The Echelon GTX might just be the best all-around jacket REVIT has ever made. Thats despite a near-fatal flaw in the shoulder armor that, spoiler alert: there's an easy fix for. Read all about it.

The Echelon GTX is a 2L Gore-Tex jacket with brilliant venting, suave styling, and super-functional featuresreflective bits, a rabbit pocket, lots of other smart pockets, easy-to-operate zipper pulls, and a complementary pant that will zip together with the jacket to make a complete go-anywhere adventure suit.

The jacket earns a AA rating for abrasion, and is constructed from a medley of 200- and 400-denier Gore-Tex fabric. Unlike other jackets with waterproof liners that live *under* the shell, a laminate Gore-Tex construction like this is designed to provide waterproof performance by repelling rain completely, never letting it penetrate the garment.

"Like water off a ducks back," just as long as you dont leave the windows open. While it can get sealed up tight, the Echelon also gets five copious vents to let airflow in when needed.

Two upper arm intake vents are complemented by two back exhaust vents all with chunky zipper pulls that are easy to operate even with gloves on. The #5 vent is a full central zipper vent comprised of a 2" mesh panel that can be fastened behind the main zipper. With the backup zipper engaged, the user is able to draw down the main zipper partway, or all the way, to expose a huge Central A/C vent that wont be hampered by a backpack.

That main zipper, by the way, is no jokeits a full TiZip-brand waterproof zipper. The kind of overbuilt thing youd expect to find on a wetsuit or a waterproof duffel bag.

Adjustable shock cords at the hem and collar cinch up in a pinch to keep warmth in; or can be released for a more relaxed fit.

The Echelon, in both its fit and its features, strikes a balance of simplicity and functionality we havent seen from REVIT in previous efforts. And together with the matching , it leaves little to be desired as a go-anywhere adventure suit.

And for the ultimate in functionality, It can even be upgraded with .

/// Compare/Contrast

So this is one of the best, if not *the* best, jacket weve seen from REVIT in a hot decade. How did the Dutch (REVIT hails from The Netherlands) pull it off?

It looks like they wisely benchmarked an American company, , which produces two category-leading adventure/touring jackets in its and models.

Based in the Mountain West, KLIM has deep roots in the ADV motorcycling category, and its become a leader in the segment with a playbook of making laminated Gore-Tex waterproof shells withloads of venting. Sound familiar?

KLIM has become popular even with riders on Goldwings and other bike that will never see a dirt road, who have opted to run the brands gear for touring, just because theyre tired of getting wet, and because of the brands reputation for making beefy adventure gear with an American fit.

REVIT, from its European base, has access to some pretty nice mountain riding, too, as evidenced from the supplied action photos featured on this product page.

Even the fit is similar to KLIM. While most of REVITs jackets sport a trimmer, more European fit, the Echelon has a more generous cut, and fits much more true-to-size than previous REVIT jackets weve seen.

The Echelon also comes with a full 5-piece armor kit, just like all KLIM jackets. With all other REVIT jackets weve seen the back armor is sold a la carte.

Unlike KLIM jackets, and most other REVIT jackets, the Echelon comes in a nice neutral color palette, and has a thankfully toned-down logo treatment. For years weve been telling REVIT (along with most of our other vendors) to go easy on the loud logos. Not to say theyve listened to us, per se, but while KLIM jackets have multiple logo contrasting KLIM logo hitsembroidered, embossed, and/or embedded in straps or on zipper heads, the Echelon jacket shows relative, refreshing restraint.

The Echelon has two small hard logo badges sewn into the shoulders; a larger, entirely more functional reflective logo on the center-back; and lastly a small revit! shoutout on the back panel, which appears to be about 10pt font compared to other jackets, from REVIT, and its competitors.

And whats any true comparison without a weigh-in? We removed the armor from a medium Echelon and a medium Carlsbad and found the REVITis a full 1/2-pound lighter3lbs vs 3.5lbs for the KLIM, which uses some heavier duty materials, including perforated goatskin leather that the elbows and shoulders.

With weight comes strength, to be sure, but some will find the relatively lighter weight Echelon an easier jacket to wear.

/// The (Almost) Achilles Shoulder

Whats *not* to love about the new Echelon? Honestly REVIT pretty much nailed it. It truly is one of their best jackets to date.

Except for the shoulder armor placement, which given how much the jacket liner sags under the weight of the included armor, ends up sitting far too low to be effective.

Luckily, we found an easy fix: , to the rescue! Sure its a bit of a hack, but it works brilliantly and were 100% happy with the result.
The side divots in the design of the Ghost elbow/knee locate the armor precisely where it needs to be, pinching it perfectly between the corners of the armor pocket opening, right where it needs to be to adequately cover the wearers entire shoulder. By adding a small 3 strip of 2 wide Loop-side velcro to the back of the D3O, we find it matches up with the factory hook-side Velcro already in the Echelon jacket, and keeps the armor just where it needs to be, with a little bit of built-in adjustment to further fine-tune the position as needed.

Plus, for the shoulder, we quite like the softer and more flexible D3o over the hard and heavy Level 2 Seeflex, REVITs house-brand armor.

At the elbow, where the pocket is adjustable with three different position settings, the stock blue REVIT Seeflex armor fits perfectly, providing a reassuring shin-guard feel on the elbowthat extends down the forearm.

• Double center-zip mesh panel vent
• Two upper-arm vents
• Two back vents
• Sturdy grab handle incorporated into the back of the jacket.
• Shock-cord cinches at the collar and hem
• Reflective logo at the back
• Rabbit pocket
• Upgradeable with REVIT Strapper Suspenders
• Short and Long Connection zippers to tie into the
• REVIT SEESOFT Level 2 back protector comes included
• REVIT SEEFLEX Level 2 Left-/Right-Specific elbow and shoulder armor included.
• TIZIP waterproof main zipper
• CE AA Rated