I would personally choose the Mtn Hardwear. The Phantom uses 800 fill down while TNF uses 700 fill. Bottom line on that is the Phantom is a warmer jacket that weighs about the same as TNF.

TNF Elysium is not water resistant. The Phantom is not DWR but it can handle a bit of rain.

The Phantom has two handwarmer (meaning soft feeling) pockets, a chest pocket and an internal pocket. The Elysium has two pockets where you can warm your hands but TNF jacket doesn't provide you with the extra comfort a more elegantly designed handwarmer does. TNF also lacks the internal pocket.

The difference in the quality of the down is a major factor. The other major factor that leaps out at me is the difference in the fabrics used in each jacket. TNF uses a 100% nylon fabric. The Phantom uses a 15 denier ripstop nylon. Denier is the unit used to measure the strength of a fabric. (There is a formula for measuring denier -- 1 denier = 1 gram of mass per 9000 meters.) Anyway, the higher the denier, the stronger the fabric.

Ripstop nylon is also stronger than simple nylon. Those little squares you see on a ripstop jacket are produced by first inter-weaving the threads and then diagonially over-weaving them to make a crosshatch pattern. This process stops or limits rips and tears. In theory -- I've never managed to tear any type of nylon.

I think a med would fit you, but check your chest and waist measurements before you decide.

You might want to consider one other factor which neither of these two jackets address: rain, wet snow, sleet. I live in the foothills of the Appalachians. In theory, drought has dominated the weather for the last 4 years. But every single time I hit the trail, it rains. Or snows. Or sleets. I took the cheap way out and found an used Patagonia gore anorak. It only weighs a couple of ozs and does double duty as the threshold for my tent.

I hope all my yadda, yadda, helped a wee bit.

For what it's worth there's a Jan 2009 review at the following link that states the hand pockets are zippered:

http://sectionhiker.com/2009/01/02/mountain-hardware-phantom-down-jacket/

Also, to add to Angus's answer... the hood is removable on Mountain Hardwear's Sub Zero SL Hooded Jacket, it is made with Conduit SL fabric, which is weather resistant, and it is baffled like a sleeping bag. It is one of the best values for its feature set on the market.

I'd go with the Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero or North Face Nuptse for a heavier, cold-weather jacket and the Patagonia Down Sweater or North Face Thunder for a lightweight sweater-type jacket. This jacket is really warm and so light you won't notice it's on, but zero percent waterproof. Definitely good to browse on your own, and ask the Gearheads on Live Chat if you want more help, they're great.