Patagonia All-Time Shell Jacket - Men's - 2009 BCS

While I loved the fit, extra length and overall look of this jacket, I ultimately returned it due to the lame hood. The hood is way too shallow -- the sides extend forward only to about the back of the ears, leaving the wearer's face completely exposed to wind and rain. For a raincoat, this is a pretty fatal flaw.

As an aside, the bright, colorful Patagonia label right up on the chest kind of mars the otherwise nice low-profile look of a plain black jacket like this. If I'd kept it, I would've had to either remove the label or black it out with dye or ink. I know they feel like they have to have a visible label somewhere, but a grayscale version at the bottom edge would be more appropriate for something like this.

I like this jacket, and I'll keep it, but I'm just not as thrilled with it as I thought I would be. I haven't worn it often enough yet to judge the performance, so my review will focus mostly on the look, feel, and fit.I bought the XL in Retro Khaki, with the intent of wearing it with my business clothes. It's a very simple rain jacket, and if they say it's waterproof and breathable, then I guess I believe them. It's not as sophisticated-looking as it appears on the website. I suppose it's better than wearing a bright blue, green, or red jacket with some slacks, but not by all that much. It definitely has an "outdoorsy" look to it. And this is a small gripe, but I wish the logo were a bit more low-key.
The length helps class it up a bit, but it can also appear kind of baggy. I usually find myself in between Large and Extra-Large and while I'm sure they designed it to allow for a sport coat or blazer underneath, I think it runs a little big. I assume XL would still fit better than a Large, though, at least in my case. The sleeves are nearly ideal in length, however.It's very lightweight and packs very small. That is nice. I like the snaps (as opposed to velcro) and it seems like it's very durable and of very high quality. I would hope so, considering the price.Overall, I don't think it's worth the full retail price, but it's a really nice rain coat.

Just a hint: Detail views don't work so well when the jacket shown is black. But thanks for showing detail views on your site; very helpful for comparison of products!