Windows Phone Thoughts: Technology And Warmth Enabled? SCOTTEVEST Indoors And Out!

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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Technology And Warmth Enabled? SCOTTEVEST Indoors And Out!

Posted by Jon Westfall in "HARDWARE" @ 08:00 AM


A Mobile Desk
To begin with, perhaps it would be a good idea to let you know what my average day is. I live in a very small community (700 full time residents) and commute to work in Toledo, 60 miles away. On a good day, my communte is 75 minutes, one way. A bad day, well, it goes up from there. Upon arriving at work, I have the (somewhat) dangerous task of parking and walking to my lab, which normally takes around 10 minutes (or an eternity if the weather is cold and the ground is slippery). Once indoors, I generally can shed my coat but still must scurry from office to office, lab to lab, like any graduate student. On my journeys I generally tote around a Pocket PC, pens, keys, and many items that constitute my mobile office.

With that lifestyle in mind, I was leary about initially purchasing the SCOTTEVEST Tactical 4.0 last June. I knew I'd get some use out of it, but I also knew that I did have an office at work and sufficient gadget bags to tote whatever I needed back and forth. Would I really need a jacket with headphone loops and channels to listen to my iPod for just a handful of minutes here and there? Would I even want to use that many pockets on a daily basis? And once I got to work, I certainly wouldn't wear my coat around - so would it go to waste sitting in my office all day? Even though I was super-psyched to place my order, I still had nagging questions - would I really use this gadget clothing?


Figure 1: The SCOTTEVEST Tactical 4.0.

As the weather started getting cooler this year, I started wearing my 4.0 Tactical jacket. The zip-off sleeves came in handy when the weather would turn warmer mid-day and the jacket could turn into a vest to keep me from sweltering. Initially I carried my gadget bag and kept just my keys in the coat pocket. I also put my wallet in the right breast pocket, so I wouldn't be sitting on it during the long drive home. I used the jacket a bit, but didn't bother to really explore all of the possibilities it had to offer. The farthest I'd explored was the excellent hood that can be unrolled while walking (and quickly pulled over the head) - I only decided to discover this when a rain storm snuck up on me!

Then one day the weather got really nasty in a hurry, and I hadn't packed up my gadget bag after it was unpacked a few days prior for an out-of-town trip. I hastily grabbed what I needed and jammed it in my jacket. The large back pocket fit my folders and papers nicely, and the side pockets on the right and left were big enough to hold pretty much all I had to carry. One neat feature I found was the zip-out deep pockets, which were big enough to carry a small textbook!


Figure 2: Left-side interior pockets, with book (brightened to see detail). Click for larger image. (512KB)


Figure 3: Left-side interior pockets, zipped up (the book can actually slide out the top if desired, as the top is held closed by magnets). Click for larger image. (512KB)

On the aforementioned crummy weather day, I found that my SCOTTEVEST was truly all it was cracked up to be, so to speak. I was amazed just how much stuff I got in there, and it still let me sit comfortably in my car without restricting movement. The extra bulk did add more weight, something that cannot be avoided. SCOTTEVEST advertises that their jackets distribute weight efficiently, however when it comes down to it - the extra bulk is present. Even though the jacket doesn't bulge out (which is nice - you don't look like you're packing a grand piano under your jacket), the extra items in your pockets will weigh you down and cause the jacket to be a bit uneven. Subsequently, I've experimented with moving my stuff around so that I don't have these uneven spots (or sides of my jacket that could knock someone out if swung at high speed), and have found a pretty good mix.

One might wonder, with the extra bulk adding weight, why I didn't just go back to my ultra-awesome Roadwired Megamedia bag? Well, a few reasons:

1. I love my MegaMedia bag, but it is truly MEGA. It can easily weigh 20 pounds with all my gear in it, and my poor shoulders aren't too happy about that. Not to mention that shoulder straps in the winter tend to slide off my shoulder while wearing a jacket. The SCOTTEVEST Tactical does distribute weight a whole lot better than any bag ever could.

2. I found that when I kept everything in my coat, it really sped up my packing & unpacking before leaving work or home. Just keeping my keys & wallet in the jacket, along with a few spare cables and chargers (plus an iPod) meant that I didn't have to gather these things up in the morning before I left. This saved me a lot of time (and allowed me to get more sleep!)

3. I didn't have to worry about securing the pockets in the jacket due to their magnetic closures. Even on the best of gadget bags, I've always had an issue remembering to zip all the zippers, secure all the velcro, etc... Inevitably, I pick up the bag once when I think it's closed and find out the hard way that it isn't. With the jacket, I can come home, take it off, throw it on a chair, have it fall on the floor, pick it up, and still have everything in its place!

The Tactical 4.0 Jacket has a number of features on its Web page, and it may be worth reviewing these features a bit. While SCOTTEVEST's site (newly renovated!) has a great glossary, some of these features are just too cool not to explore. Some features, however, aren't as amazing as they may sound!

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