I like OMM stuff. I like their design philosophy, and heritage.

It can be traced back to Karrimor when they were a leading British outdoor company, headed up by Mike Parsons. Eventually, he left and set up KIMMlite, which became OMM.

Fast and light. The perfect philosophy for endurance racing.

So the Trio chest pouch. This was a bit of an impulse buy a couple of weeks before the Scotland Coast to Coast this year. I already have an OMM i-drate rucksac which I was planning to use. I was a bit worried about being able to access food on the go though. As good as energy gels are, on a race that lasted over 10 hours, I wanted to make sure I was nibbling food regularly.

The Trio connects to the i-drate via clips, and elastic straps at the bottom. This works surprisingly well, and held the pouch firmly, even while running/riding over rough ground. I dropped in a couple of Clif bars and a big bag of Skittles, and dipped in every now and then. Ace. Note that in the photo above, I’ve only got it attached to one side, as I slung my bag over my shoulder for the last 100metre run from the kayak to the finish line.

The Good Stuff

-Quick to fit. Special clips already built into the I-drate rucksack

-Easy access to food/pocket camera/map/whatever

Less Good Stuff

-Little bit tricky to attach the bottom hooks to the rucksack. Secure once on there, but a wriggle to do it. This meant changing layers was a bit more of a hassle.

-The pouch sits right on across your chest, so effectively adds a layer of insulation there. It also make adjusting front zips harder, and less effective.

-Er, if you forget to zip it up, you might end up empty your stuff out as you run. Luckily I didn’t do that… oh no.

Overall

I’ll keep using it in specific situations. A nice little add on to a good pack.