Reviews You Can Rely On

Obermeyer Brigitte Review

gearlab tested logo
Obermeyer Brigitte Review (Obermeyer Brigitte)
Obermeyer Brigitte
Credit: Obermeyer
Price:  $260 List
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Manufacturer:   Obermeyer
By Jessica Haist ⋅ Review Editor  ⋅  Mar 10, 2015
70
OVERALL
SCORE
  • Warmth - 20% 7.0
  • Ventilation - 10% 6.0
  • Water Resistance - 20% 7.0
  • Features - 20% 9.0
  • Style - 15% 5.0
  • Comfort and Fit - 15% 7.0

Our Verdict

Discontinued
REASONS TO BUY
Warm
Unique ski features
Inexpensive
REASONS TO AVOID
Fits large
No pit zips
While this jacket is discontinued, our women's ski jacket review has a number of recommendations for you.

The Obermeyer Brigitte ski jacket is loaded with fun and unique ski features that will help you perform well on the ski hill and feel comfortable on the chair lifts. It is warm and comfortable, and it's durable water resistant coating seems to work pretty well. Size this jacket down for a cute, form fitting look.

Our Analysis and Test Results

We're not so much into the buttons, but we love that the Brigitte is loaded with fun ski features.

Performance Comparison


obermeyer brigitte - this jacket is a great choice for rimming groomers. it has no...
This Jacket is a great choice for rimming groomers. It has no pit-zips so you won't want to work up too much of a sweat.
Credit: Luke Lydiard

Warmth


The Brigitte kept us warm on cool days at the mountain. It has a warm, soft micro fleece chin guard when we zip it up all the way, and cozy wrist gaiters to stop drafts from creeping up our sleeves. We did not notice any drafts coming though the zipper when travelling at high speeds or in high winds. Obermeyer uses more insulation in the core area of the jacket and less in the sleeves where it is less important.

obermeyer brigitte - tested in high winds, we didn't feel any drafts coming through the...
Tested in high winds, we didn't feel any drafts coming through the Brigitte.
Credit: Luke Lydiard

Water Resistance


We were pleasantly surprised at how well the Brigitte held up during out water resistance tests. Water beaded right off of the Polyester Mini-herringone fabric. Obermeyer uses a proprietary DWR that seems to work well — at least on a fairly new jacket.

Ventilation


We were disappointed to find that the Brigitte does not have any pit-zips and therefore very little ventilation. The jacket has synthetic insulation which inherently has better wicking capability, and the jacket's shell fabric may have the ability to breathe. We like the mesh backed pit-zips of the Arc'teryx Meta.

obermeyer brigitte - ripping in the briggite on mammoth mountain!
Ripping in the Briggite on Mammoth Mountain!
Credit: McKenzie Long

Ski Features


The Brigitte has several little surprise ski features that took us some time to discover. Luddites that we are, it took us a while to figure out what the strange object was in our pocket — turns out it is a mini stylus for using our smart phones without taking off our gloves — genius! This is the first jacket we have tested that has one of these, and we love it. We also like the small interior chapstick pocket, the goggle chamois in the interior pocket, and the media pocket with a headphone port. It also has a powder skirt and cozy fleece-lined hand warmer pockets.

obermeyer brigitte - we like the brightly colored, silky liner material in the brigitte...
We like the brightly colored, silky liner material in the Brigitte, as well as the electronic pocket with headphone port.
Credit: Jessica Haist

Style


We give Obermeyer points for trying, but we're not in love with the style of this jacket. The buttons on the front don't quite work and seem strange. The green color we received also seemed a bit drab, and we feel like it looked a bit frumpy. We like the contrasting color liner, but you don't really see that when you're wearing it. We think the most stylish jacket we tested was the Orage Lou Lou.

obermeyer brigitte - it took us a while to figure out what the thing in our pocket was...
It took us a while to figure out what the thing in our pocket was, but the mini stylus is a great feature!
Credit: Jessica Haist

Comfort and Fit


The Brigitte is a comfortable jacket, and feels nice when you put it on because of its silky liner material and cozy wrist gaiters. The jacket fits a bit large and you could consider sizing down to have a more form-flattering fit. It moves well with with the wearer when skiing.

obermeyer brigitte - the obermeyer brigitte moved well with us when we were skiing and is...
The Obermeyer Brigitte moved well with us when we were skiing and is surprisingly water resistant.
Credit: Luke Lydiard

Best Application


We would wear this jacket to cruise groomers at the ski hill. Because of its lack of ventilation, we would not want to work up a sweat, either on a powder day or spring skiing, so if someone is looking for a more performance oriented jacket, we would recommend something like the Arc'teryx Meta.

Value


The Brigitte is a great value at $259. If you're looking for a jacket to cruise around in mellow terrain at your favorite ski hill, and potentially wear around the ski village for après ski, the Brigitte will do it for you.

Conclusion


The Brigitte is loaded with fun ski features and is surprisingly waterproof. We think that Obermeyer missed the mark slightly in the style department, but this could be a good jacket for someone who likes the buttons, and wants something to cruise around the ski hill in.

obermeyer brigitte - we're not sure how we feel about the brigitte's buttons, but it...
We're not sure how we feel about the Brigitte's buttons, but it looks cute on Nicole!
Credit: Luke Lydiard

Jessica Haist