is not comfortable when worn over a helmet; it has gigantic wrist closures (the largest of any lightweight shell and larger than most heavy duty shells); “Active Ceramic” reinforcements at the shoulders; a two-way zipper (useful when wearing the shell over a harness, but most people climb with a shell tucked under their harness – see all other lightweight shells, Patagonia shells, and Arcteyx Alpha SV); and has pit zips, which we believe are unnecessary on a jacket made of a highly breathable membrane (the Arcteryx Alpha FL, Mountain Hardwear Quasar, and Outdoor Research all skip the pit zips).

Best Application and Value
The Trilogy is a top quality jacket with a few design elements that lead our testers to prefer other jackets. We believe the Arcteryx Alpha FL and Rab Stretch Neo offer more for your money.