wilsonhut

My wife really likes this jacket. She high-fived me when she put it on. I usually don't listen to people when they say to get a larger or smaller size than usual, but this time they were all right. Get a larger size. My wife is usually medium and sometimes small, but she had to get a large in this jacket. The medium was a little short at the waist.

My problem is that sleeves are always too short, especially when I lift my arms. Even if they are too long with my arms down, they'll be too short when I reach forward. The North Face products are among the best I've found for this problem. Especially their "Performance Fit" products. Although the description from The North Face website doesn't mention "Performance Fit", it is. (I emailed them to confirm). All that means is that the torso is closer fitting and the shoulders are narrower... that's why they work so well for me. This jacket has really long sleeves - love it. Since shirt sleeves don't fit me either, I decided to get a jacket that I could wear over short sleeved shirts all winter. So far so good. (I live in Tennessee) I can wear this jacket over short sleeves and have a comfortable torso well into temperatures and wind conditions where a hat is required for overall comfort. In the 20 degree range and below, I'll have to wear short sleeves (or just put my Varius Guide jacket on over it ;) Sometimes, I just wear a t-shirt up top and this jacket to work (business casual) and keep it zipped. I tried the Magic Jacket. I loved it, but it didn't fit in the arm pits. It has a lower CFM rating for wind, but I think the Free Climb blocks wind better. I've had to wash it twice and it didn't effect the appearance at all. The water in the sink didn't change color at all, so washing it doesn't seem to fade it. I'm a little concerned about tiny, elastic-like threads coming off of the seem tape, so we'll see how that goes over time. I can see tiny cracks in the rubbery "The North Face" logo on the front and back, so I'm a little concerned on how those will hold out over time too. Overall, I'm very happy with this jacket.

The jacket is super warm and comfortable with the high-loft fleece. It was not for me, though. If you're one of the people who thinks that The North Face jackets' sleeves are too long, check this one out. The sleeves seemed shorter than most (which was bad for me). I also didn't like the collar. If you had the back of the collar up, the front of the collar was also up. I guess it wasn't flexible enough. I didn't care for the cuffs either.

I love everything about the Magic Jacket. It pulled a little in the arm pits, so I sent it back. I ended up with the Apex Free Climb, which has a similar fit, only it fits just different enough to not pull in the under arms. Supposedly, they have the same wind rating, but the Magic Jacket seemed to let the wind through more than the Apex Free Climb Jacket.